World War II statements argued to support Holocaust revisionism

World War II statements argued to support Holocaust revisionism are various statements originating from the time of World War II and that are argued to support Holocaust revisionism. Holocaust revisionists argue that such statements often originate from Holocaust documentary evidence, which is argued to be a more valuable form of evidence than postwar "survivor" testimonies, trial "confessions", and similar forms of Holocaust testimonial evidence, which is argued to be the main form of support for the non-revisionist version.

Such statements are also argued to support the Holocaust revisionist view on the meaning of the phrase the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". This is argued to refer to voluntary Jewish emigrations or Jewish expulsions from Europe. They further argue that documents show that measures taking the during war, such as the camps and deportations to Eastern Europe/Western Russia, were seen as temporary solutions, with the "Final Solution" of the "Jewish question" to be fully implemented only after the war. See also the article on Holocaust motivations.

Before the invasion of the Soviet Union

Jewish prewar emigration from National Socialist Germany is sometimes depicted as having been some kind of clandestine operation, against the will of German authorities. Revisionists argue that the policy of National Socialist Germany was to encourage as many Jews as possible to emigrate. Jewish Zionists also supported Jewish emigration. Another argued aspect is German and Jewish authorities working closely together on this lawfully regulated emigration and Jewish emigrants receiving extensive advice and help from both sides. This was formalized in several agreements. However, statements and agreements on this are relatively rarely mentioned to the public (such as the Haavara Agreement) and some are practically unknown (such as the Rublee-Wohlthat Agreement).

Regarding the "mainstream" view on this time period, ""At the Irving-Lipstadt libel trial it was conceded by Lipstadt’s team of anti-revisionist Holocaust experts that prior to 1941 there was no Nazi policy to exterminate Jewry. Justice Gray noted: “It is common ground between the parties [Irving and Lipstadt’s team of Holocaust experts] that, until the latter part of 1941, the solution to the Jewish question which Hitler preferred was their mass deportation.” The anti-revisionist experts at the Irving-Lipstadt libel trial further admitted: “…that in the 1930s Hitler should not be understood to have been speaking in a genocidal terms.”"

• On 16 September 1919, in the first written document of his political career (a letter to a friend) and later in a speech, Hitler expressed his intention of a "removal" of the Jews from Germany. More generally, see Alleged statements by Hitler on the Holocaust regarding this topic.

• On 24 February 1920, the 25 points Program of the NSDAP was publicly presented. It included the statements "Citizen can only be who is a member of the people. A member of the people is who is of German blood, with no regard to the confession. No Jew can therefore be a member of the people" and "We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich."

• On 28 August 1933, soon after Hitler gained power, the Reich Economics Ministry concluded the so called ‘Haavara Agreement’ with the Jewish Agency for Palestine, an accord that was intended to lay the basis for the emigration of approximately 52,000 German Jews to Palestine by the year 1942. National Socialist Germany supported Jewish emigration in many ways, such as by cooperating with Zionist organizations in creating training camps where young Jews were to learn agricultural and trade professions, to prepare them for the completely different life of Palestine. The book Jewish Emigration from the Third Reich states that "The total number of Jews who left Germany (and Austria) after 1933 cannot be ascertained statistically, because there was no counting at the point of departure or at the point of arrival. Estimates vary from 100,000 and 537,000, a discrepancy that reflects the unreliability of those figures." The 537,000 figure is from the Wannsee Protocol.

• On 15 July 1938, the Evian Conference concluded. The conference participants condemned the anti-Semitism in Germany, but emphasized that, unfortunately, their own countries could not take in a larger number of Jews. A less politically correct aspect is that Zionists have been argued to have actively and influentially opposed Jews emigrating to other countries than Palestine, and even seen persecutions of Jews as beneficial for their cause, by increasing emigration and by increasing support for Zionism.

• In January 1939, the Rublee-Wohlthat Agreement was reached. Jewish Emigration from the Third Reich states that this occurred in part due to strong support by Hitler and that "The basic idea of the agreement was: By establishing trust funds which would comprise 25 percent of the wealth belonging to Jews in Germany, Jewish emigration would be financed through foreign loans. Each emigrant would, in addition to receiving the requisite amount of cash for entry (“Vorzeigegeld”), receive a minimum amount of capital necessary to establish oneself. About 150,000 able-bodied Jews were marked for emigration, and their next of kin were to follow later. The Intergovernmental Committee would concern itself with which countries Jews could migrate to. All Jews over 45 were to be able to remain in Germany and be protected from discrimination. Residential and work restrictions for these Jews were to be lifted." Rublee later wrote that "The Germans fulfilled all their obligations […] In the months between my departure from Germany and the outbreak of war few, if any, Jewish persecutions occurred in Germany. Some left, and the rest had it easier in Germany. I received quite a number of letters from Germany wherein […] Jews […] thanked me for what I had done for them."

• On 24 January 1939, as a response to the Rublee-Wohlthat Agreement, Hermann Göring issued a decree that approved the establishment of a "Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration", with Reinhard Heydrich in charge. In the first line, Göring summarized the basic principle of the policy regarding Jews: "The emigration of the Jews out of Germany is to be promoted by all means." The Reich Central Office had the mission of "“effecting all measures for the preparation of an intensified emigration of the Jews."

