Wannsee Conference in 100 Facts

[earlbrooks]

Great information and opinions. "100 Facts"

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My 2 cents....

[RolandVT]

Great information and opinions. "100 Facts"

I do like your AI art shares!

Thank you - I appreciate it.



My 2 cents....

[RolandVT]

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was a genius. Period. Dark, evil, diabolical genius, sure – but a genius nevertheless. Because only an evil genius could have conceived, structured, planned and executes such a gargantuan diabolical project as Shoah.

Unlike Eichmann, Göring (and possibly even Himmler), Heydrich was a true believer. He deeply, passionately, sincerely (and erroneously) believed that it was absolutely necessary to kill all Jews under German control. And he utilized all his talents, all his capabilities, all his resources and all his genius to making it happen… and was very close to success.

Reinhard Heydrich was highly driven, very determined, inhumanly disciplined, incredibly daring and totally committed to both of his highly patriotic (in his mind) fundamental objectives.

His first objective was to build a highly efficient – the best in the world – security service capable of protecting his beloved Germany from all domestic enemies. This objective was achieved on September 27, 1939 when RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) was born.

It merged domestic and foreign intelligence (SD), political police (Gestapo), criminal police (Kripo) and paramilitary death squads (Einsatzgruppen) into a highly efficient security system. Heydrich achieved this almost impossible objective when he was just 35 years old…

Another – incomparably more challenging and grandiose – objective of his was the “Holocaust Project”. The “final solution to the Jewish question”. Physical extermination of all Jews under German control (in this, thanks God, he was not completely successful).

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was born in 1904 in Halle an der Saale to composer and opera singer Richard Bruno Heydrich and his wife, Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia (a piano teacher).

Reinhard was a gifted musician – he developed a passion for the violin and carried that interest into adulthood; he impressed listeners with his musical talent. Some of those who heard him playing, were sure that, had he chosen music as his occupation, he would have become one of the best violin players in the world.

Reinhard was born in 1904, so he was far too young to fight in the Great War. He got his chance in 1919 when civil unrest—including strikes and clashes between communist and anti-communist groups—took place in Heydrich’s home town of Halle. Under Defense Minister Gustav Noske’s directives, a right-wing paramilitary unit was formed and ordered to “recapture” Halle.

Heydrich, then 15 years old, joined Maercker’s Volunteer Rifles (a paramilitary Freikorps unit). There is no evidence that he participated in the fighting (most likely, he was a courier delivering messages – like Adolf Hitler during the Great War), and when the skirmishes ended, he was part of the force assigned to protect private property.

In 1922, Heydrich joined the German Navy (Reichsmarine), taking advantage of the security, structure, and pension it offered. He became a naval cadet at Kiel, Germany’s primary naval base. In July of 1928, he was promoted to first lieutenant.

His career undertook a radical change after he entered into a romantic relationship with one Lina von Osten. She was a committed Nazi and an ardent anti-Semite and in no time made Reinhard into one.

Still, he could very well have stayed in the Navy… were it not for the commander of the latter, Erich Raeder. Heydrich was charged with “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” for a breach of promise, having been engaged to marry another woman he had known for six months before the Lina von Osten engagement. Raeder could have given Heydrich a slap on the wrist (it happened) – but he chose to dismissed Heydrich from the Navy instead.

Under the influence of Lina (or maybe just because he had nothing better to do or both), Heydrich joined NSDAP and the SS. In 1931, Heinrich Himmler began setting up a counterintelligence division of the SS.

Acting on the advice of his associate Karl von Eberstein, who was Lina’s friend and Heydrich’s godbrother, Himmler agreed to interview Heydrich, but cancelled their appointment at the last minute.

Lina ignored this message, packed Heydrich’s suitcase, and sent him to Munich. Eberstein met Heydrich at the railway station and took him to see Himmler. Himmler asked Heydrich to convey his ideas for developing an SS intelligence service. Himmler was so impressed that he hired Heydrich immediately.

On August 1, 1931, Heydrich began his job as chief of the new ‘Ic Service’ (intelligence service) which a year later was renamed the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). After the Nazis came to power, Heydrich (remembering his Freikorps service), expanded into police matters.

In 1933, Heydrich gathered some of his men from the SD and together they stormed police headquarters in Munich and took over the organization using intimidation tactics. Himmler became the Munich police chief and Heydrich became the commander of Department IV, the political police.

In April of 1933, Hermann Göring founded the Gestapo as a Prussian political police force. A year later, he transferred full authority over the Gestapo to Himmler. Himmler named Heydrich to head the Gestapo on April 22, 1934.

Also in April, Göring made Heydrich an advisor to the Prussian government with an appointment to the Prussian State Council. On 9 June 1934, deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess declared the SD (Heydrich was still in charge of the latter) the official intelligence service of Nazi state (prior to that it was the NSDAP agency).

