The_Holokaust_-_origins,_implementation,_aftermath

HITLER’S DECISION TO EXTERMINATE JEWS
232. Conversely, Hartog, pp. 65–69, sees a direct connection between the entry of the United
States into the war and a decision he believes Hitler made immediately on December 7,
1941. Based on some mistaken dates he concludes that Hitler needed only to “nod his
head,” since “Himmler and Heydrich had already known for months that Hitler intended
to liquidate the Jews throughout Europe” (p. 65). Nonetheless, at a meeting in the Reich
labor ministry on November 28, 1941, the representative from the Wartheland noted that
“some 300,000 Jews were still living” in his district. He continued that “by the end of
March 1942, they should all have been evacuated, with the exception of those able to
work.” That could only have meant their extermination at Chelmno. If one follows Hartog,
the administrative offices in the Wartheland could only have developed this schedule if
they had known in advance about the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which
they surely did not. See report on the department meeting in RAM (undated [November
28, 1941]), BA R 22/2057, fol. 208. For the date, see fols. 206 f.
233. Greiser to Himmler, May 1, 1942, BA NS 19/1585, fols. 1 f. For the fall of 1942 it has been
docmented that Arthur Greiser asked Hitler what measures should be taken in his district
against the Jews and that Hitler told him to proceed “as he thought appropriate,” Greiser
to Himmler, November 21, 1942, BA NS 19/1585, fols. 17 f. Aly mistakenly refers to
this as the fall of 1941.
234. Hans Frank’s speech at the government session in Kraków on December 16, 1941, BA R
52 II/241, fol. 77.
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