TREBLINKA: - Holocaust Handbooks

Chapter VIII: Indirect Transports of Jews to the Eastern Territories 255
On May 23, 1942, Karol Sidor, representative of the Republic of Slovakia
at the Holy See, handed a note to Secretary of State Luigi Maglione concerning
the solution of the Jewish question. It was dated May 8th of the same year
and was the answer to a letter of November 12, 1941, prepared by the Holy
See to request information on this subject. After an explanation of the reasons
for the delayed answer, the note continued: 742
“But in this period of time [743] there was a silence about the solution of
the Jewish question. Long negotiations dealing with the solution to the
Jewish problem in Europe took place between the Slovakian and German
governments, and the view was offered that the emigration of the Slovakian
Jews represents only one component of a much larger overall program. In
the near future, half a million Jews from [western and central] Europe will
be sent to eastern Europe. Slovakia will be the first state whose Jewish inhabitants
are taken by Germany. At the same time, the emigration of Jews
from France (the occupied part), Holland, Belgium, the Protectorate, and
Reich territory is supposed to follow. Hungary has also expressed its desire
to send off 800,000 Jews, as the head of government, Dr. Kállay, said
in his speech on April 20 of this year.
The Slovakian Jews are being accommodated at various locations in the
area of Lublin, where they will definitely remain. The Aryan population
will be evacuated from these territories, and an exclusively Jewish district
with its own administration will arise in its place, where the Jews can live
as a community and can secure their existence by their own labor. The
families will stay together.”
In a speech in Bad Tölz, before SS-Junkers 744 on November 23, 1942,
Himmler said: 745
“The Jewish question in Europe has also completely changed. In a
Reichstag speech the Führer once said: Should Jewry instigate an international
war to the extermination of the Aryan peoples, then it is not the Aryan
peoples who will be exterminated but Jewry. The Jew is evacuated
from Germany; today he lives in the east and works on our roads, railroads,
and so on. This process has been carried out consistently, but without
cruelty.”
On November 18, 1943, in a speech given in Krakow before SS leaders
and officials of the General Gouvernement, Himmler spoke of:
742 Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale. Le Saint Siège et
les victimes de la guerre. Janvier 1941-Décembre 1942, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican
City 1975, vol. 8, pp. 542f.
743 From November 1941 to January 1942.
744 The Junkers were members of the German squirearchy, young noblemen who partook of a
long tradition of military service. Translator’s note.
745 Bradley F. Smith and Agnes Peterson (eds.), Heinrich Himmler. Geheimreden 1933 bis
1943, Propyläen Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 200.