This text presents an authoritative account of the terrible Wannsee conference of January 1942. Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, the conference created the plan that would let Europe "be combed through from west to east" for Jews, and put the Final Solution on a rational and industrial footing.

At a villa on the shore of the Wannsee, a lake in suburban Berlin, on 20th January 1942 one of the most terrible meetings in human history convened. Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich and organized and minuted by Adolf Eichmann, it brought together representatives of all the principal Nazi agencies in eastern Europe. Pooling the expertize of those present, Heydrich created the plan that would let Europe "be combed through from west to east" for Jews, and which would put the Final Solution on a rational and industrial footing. Here, Roseman presents a short, authoritative account of the conference.

"Perhaps the most shameful document"
"Mein Kampf" to mass murder, 1919-41
mass murder to genocide
the villa, the lake, the meeting
a largely successful day. Appendix: the protocol.