• On 25 January 1939, a report by the Foreign Ministry with the title "The Jewish question as a factor of foreign policy in 1938" (thus before the Rublee-Wohlthat agreement) stated that "The final goal of German policy regarding the Jews is the emigration of all Jews living in the territory of the Reich."

• On 1 September 1939, WWII began. Less politically correct allegations include that the Allies wanted to keep the Jews under German control, in order to increase Germany’s logistical problems and therefore, for example, refused a German offer to exchange Jews in German internment for German nationals, who were being held by the British. Influential Zionists have been argued to have strongly opposed Jews emigrating to other countries than Palestine. Germany became more reluctant to support emigration to Palestine, for reasons such as a hoped for an alliance with Arab/Muslim nationalists against the Allies, with many Muslim areas being under Allied control. The leader of Palestine’s Arabs, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, worked closely with Germany during the war years. After escaping from Palestine, he spoke to the Arab world over German radio and helped raise Muslim recruits in Bosnia for the Waffen-SS. The war generally made transportation and Jewish emigration more difficult. It also resulted in many more Jews coming under German control.

• On 24 June 1940, after the changed situation due to the war (see the 1 September 1939 entry), Heydrich informed the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that it was now necessary to subject the overall problem to a “territorial final solution”. Heydrich stated that "The Herr General Field Marshall, in his capacity as delegate for the Four Year Plan, charged me in the year 1939 with the execution of Jewish emigration from the entire territory of the Reich. In the period that followed we have managed, despite great difficulties even during the war, in successfully continuing the Jewish emigration. Since my administrative office assumed the task on January 1, 1939, more than 200,000 Jews have emigrated from the territory of the Reich. The whole problem – there are already approximately 3¼ million Jews in the territories subject to German sovereignty today – can, however, no longer be solved by emigration. A territorial final solution is thus becoming necessary." In response to this, the Foreign Ministry developed the so-called Madagascar Plan, which proposed the deportation to Madagascar of all Jews living in the German sphere of influence.

• In early 1940, German officials proposed to their then Soviet ally to have the German and Polish Jews deported to western Ukraine and/or to the “Autonomous Jewish Region Birobijan,” a Jewish "homeland", located in eastern Siberia close to Vladivostok, which the Soviet Union had created in 1933.

• On 15 August 1940, Hitler mentioned that the Jews of Europe were to be evacuated following the end of the war.

• On 30 August 1940, Franz Rademacher, director of the Jewish Department in the Foreign Ministry, prepared the note “Madagaskar-Projekt” in which the section "Financing" begins with the following words: "The execution of the proposed final solution requires substantial means." Thus, the phrase "final solution" did not mean killing. See the 24 June 1940 entry on another example of "final solution" not meaning killing. See also Meanings and translations of German words and Holocaust revisionism: The "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" on the "final solution of the Jewish question" being a phrase that was used already in 1897, as a reference to Zionism.

• On 29 March 1941, Alfred Rosenberg declared that "For Germany, the Jewish issue will be solved only when the last Jew has departed the territory of greater Germany."

• On 2 April 1941, Rosenberg suggested “to make extensive use of Muscovite Russia as an area for undesirable elements of the population”.

• On 20 May 1941, Heydrich prohibited Jewish emigration from France and Belgium, since this interfered with Jewish emigration from Germany. He thus stated that "In accordance with a communication from the Reichsmarschall of the Greater German Reich [Göring], the emigration of the Jews from the territory of the Reich, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, is to be carried out and even intensified during the war [...] since there exist, for example, only insufficient travel possibilities for the Jews out of the Reich territory, chiefly across Spain and Portugal, an emigration of Jews from France and Belgium would mean a renewed decrease of the same".

After the invasion of the Soviet Union but before the Wannsee conference

According to politically correct history, initial genocidal plans by National Socialist Germany and genocidal actions by the Einsatzgruppen are alleged to have begun as early as the summer of 1941, in association with the invasion of the Soviet Union. Einsatzgruppe commander Otto Ohlendorf after the war alleged that the Einsatzgruppen commanders received oral genocidal order as early as June 1941. (Exterminationist historians now sometimes question these early alleged orders, but not somewhat later genocidal killings by the Einsatzgruppen. See Holocaust intentionalism and Holocaust functionalism.) Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss alleged after the war that he received oral orders to start murdering Jews in June 1941 and that the first gas chamber gassings in Auschwitz started at this date. (Exterminationist historians now disagree with this date and instead state that initial gassings in Auschwitz occurred in early September 1941.) After the war, Adolf Eichmann alleged that in July 1941 he was summoned to Heydrich, who uttered to him the words: "I've come from the Reichsführer SS [Heinrich Himmler]. The Führer [Adolf Hitler] has given the order for the physical destruction of the Jews." The most well-known Einsatzgruppen massacre, of all the Jews in Kiev, allegedly occurred at Babi Yar on 29-30 September 1941. The decision to build the first extermination camp at Belzec was allegedly made in mid-October 1941. Gas van gassings by the Einsatzgruppen and in the Chelmno camp allegedly started in late 1941.

Various World War II statements have been argued to be incompatible with this politically correct description. Some examples are stated below.