Heydrich got a taste of mass murder in June of 1934 when the SS eliminated the SA leaders and a number of other political opponents of Adolf Hitler (about 100 were executed without trial).

In mid-1939, Heydrich created the Stiftung Nordhav Foundation to obtain and manage real estate for the SS and Security Police to use as guest houses and vacation spots. The Wannsee House, which Stiftung Nordhav acquired in November 1940, became the site of the Wannsee Conference.

When the Second Great War had broken out, Heydrich was impatient to see active service. He obtained permission to fly as a Luftwaffe Reserve Officer with Bomber Group KG55 and first saw action on 12th September 1939 as a gunner.

Heydrich piloted Bf-110, flying over England and Scotland on recon missions. During a mission in Norway, he over-flew a shot-up aircraft on landing and crashed, breaking his arm.

Both Hitler and Himmler were aware of his sorties as an arm in plaster was difficult to conceal, but he was at pains to show them his duties as Chief of RSHA would not suffer as a result. On Heydrich’s return to SS duty, he was proudly sporting a newly awarded bronze combat mission bar on his left uniform breast.

Heydrich’s next opportunity for aerial combat came during the Russian offensive. He flew numerous times over enemy territory (this time, in Bf-109) and was engaged in several dogfights behind the lines.

It was during one of these flights that he was forced to crash-land behind the Soviet lines, in the vicinity of Berezina. Eventually he was rescued by a German combat patrol. From then on, he was strictly forbidden to fly combat missions.

On September 27, 1939, the SD and SiPo – made up of the Gestapo and the Criminal Police, or Kripo – were folded into the new Reich Security Main Office or (RSHA), which was placed under Heydrich’s control.

On August 24, 1940, Heydrich became the president of the International Criminal Police Commission (later known as Interpol) and its headquarters were transferred to Berlin. He was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer on September 24, 1941.

Heydrich became the expert in serial mass murder after his Einsatzgruppen killed over 100,000 “potential Resistance activists” in occupied Poland. On a much smaller scale, mass murders continued in Bohemia and Moravia after he became their acting Reich Protector on September 27, 1941 (about 500 Czechs were killed).

Serial mass murders continued after the invasion of the USSR – by the date of Wannsee Conference reformed Einsatzgruppen (brainchild of Reinhard Heydrich) murdered hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews in the “Holocaust by Bullets”. Order Police battalions and local volunteers killed hundreds of thousands more.

In early April of 1941, Heydrich was tasked by Hitler (most likely, via Hermann Göring) to come up with answer to the existential question: what to do with Jews in occupied Soviet territories after the invasion of the USSR.

Heydrich’s solution was simple and brutal – all male Jews of military age were to be ruthlessly shot. Himmler, Göring and Hitler (in that order) agreed – and the first stage in the “Holocaust by Bullets” was the result.

After the invasion of the Soviet Union another existential question was asked by Der Fuhrer: what to do with ALL Soviet Jews: men, women, children and the elderly. Heydrich (predictably) gave the same answer: shoot them all.

Himmler, Göring and Hitler (in that order) agreed – and Himmler (who had the authority over all security matters in the occupied territories of the USSR) tacitly approved mass murder of all Jews. In August of 1941, he made it official – issuing the order to that effect.

The next obvious existential question was: what to do with ALL Jews in ALL territories controlled by Germany or its’ allies (European Axis powers)? Heydrich already knew the answer – but this time he demanded a written request.

And he got one. On July 31, 1941, Hermann Göring sent the written order (obviously, on behalf of Adolf Hitler) to develop and implement the “Final Solution to the Jewish question” in territories under German control. Which officially made Heydrich the CEO of this project.

The answer was the same – kill them all – however, this time it was obvious that “Holocaust by Bullets” was impossible both operationally and politically. Some other method had to be found… thankfully, on August 24, 1941 Hitler terminated (officially suspended) Aktion T4 – serial mass murder of mentally sick.

Which made the key resource – competent personnel – available to the “Holocaust Project”. Hence, the method became obvious: “Holocaust by Gas”. More specifically, it was to be a radically scaled-up (by a factor of 100+ in terms of “processing power”) reincarnation of Aktion T4 involuntary euthanasia program.

Six killing centers (death factories) were to be built in occupied Poland (which accounted for about half of Jewish population under German control) where all Jews in German-controlled territories (and those under control by other Axis powers) were to be gassed and their bodies ultimately created.

The first experimental gassing was done in Auschwitz; the first death factory (in Chelmno) became operational on December 8, 1941 and by the date of Wannsee Conference three more – Belzec. Sobibor and Treblinka were under construction. To that, Majdanek was added in spring of 1942.

In London, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile resolved to kill Heydrich. Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik headed the team chosen for the mission, trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). On December 28, 1941 they parachuted into the Protectorate, where they lived in hiding, preparing for the mission.

