Titans of History

Over a million Jews had already been murdered by the mobile Einsatzgruppen, but the work was considered too slow and demoralizing. The purpose at Wannsee was to convey directives from the Führer regarding the final solution of the Jewish question and create an administrative and legalistic framework for mass murder. “Europe was to be combed of Jews from east to west,” and those present were charged with the capture, transportation and industrial extermination of the estimated 11 million European Jews.

“Another possible solution of the problem has now taken the place of emigration, i.e. the evacuation of the Jews to the East,” said Heydrich. The notes, kept by Adolf Eichmann, carefully avoid direct reference to extermination but “evacuation” was the accepted euphemism for slaughter, as Heydrich made clear:

Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of a new Jewish revival.

Numerous such camps—including Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec and Treblinka—were hastily constructed. Bergen-Belsen held over 60,000 Jews, of whom over 35,000 died of starvation, overwork, disease and medical experiments. Dachau—built in March 1933 to house political prisoners—served as a labor camp and center for horrific medical experiments, those too sick to work being summarily executed or sent to the nearby Hartheim killing center. Meanwhile, 3 million Russian prisoners of war were deliberately starved to death on Hitler/Himmler’s orders.

Most notorious of the death camps was Auschwitz-Birkenau, established by Himmler in May 1940, and by 1942 equipped with seven gas chambers in which an estimated 2.5 million were murdered, roughly 2 million of whom were Jews, Poles, Gypsies and Soviet POWs. Only about 200,000 people survived, the rest cremated or piled into mass graves.

Himmler and Heydrich had very different styles: Himmler considered himself a soldier, but his real gift was as a bureaucratic intriguer and Hitlerite courtier. He devoted much time to devising pedantic and preposterous rules for his new SS order. Himmler spent his rare leisure with his assistant, who became his mistress. Heydrich was a gifted sportsman and musician. In between his many duties, he trained as a pilot, flying daring missions in Norway and Russia, where he crashed and had to be rescued. He had many love affairs and sexual adventures. He was chilling but never banal. Himmler was terrifying but always blandly pedantic.

In addition to his already vast responsibilities, in September 1941 Heydrich was appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia (formerly part of Czechoslovakia), where he instituted repressive measures and became known as Der Henker (the Hangman). On May 27, 1942, as he rode without an escort in an open-top green Mercedes, he was ambushed by two British-trained Free Czech fighters and died later of his wounds. In retaliation, the Nazis wiped out the entire Czech village of Lidice.

In June 1942, Himmler ordered the deportation of 100,000 Jews from France and approved plans to move 30 million Slavs from eastern Europe to Siberia. The following month he ordered the “total cleansing” of Jews from the Polish General Government—6000 a day from Warsaw alone were transported to the death camps.

In 1943, Himmler was appointed minister of the interior. The following year Hitler disbanded the military intelligence service (the Abwehr) and made Himmler’s SD Nazi Germany’s sole intelligence service. In 1944, as the Allies advanced from the west, Himmler failed completely as military commander of Army Group Vistula.

Recognizing defeat was inevitable, Himmler desperately attempted to destroy evidence of the death camps, then attempted to seek peace with Britain and America. Hitler ordered his arrest. Himmler fled in disguise but was arrested in Bremen, after which he swallowed a cyanide capsule.