• On 22 June 1941, the invasion of the Soviet Union started.

• On 17 July 1941, Hans Frank, the German administrator of the General Government (non-annexed Polish territories), entered into his diary “that the Jews will soon be removed from the General Government, with the latter becoming, as it were, a mere transit camp,” which implied that they will be deported further east.

• On 31 July 1941, Göring issued a directive to Heydrich that has been cited by both non-revisionists and revisionists. See Hermann Göring: 31 July 1941 directive.

• On 19 August 1941, as early as this date according to Goebbels’s diary, Hitler was talking about deporting the Jews to the east. After that, references to Russia as a destination appear more and more frequently.

• On 22 August 1941, by SS-Sturmbannführer Carltheo Zeitschel, an advisor at the German embassy in Paris, wrote a note to the ambassador stating that:

"The progressive conquest and occupation of the far eastern territories can presently bring the Jewish problem in all of Europe to a final satisfactory solution within a very short time. As is seen from the cries for assistance by all the Jews of Palestine in their press to the American Jews, over 6 million Jews reside in the territories occupied by us during the last weeks, especially Bessarabia – that is, one-third of World Jewry. During the new organization of the eastern lands, these 6 million Jews would have to be collected anyhow and a special territory presumably marked off for them. It shouldn’t be too big a problem, at this opportunity, if the Jews from all the other European countries are added to this and the Jews presently crammed into ghettos in Warsaw, Litzmannstadt, Lublin, etc. are also deported there.

Regarding the occupied territories, such as Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, the Jews can simply be transported by military order in mass-transports into the new territory, and it can be suggested to the remaining states that they follow this example and get rid of their Jews by sending them to this territory. We could then have Europe free of Jews within a very short time.

The idea, which has recurred for years and which was aired once again by Admiral Darlan a few months ago, of transporting all the Jews of Europe to Madagascar, is, to be sure, not bad in itself, but would run up against insurmountable transportation difficulties directly after the war, since world tonnage, seriously decimated by the war, will surely be needed for other things more important than taking large numbers of Jews for a ride on the oceans of the world. Not to mention that transportation of nearly 10 million would require years, even if there were numerous ships available.

For this reason, I propose to present this question to the Reich Foreign Ministry at the next opportunity, and to ask to meet for discussion with the aforementioned future minister for the eastern territories, Reichsleiter Rosenberg, and with the Reichsführer-SS with such a regulation in mind and to examine the matter in the manner I have suggested. The problem of transporting the Jews to the eastern territories could even be dealt with during the war".

• On 18 September 1941, Himmler wrote in a letter to Gauleiter Arthur Greiser that "The Führer desires that the Altreich [Germany proper] and the Protectorate be emptied and freed of Jews as soon as possible, from the west to the east. It is therefore my intention, if possible this year, to initially transport the Jews from the Altreich and the Protectorate into the eastern territories newly incorporated into the Reich two years ago, as a first stage, in order to deport them still farther to the east next spring."

• On 13 October 1941, Frank and Rosenberg had a conversation, during which they discussed the deportation of the Jews from the General Gouvernement. "The Governor General then came to speak about the possibility of deporting the Jewish population of the General Gouvernement into the occupied territories of the east. Reichsminister Rosenberg remarked that similar requests were already being brought to him from the military administration in Paris. At the moment, however, he saw no possibility as yet for the carrying out of these kinds of resettlement plans. But he announced himself ready to promote the emigration of Jews to the east in the future, especially since the intention existed anyhow of sending off asocial elements within the territory of the Reich into the sparsely settled territories of the east.” The reference to Paris is argued to be a clear reference to the 22 August 1941 proposal by Carltheo Zeitschel.

• On 17 October 1941, Martin Luther, the head of the Germany department in the Foreign Office, composed a document that discussed “comprehensive measures relating to a Final Solution of the Jewish Question after the end of the War".

• On 24 October 1941, police chief Kurt Daluege gave a directive for the evacuation of Jews, according to which “Jews shall be evacuated to the east in the district around Riga and Minsk”.

• On 25 October 1941, Hitler's Table Talk stated that in a discussion in the Führer headquarters, Hitler mentioned the policy, now going into effect, of deporting the European Jews to the swampy regions of Russia.

• On 18 December 1941, Goebbels's diary stated that "I speak with the Führer regarding the Jewish Question. He is determined to take consistent action and not be deterred by bourgeois sentimentality. Above all, the Jews must leave the Reich (aus…heraus). [...] The Jews should all be pushed off (abgeschoben) to the East. We are not very interested in what becomes of them after that."

• On 12 January 1942, a circular was sent out in German occupied Ukraine, asking the localities to prepare for the establishment of ghettos and barracks to accommodate Jews deported from Germany and report back on their circumstances. It also asked for the identification of possible future ghettos near railway links, to where German Jews could be brought.

After the Wannsee conference

According to politically correct history, the Wannsee Conference occurred on 20 January 1942. Mass gassings allegedly began in February 1942 at Auschwitz, in March 1942 at Belzec, in May 1942 at Sobibor, in July 1942 at Treblinka, and in August 1942 at Majdanek. Plans, preparations, and initial experimental/relatively small scale gassings as well as mass killings by non-gas methods allegedly started earlier, as discussed in the previous section.

