WANNSEE CONFERENCE

  • HEYDRICH TASKED WITH SOLVING “JEWISH QUESTION”

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Berlin, Germany • July 31, 1941 On this date in 1941 Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering formally empowered SS‑Gruppen­fuehrer (German, Group Leader) Rein­hard Hey­drich to under­take “prep­a­ra­tions in organ­i­za­tional, tech­ni­cal and material respects for the com­plete solu­tion to the Jewish ques­tion in the German area of influ­ence in Europe.” At this time neither Goering, nor his boss…

  • RAUOL WALLENBERG TO RESCUE HUNGARY’S JEWS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Budapest, Occupied Hungary • July 9, 1944 On this date in 1944 Raoul Wallenberg, a 31-year-old bache­lor from a distin­guished Swedish family, arrived in Buda­pest, capital of Nazi-occupied Hungary. With diplo­matic accredi­ta­tion from the Swedish Minis­try of Foreign Affairs (Sweden was a neu­tral nation), Wallen­berg had been secretly recruited by the recently created (Janu­ary 22, 1944)…

  • ALLIES DENOUNCE NAZI KILLING OF JEWS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Washington, D.C. and London, England • December 17, 1942 In remarks he made to 14 senior Nazis at a top-secret con­fer­ence in the fashion­able Berlin suburb of Wann­see on Janu­ary 22, 1942, 38‑year-old SS-Ober­gruppen­fuehrer Rein­hard Hey­drich, chief of the Reich Security Head [or Main] Office as also head of the German secret police apparatus, spoke of…

  • ALLIES CONDEMN NAZI KILLING OF JEWS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Washington, D.C. and London, England · December 17, 1942 In remarks he made to senior Nazis at a conference in the Berlin suburb of Wann­see on Janu­ary 22, 1942, SS-Ober­gruppen­fuehrer Rein­hard Hey­drich, chief of the Reich Security Head Office and head of the Ger­man secret police apparatus, spoke of “prac­tical experi­ence” that was being col­lected “in…

  • NEW REICH SECURITY OFFICE CREATED

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Berlin, Germany · September 27, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Head Office (known by its acro­nym RSHA), was created by Reichs­fuehrer-SS Hein­rich Himm­ler through the merger of the Nazi Party’s Schutz­staffel (SS) intel­li­gence ser­vice; the Sicher­heits­dienst (SD), or Secu­rity Ser­vice; and the Sicher­heits­poli­zei (SiPo), or Secu­rity Police. The SiPo com­prised the…

  • ALLIES CONDEMN NAZI KILLING OF JEWS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Washington, D.C. and London, England · December 17, 1942 In remarks he made to senior Nazis at a conference in the Berlin suburb of Wann­see on Janu­ary 22, 1942, SS-Ober­gruppen­fuehrer Rein­hard Hey­drich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office and head of the Ger­man secret police apparatus, spoke of “prac­tical experi­ence” that was being col­lected “in…

  • NEW REICH SECURITY OFFICE CREATED

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Berlin, Germany · September 27, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office (known by its acro­nym RSHA), was created by Reichs­fuehrer-SS Hein­rich Himm­ler through the merger of the SS (Schutz­staffel) intel­li­gence se­rvice, the Sicher­heits­dienst (SD), or Secu­rity Ser­vice, and the Sicher­heits­poli­zei (SiPo), or Secu­rity Police. The SiPo com­prised the noto­rious…

  • NEW REICH SECURITY OFFICE CREATED

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Berlin, Germany · September 27, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office (known by its acronym RSHA), was created by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler through the merger of the SS (Schutzstaffel) intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), or Security Service, and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo), or Security Police. The SiPo comprised the notorious…