Reinhard Heydrich
Marion Aged 7 in 1942
The Wannsee Conference took place in Berlin with 15 senior Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution (Endlösung) in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe. I turned 7 exactly one month prior to the conference. And, already, my parents, 2 year older brother, Albert, and I, were facing an ominous and uncertain future.
It was on January, 20, 1942 that, Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler’s second in command of the SS, convened the conference, deciding on how to rid Europe of its Jewish population. “Europe would be combed of Jews from east to west,” is how Heydrich expressed this planning.
Heydrich edited the minutes of the meeting, substituting implied language the Nazis used when referring to lethal actions to be taken against Jews.
“Instead of emigration, there is now a further possible solution to which the Führer has already signified his consent – namely deportation to the east,” Heydrich stated, for example when referring to mass deportations of Jews to ghettos in occupied Poland and then on to the soon-opened death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka.
“…eliminated by natural causes,” refers to death by a combination of hard labor and starvation.
“…treated accordingly,” refers to execution by SS firing squads or death by gassing – also seen in other Nazi correspondence in a variety of connotations such as “special treatment” and “special actions” regarding the Jews.
Every year, on or about the date of the Wansee Conference, Young Israeli of Deerfield Beach in Florida holds a remembrance observance of this criminal conference, as a way of reminding all of us of the shocking and ugly thought processes of evil doers.
In 2 months, the Jewish Holiday of Purim will be celebrated. Purim was a time centuries ago when evil people, under the tutelage of Haman, planned to exterminate the Jewish People; the Wansee Conference, centuries later, was also designed to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The Nazis were, unfortunately, more successful in their efforts, murdering 6 million men, women and children.
I will share a little of what became of my family as a result of this evil planning, which will help serve as a reminder of the 6 million Jewish men, woman and children murdered by the Nazi regime,
and to understand that genocide sadly and tragically continues to take place in our world of today.
If you possibly can. please attend this commemoration. Many thanks! Marion
Location: Young Israel of Deerfield Beach – 202 Century Blvd.
Please use Military Trail entrance to enter Century Village.
For information, call Young Israel, 954-571-3904.
PS Information & photo about the Wansee Conference taken from the US Holocaust Museum website.