Various World War II statements have been argued to be incompatible with this politically correct description. Some examples are stated below.

• In early 1942, after the first transports of resettled Jews had arrived in the General Government, the receiving authorities received instructions such as "I am asking you to take great care to ensure that the Jews are received and correctly transported at their final destination, wherever you have decided that they should go; they should not, as has occurred in other cases, arrive at their final destination without any supervision at all, and then disperse themselves all over the countryside" and "After their arrival in their new settlement areas, the Jews are to be placed under medical supervision for 3 weeks. Every case of suspected typhus infection must be reported to the responsible district physician without fail."

• On 23 January 1942, Hitler's Table Talk stated that Hitler said that "If I think of shifting the Jew, our bourgeoisie becomes quite unhappy:“What will happen to them?” Tell me whether this same bourgeoisie bothered about what happened to our own compatriots who were obliged to emigrate?"

• On 27 January 1942, Hitler's Table Talk stated that Hitler said that "The Jews must pack up, disappear from Europe. Let them go to Russia."

• On 2 February 1942, Heydrich suggested during a speech, in front of dignitaries and members of the National Socialist Party of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, that the Arctic could be a "future homeland" for "the 11 million Jews from Europe", by reusing the already existing Soviet camps that were thought to have around 15-20 million Soviet deportees. There are also some earlier references to the Arctic and reusing Communist camps by Heydrich and others. "As the Germans viewed the Jews as responsible for the GULag and the Soviet slave labor system, such a deportation would no doubt be viewed by the National Socialist leaders as a form of “poetic justice.""

• On 10 February 1942, a letter from Rademacher, director of the Jewish Department in the Foreign Ministry, to Bielfeld, a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry, stated that "In August 1940, I passed on to you for your files the plan devised by my department for the final solution of the Jewish question, for which the island of Madagascar was supposed to be demanded from France in the peace treaty, but the practical execution of the task was to be handed over to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. In accordance with this plan, Gruppenführer Heydrich was put charged by the Führer with carrying out the solution to the Jewish problem in Europe. In the meantime, the war against the Soviet Union has provided the possibility of making other territories available for the final solution. The Führer has consequently decided that the Jews will not be deported to Madagascar, but to the east instead. Thus, Madagascar no longer needs to be designated for the final solution."

• On 7 March 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "I read a detailed report from the SD and police regarding a final solution of the Jewish Question. Any final solution involves a tremendous number of new viewpoints. The Jewish Question must be solved within a pan-European frame. There are 11 million Jews still in Europe. They will have to be concentrated later, to begin with, in the East; possibly an island, such as Madagascar, can be assigned to them after the war. In any case there can be no peace in Europe until the last Jews are shut off from (ausgeschaltet) the continent."

• On 17 March 1942, Fritz Reuter, an employee in the Department of Population and Welfare in the Office of the Governor General for the District of Lublin, made a note in which he referred to a talk on the previous day with the SS Hauptsturmführer Hermann Höfle, the delegate for Jewish resettlement in the Lublin district. Reuter wrote: "It would be expedient to divide the transports of Jews arriving in the Lublin district at the station of origin into employable and unemployable Jews. […] All unemployable Jews are to come to Bezec [sic, likely Belzec], the outermost border station in the Zamosz district. Hauptsturmführer Höfle is thinking of building a large camp in which the employable Jews can be registered in a file system according to their occupations and requisitioned from there. […] In conclusion he [Höfle] stated that he could accept 4-5 transports of 1.000 Jews to the terminal station Bezec daily. These Jews would cross the border and never return to the General Gouvernement." The revisionist Jürgen Graf has stated that "There can be no doubt whatsoever about the meaning of this document: Jews unable to work would be expelled from the General Gouvernement and deported to the occupied eastern territories. The sentence that Belzec was “the outermost border station in the Zamosz district” makes sense only in connection with an expulsion beyond the border. Like Sobibor, Belzec was situated in the extreme east of the General Gouvernement, close to the Ukrainian frontier."

• On 20 March 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "Finally we talked about the Jewish Question. Here the Führer is as uncompromising as ever. The Jews must be got out of Europe (aus…heraus), if necessary by applying the most brutal methods."

• On 22 March 1942, according to a resettlement document "there was an evacuation of 57 Jewish families, a total of 221 persons, from Bilgoray to Tarnogrod. Every family was provided with a vehicle to transport their furniture and beds. The arrangements and supervision are to be taken over by the police and Special Service Command. The action went ahead according to plan and without incident. The evacuated persons were lodged in Tarnogrod on the same day."

• On 27 March 1942, Goebbels's diary has an entry often cited by anti-revisionists. Revisionists have made arguments such as the entry starting with "Beginning with Lublin, the Jews in the General Government are now being evacuated (abgeschoben) eastward.", implying evacuation of the Jews out of Poland, arguably inconsistent with the politically correct view that the Jews were killed or remained in Poland. See the article on Joseph Goebbels for an extensive discussion of the entry.

• In March or April 1942, the chief of the German chancellery, Hans Lammers, stated in a document that Hitler had repeatedly informed Lammers "that he wanted to postpone the solution of the Jewish question until after the war".

• On 24 April 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "Nothing new is reported in the East. The Bolsheviks have already responded to our propaganda and portray our troops as cannibals. It’s a shame how the other side slanders and lies. But wherever you look, in the background stands the manipulating international Jewry. We will be doing humanity a great service if we permanently remove them (entfernen) from public life and stick them in quarantine."

• On 27 April 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "I talked to the Führer once more in detail about the Jewish Question. His attitude is unrelenting. He wants, under all circumstances, to push the Jews out (herausdrängen) of Europe. That is right. The Jews have brought so much misery to our continent that the severest punishment meted out to them is still too mild. Himmler is presently implementing a large resettlement (Umseidlung) of Jews from German cities to the eastern ghettos."

• On 30 April 1942, Oswald Pohl, chief of the SS economic administrative main office, reported: “1. The war has brought about a visible structural change in the concentration camps and their tasks regarding the employment of inmates. The increase in number of prisoners detained solely on account of security, reeducation, or preventive reason is no longer in the foreground. The primary emphasis has shifted to the economic side. The total mobilization of inmate labor, first for wartime tasks (increase of armaments) and then for peacetime tasks, is moving ever more to the forefront. 2. From this realization arise necessary measures which require a gradual transformation of the concentration camp from its original, exclusively political form into one commensurate with its economic tasks."

• On 17 May 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "We are trying now to evacuate (evakuieren) the remaining Jews in Berlin to the East, on a larger scale."

• On 29 May 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "In the Reich one can observe here and there the first signs of anti-government propaganda. It certainly comes from the Jews. The Jews who remain in the Reich naturally represent an extremely dangerous contingent. They really belong in prison. The fact that they can roam freely means an increasing danger for the public, and an increasing risk. I am constantly trying to transport (verfrachten) as many Jews as possible to the East; once they are out of reach (aus der Reichweite heraus), they can then do us no harm, at least for the time being."

• On 30 May 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "the Führer does not at all wish that the Jews should be evacuated (evakuiert) to Siberia. There, under the harshest living conditions, they would undoubtedly develop again a strong life-element. He would much prefer to resettle (aussiedeln) them in central Africa. There they would live in a climate that would certainly not make them strong and resistant. In any case, it is the Führer’s goal to make Western Europe completely Jew-free. Here they may no longer have their homeland."

• On 24 June 1942, Hitler's Table Talk stated that Hitler announced at his headquarters that after the war he would “rigorously defend his position that he would hammer on one city after another until the Jews came out and emigrated to Madagascar or some other national state for the Jews”.

• Starting on 22 July 1942, according to the Stroop Report and the Jewish Council in Warsaw, many Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto in order to be resettled, to the east according to the Jewish Council. According to politically correct history, these Jews were killed at locations such as Treblinka. However, in the months that followed, letters and post cards that were addressed to relatives of deported Jews arrived in the Warsaw Ghetto from Bialystok, Pinsk, Bobruisk, Brzezc, Smolensk, Brest Litovsk, and Minsk.

• On 21 August 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "The responsible Higher-SS leader reported to me on the conditions in the [Warsaw] ghetto. The Jews are now in large part evacuated (evakuiert) and established in the East. This is quite generous to them. Here the Jewish Question is tackled in the right place, without sentimentality and without much consideration. Only in this way can the Jewish problem be solved."

• On 21 August 1942, Germany's Undersecretary of State Martin Luther, in charge of Section D III, which dealt with foreign states in regard to the Jewish question and racial policy, produced a summary ("the Luther Memorandum") of the Jewish policy of National Socialism. In it, he referred to the Wannsee Conference as being preparation for “evacuation of the Jews” to the “occupied eastern regions”. He also stated that the number of transported Jews would be inadequate to cover the shortage of labor and that the German government therefore asked the Slovakian government to supply 20,000 young, strong Slovakian Jews for labor in the east.

• Excerpts from the Luther Memorandum: "The fact that the Fuehrer intends to evacuate all Jews from Europe was communicated to us as early as August 1940 by Ambassador Abetz after an interview with the Fuehrer (compare D III 2298). Hence the basic instruction of the Reich Foreign Minister to promote the evacuation of the Jews in closest cooperation with the agencies of the Reichsfuehrer-SS, is still in force and will therefore be observed [...] Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich informed the Reich Foreign Minister that the whole problem of the approximately 3.25 million Jews in the areas under German control can no longer be solved by emigration; a territorial final solution would be necessary. In recognition of this Reichsmarschall Goering on 31 July 1941 commissioned Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich to make, in conjunction with the proper German agencies, all necessary preparations for a total solution of the Jewish problem in the German sphere of influence in Europe. (Compare D III 709 Secret). On the basis of this instruction Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich arranged a session of all the interested German agencies for 20 January 1942 [the Wannsee Conference], at which the State Secretaries were present from the other ministries and I myself from the Foreign Office. In the conference Gruppenfuehrer Heydrich explained that Reichsmarschall Goering's assignment to him had been made on the Fuehrer's instructions and that the Fuehrer instead of emigration has now authorized the evacuation of the Jews to the East as the solution [...] On the basis of the Fuehrer instruction mentioned under 4.), the evacuation of the Jews from Germany was begun [...] The number of the Jews deported in this way to the East did not suffice to cover the labor needs there. [...] The deportation to the Government General is a provisionary measure. The Jews will be moved on further to the occupied Eastern territories as soon as the technical conditions for it are given."

• The summary also states that the Reich Foreign Minister, in a conversation with the Bulgarian Foreign Minister on 26 November 1941, stated "that at the end of the war all Jews would have to leave Europe. This was the unalterable decision of the Fuehrer and also the only way to master this problem, as only a global and comprehensive solution could be applied and individual measures would not help very much." The revisionist Paul Grubach has argued that "this Luther memo gives no indication that there was any change in policy during the time between the enunciation of Hitler's Jewish policy to Bulgarian Foreign Minister Popoff in November 1941, and the creation of said memo in August 1942."

• On 28 August 1942, a report by Horst Ahnert on an SS meeting on the deportation of Jews stated "Purchase of barracks. SS-Obersturmbannführer Eichmann asks to immediately effect the purchase of the barracks ordered by the commander of the Security Police Den Haag. The camp is to be established in Russia. The transportation of the barracks can be done in such a way that 3 to 5 barracks can be taken along on each transport train." Revisionists argue that this contradicts politically correct history, according to which the Dutch Jews were killed rather than deported to Russia.

• September 1942: The so-called "Green Map", for the “Administration of the Economy in the Occupied Eastern Regions”, stated that “After the War, the Jewish question will be solved overall throughout Europe,” which is why until then everything would merely be “partial measures.” It admonished that “thuggish measures” against Jews would be “unworthy of Germans and must be avoided by all means."

• On 5 September 1942, Horst Ahnert of the Paris security police wrote that in conjunction with the “final solution to the Jewish question” that the “deportation of Jews for purpose of labor” was about to begin.

• On 16 September 1942, one day after his meeting with Armaments Minister Albert Speer, Oswald Pohl reported in writing to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler that all prisoners of the Reich were to be conscripted for armaments production: “This means the Jews destined for eastern migration will have to interrupt their journey and work at armaments production.”

• On 1 October 1942, Goebbels's diary stated that "I drive back to the Chancellery with the Führer. Once again we talk through the Jewish Question. Here the Führer takes the same radical standpoint I do. He is also of the opinion that we must completely deport the Jews out of the Reich (restlos herausschaffen), and above all from Berlin."

• On 9 October 1942, a circular entitled "Rumors concerning the situation of the Jews in the east” and intended for party functionaries stated that:

"In the course of the work on the final solution of the Jewish question, discussions concerning ‘very harsh measures’ taken against the Jews, particularly in the eastern territories, are currently arising amongst the population in various parts of the Reich territory. It has been determined that such accounts – mostly in distorted and exaggerated form – are being passed on by those on leave from various units employed in the east, who themselves have had occasion to observe such measures.

It is conceivable that not all fellow countrymen are able to muster adequate understanding for the necessity of such measures, especially not that part of the populace, which has had no opportunity to form its own opinion of the Bolshevist atrocities.

In order to be able to counter any creation of rumors in this connection, which frequently bears an intentionally tendentious character, the exposition set out below is given for instruction about the present situation:

For approximately 2,000 years, a struggle has been fought against Jewry, which has so far been in vain. It is only since 1933 have we started to seek ways and means, which permit a complete separation of Jewry from the body of the German people. The work toward the solution accomplished to date can basically be subdivided as follows:

1. Expulsion of the Jews from various areas of life of the German people. Here, the laws enacted by the legislators should form a foundation, which also offers the guarantee of protecting future generations from a possible new inundation by the enemy.

2. The aim of completely expelling the enemy from the territory of the Reich. Considering the highly limited living-space available to the German people, it was hoped that this problem would be essentially solved through acceleration of emigration of the Jews.

Since the beginning of the war in 1939, these possibilities for emigration have become increasingly reduced; on the other hand, the economic domain of the German people steadily increased in comparison with its living-space, so that today, considering the large number of the Jews residing in these territories, a complete expulsion by means of emigration is no longer possible. Since our next generation will no longer see this problem as realistically and, on the basis of past experiences, will no longer see it clearly enough, and because the matter, once it has started rolling, makes a settlement urgent, the whole problem must be solved by the present generation.

For that reason, the complete expulsion or separation of the millions of Jews residing in the European economic domain is a compelling commandment in the struggle to secure the existence of the German people.

Beginning with the territory of the Reich and leading to the rest of the European nations included in the final solution, the Jews will be continuously transported to the east into large camps, some existing, some still to be constructed, from whence they will either be put to work or be taken still farther to the east. The old Jews, as well as the Jews with high war decorations (Iron Cross, First Class; Golden Medal for Bravery etc.) will continue to be resettled in the city of Theresienstadt located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

It lies in the nature of things that these in part very difficult problems can be solved only with ruthless severity in the interests of the ultimate security of our people."

• On 23 November 1942, Himmler in a speech in Bad Tölz, before SS-Junkers, stated that "The Jewish question in Europe has completely changed. The Führer once said in a Reichstag speech: If Jewry triggers an international war, for example, to exterminate the Aryan people, then it won’t be the Aryans who will be exterminated, but Jewry. The Jews have been resettled outside Germany, they are living here, in the east, and are working on our roads, railways etc. This is a consistent process, but is conducted without cruelty."

• On 14 December 1942, ministerial adviser Walter Maedel summarized the Jewish policy of National Socialism as “The Reich Marshal charged the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police a long time ago with preparing the measures, which will serve the final solution of the European Jewish question. The Reichsführer-SS has entrusted the execution of these tasks to the Chief of the Security Police and of the SD. Initially, the latter promoted the legal emigration of the Jews overseas by special measures. When, on the outbreak of the war, the emigration overseas was no longer possible, he initiated the gradual clearing of the Reich territory of Jews by their deportation to the east."

• On 3 January 1943, Goebbels's diary referred to "the Führer’s prophecy" (see The 1939 Reichstag speech). The entry thus refers to "the Führer’s prophecy, when he explained at the beginning of the war that it would not end with the destruction (Vernichtung) of the Aryan race, but with the expulsion (Austreibung) of Jewry from Europe."

• On 20 January 1943, Concentration Camp Inspector Richard Glücks gave the following instructions to the commanders of 19 camps: “The head camp physicians have to ensure, by all means at their disposal, that the death rates in the individual camps decrease significantly. […] More than heretofore, the camp physicians have to oversee nutrition of the prisoners and in accordance with the directors, make recommendations for improvement to the camp commandants. Furthermore these recommendations are not to remain on paper, they are to be effectively carried out by the camp physicians. […] The Reichsführer SS has ordered that the death rate must unconditionally decrease."

• In April 1943, Richard Korherr, Inspector for Statistics at the office of the Reichsführer SS, wrote the Korherr Report, which had the title “The Final Solution to the European Jewish Question", and that revisionists argue stated deportations but made no mention of gassings or extermination.

• On 16 April 1943, at a meeting with Hungarian leader Miklós Horthy, Hitler stated that Jews should be placed in concentration camps, but "If there was talk of murdering the Jews, then he (the Führer) must point out that only one person murdered, namely the Jew who started wars and who by his influence gave the wars their anti-civilian, anti-women and anti-children character."

• On 25 April 1943, Goebbels's diary stated that "It is high time that we remove (aus…entfernen) the Jews just as quickly as possible from the General Government."

• On 8 May 1943, Goebbels's diary stated that "The Jews must therefore be thrown out (aus…heraus) of Europe."

• 16 May 1943, the SS officer Alfred Franke-Gricksch finished an inspection tour of camps and in association with this wrote a report. A recently discovered version of this report has been cited by revisionists as evidence, as discussed in the article on Alfred Franke-Gricksch.

• On 19 May 1943, Goebbels's diary stated that "The English and Americans discuss practically nothing but air warfare. Their successful raid on the German dams created a great sensation both in London and in Washington. Of course they know exactly what they have achieved by this attack. The former Berlin Reuter correspondent, Bettany, claimed that the plan for the attack stemmed from a Jew who emigrated from Berlin. I had this claim written up as a short news item for papers in the Reich, especially in the areas that suffered the disaster. This shows once again how dangerous the Jews are and how right we are in putting them behind bars (sie in sicheren Gewahrsam zu bringen—lit. ‘bringing into secure custody’)".

• On 30 June 1943, SS-Gruppenführer Fritz Katzmann in a report, titled "The Solution of the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia", stated on Galicia that "A total of 434,329 Jews had emigrated up to June 27, 1943."

• On 5 July 1943, Heinrich Himmler ordered that "The Sobibor transit camp, located in the Lublin district, is to be converted into a concentration camp. A dismantling unit for captured enemy munitions is to be set up in the concentration camp." which revisionists argue is incompatible with Sobibor having been an extermination camp."

• On 26 October 1943, Oswald Pohl wrote the following to all concentration camp commandants: “In the context of armaments production, the concentration camps […] are of vital significance to the war. […] In the context of reeducation, it might have been insignificant in previous years whether a prisoner performed productive labor or not. Now, however, prison labor is very significant. It is vitally important that all measures be taken by the commandants, leaders of V-Dienst (Information Services) and physicians to ensure the maintenance of health and the capacity of prisoners to work. Not from mere sentimentality, but because we need them with their sound bodies, because they must contribute to the great victory of the German nation: therefore we must insure the welfare of the prisoners. I am setting as a goal: A maximum of 10% of all prisoners may be incapable of work on account of illness. Through common endeavor, all responsible persons must achieve this goal. To achieve it, the following is necessary:

1. A proper diet appropriate to the prisoner’s task.

2. Proper clothing appropriate to the prisoner’s task.

3. Application of all natural measures for health and hygiene.

4. Avoidance of all unnecessary exertions which are not directly required by the prisoner’s task.

5. Performance rewards. […] I shall personally monitor compliance with the measures reiterated in this message.”

• On 18 November 1943, in a speech given in Krakow before SS leaders and officials of the General Gouvernement, Himmler spoke of "an enormous number of Jews, who of course now have emigrated or been brought to the east".

• On 5 January 1944, the SS officer Odilo Globocnik wrote a report on Operation Reinhardt, which has been cited by revisionists, as discussed in the article on Odilo Globocnik.

• On 18 April 1944, Goebbels's diary stated that "the Führer expected contributions from Hungary of food, oil, manganese, and people. In particular, he wants the 700,000 Jews in Hungary involved in beneficial activities for our war effort."

• On 27 April 1944, Goebbels's diary stated that "Meanwhile 300,000 Hungarian Jews have been detained and imprisoned in the concentration camps. They should come, in large part, to Germany as a workforce. Himmler will take care of this; above all, they are to be used for our difficult war production programs. In any case, Hungary will no longer be out of line on the Jewish Question."

• On 5 May 1944, Goebbels's diary stated that "In Budapest the Jews are starting to be gathered into ghettos. The ghettos are built in the vicinity of the armament factories, because air attacks are likely there. It is hoped thereby to avoid British-American attacks on Budapest, if at all possible."

• On 11 May 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the deployment of 200,000 Jews in the construction of fighter airplanes, to improve Germany’s air defense against the devastating Allied bombing raids.

• On 15 January 1945, Himmler met the former Swiss President Jean Marie Musy (who was there at the behest of the Americans) in order to continue earlier discussions on Jewish issues. In a note on this meeting Himmler wrote "I again put forth my position to him. We assign the Jews to labor and that, of course, includes hard work such as the building of roads and canals, mining, and there they have a high mortality rate. Since the start of discussions on improving the Jews’ lot, they have been employed in normal work, but it goes without saying that they must, like all Germans, work in armaments production. Our view on the Jewish question is as follows: the position taken by America and England regarding the Jews does not interest us in any way. What is clear is that we do not want to have them in Germany and in the German living space, given the decades of experience since the [First] World War, and we shall not join in any discussion on the matter. If America wants to take them, we are glad of it. But it must be ruled out, and here a guarantee will have to be given to us, that the Jews whom we allow to leave [continental Europe] via Switzerland can ever be sent back to Palestine. We know that the Arabs, just as much as we Germans, reject the Jews and we do not want to partake in such an indecency as the sending of more Jews to that poor nation tormented by the Jews."

• On 20 April 1945, Himmler was interviewed by Norbert Masur, a representative of the World Jewish Congress. Himmler rejected the genocide allegations and stated that "in order to put a stop to the epidemics, we were forced to burn the bodies of incalculable numbers of people who had been destroyed by disease. We were therefore forced to build crematoria, and on this account they are knotting a noose for us." He also stated that he punished the guilty if atrocities occurred in the camps (see Konrad Morgen). On the Einsatzgruppen: "The war at the eastern front made the most difficult demands on our soldiers. A terrible climate, never ending distances, an enemy population, and constantly appearing partisans. Only by being harsh could the troops prevail. Because of this, they were forced to destroy whole villages, if there was resistance and shooting from such a village. The Russians are not ordinary enemies, we cannot understand their mentality. In the most hopeless situations, they would refuse to capitulate. If, because of these difficulties in the east, the Jewish people suffered great casualties, one needs to remember that the German people also suffered severely."

• After the war, Josef Kramer, commander of the Bergen-Belsen camp during the final months of the war, stated that "The camp was not really inefficient before you [British and American forces] crossed the Rhine. There was running water, regular meals of a kind […]. But then they suddenly began to send me trainloads of new prisoners from all over Germany. It was impossible to cope with them. […] Then as a last straw the Allies bombed the electric plant that pumped our water. Loads of food were unable to reach the camp because of the Allied fighters. Then things really got out of hand. […] I did not even have sufficient staff to bury the dead, let alone segregate the sick. […] I tried to get medicines and food for the prisoners and I failed. I was swamped.”

• On 1 August 1946, "Despite all of the authoritative declarations Churchill made or supported during the war with regard to the “reality” of the Nazi extermination of the Jews, when the war ended he made an astonishing statement that casts doubt on the sincerity of all of these wartime pronouncements. In a speech before the House of Commons on 1 August 1946, he emphatically declared that he knew nothing of the alleged Nazi mass murder of Jews while the Second World War was taking place. We quote him verbatim: “I must say that I had no idea, when the war came to an end, of the horrible massacres which had occurred; the millions and millions that have been slaughtered. That dawned on us gradually after the struggle was over. [...] The reader should take careful note of the implications of Churchill’s words. If Sir Winston was not aware during the war of the alleged mass killings of Jews, and if he and his associates realized only after the war ended that these supposed mass murders took place, then all of his “authoritative” declarations we listed above about the mass murder of Jews taking place during the war were just unconfirmed and baseless allegations in his estimation."

External links

• The Missing Hitler Orders
• Goebbels on the Jews, Part 1
• Goebbels on the Jews, Part 2
• No Smoking Gun, No Silver Bullets: The Real News of Rosenberg's Diary
• Hitler, the 'Final Solution,' and the Luther Memorandum
• Martin Luther's Memorandum of 21 August 1942 about diplomatic progress toward the Total Solution of Europe's Jewish Problem
• Treblinka Extermination Camp or Transit Camp? - Chapter VI "National Socialist Policy of Jewish Emigration"
• Codoh: War-time German documents & writings mentioning the "Final Solution"

See also

• Meanings and translations of German words and Holocaust revisionism
• Goebbels’s diary
• Holocaust intentionalism and Holocaust functionalism