On May 27, 1942, they succeeded in wounding Heydrich. A Czech woman went to Heydrich’s aid and flagged down a delivery van. He was placed on his stomach in the back of the van and taken to the emergency room at Bulovka Hospital.

A splenectomy was performed and the chest wound, left lung, and diaphragm were all debrided. Himmler ordered Karl Gebhardt to fly to Prague to assume care. Despite a fever, Heydrich’s recovery appeared to progress well.

Hitler’s personal doctor Theodor Morell suggested the use of the new antibacterial drug sulfonamide, but Gebhardt thought that Heydrich would recover and declined the suggestion. He was wrong – dead wrong (literally).

On 3 June, Heydrich fell into a coma; he died the following day. An autopsy concluded that he died of sepsis. There were rumors that the assassins were allowed to operate unmolested on Himmler’s orders and that Gebhardt deliberately killed Heydrich (ditto) because the latter became a serious threat to SS-Reichsfuhrer. However, no evidence of that conspiracy has ever surfaced.

[RolandVT]

Wannsee Protocol explicitly stated:

“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 a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes”

It is almost a textbook definition of extermination through labor – cut and dry, plain and simple, loud and clear. Consequently, Wannsee Protocol (and thus the participants of Wannsee Conference) explicitly authorized mass murder of Jews.

Making the conference, indeed, a criminal conspiracy to commit serial mass murder (genocide of Jews). Therefore, Wannsee Protocol was sufficient to indict all attendees of Wannsee Conference, charge them with conspiracy to commit war crimes and crime against humanity (which were, indeed, committed), find them guilty, sentence them (all of them) to death by hanging – and execute them.

It never happened – justice was never served (as it was not served in thousands of cases of horrific crimes committed during the Holocaust).

Eichmann and Heydrich (co-authors of Wannsee Protocol) lied. In reality, only a very small number of “able-bodied Jews” were allocated for “appropriate labor in the East” (and very few of them ended up working on roads).

The overwhelming majority did not even get the chance – they were murdered (gassed) on arrival to dedicated killing centers in Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. And those who were (initially) spared in Auschwitz and Majdanek, did not last long – and almost always did not die from “natural causes”. They were gassed when it was determined that they were not efficient enough.

There is no evidence that the “Extermination through Labor” program officially existed in any camp (including Auschwitz and Majdanek); however, conditions in Nazi labor camps were so inhuman that in some camps most prisoners died within a few months of incarceration. According to WVHA estimates, the average life span of a labor camp inmates was mere nine months (in many camps it was just four).

There is evidence that the deliberate policy of Extermination through Labor did exist – but in the Soviet Gulag. For example, the penal system in the Kolyma and in the camps in the north was deliberately designed for the extermination of inmates.

Like the SS, the NKVD operated “annihilation camps” where the inmates were systematically wiped out through starvation and neglect. Which was far, far worse than poison gas – or a bullet to the head or to the heart.

[RolandVT]

Wannsee Conference was a criminal conspiracy to commit a serial mass murder (genocide of Jews under German control). However, in modern management terms, it was essentially a team building event.

By the date of Wannsee Conference, decision to kill all Jews under German control (and under control of Axis powers in Europe) via “Holocaust by Gas” has been made (by Heydrich and Himmler) and approved (by Göring and Hitler).

The first killing center (Chelmno) had been operational for over a month and three others – in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka – were under construction. As was Auschwitz II – Birkenau, the killing center next to Auschwitz I labor camp.

To operate (let alone at maximum performance), “Holocaust by Gas” needed operational infrastructure. To create and operate this diabolical system, joint effort of several Nazi agencies was needed.

The SS (RSHA, Order Police, RuSHA, WVHA, HSSPF); Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, NSDAP, Ostministerium (it was needed to complete “Holocaust by Bullets” in the occupied territories of the USSR), General Government and Reich Chancellery. Office of the Four-Year Plan also had to be involved – to (temporarily) spare the “productive Jews” vitally important for the war effort.

Bosses of all of the above gave their approval prior to Wannsee Conference (it was done in one-to-one conversations between them and Reinhard Heydrich – the CEO of the “Holocaust Project”).

However, to create and operate the murderous infrastructure for the “Holocaust by Gas” (and complete the “Holocaust by Bullets”), Heydrich needed to assemble and manage a highly efficient team of those who will actually do this job.

Hence, Wannsee Conference was essentially a team building event. A highly successful team building event, expertly managed by Heydrich (evil organizational genius of the Third Reich).

He skillfully created the impression that everyone’s opinion was important (it wasn’t), carefully led everyone to the decision to support the “Holocaust by Gas” (except for the SS, no one had even suspected that it was to happen) and – what was the most important – made everyone make a firm commitment to common goal: extermination of all Jews under (direct or indirect) German control.

Judging by the ultimate result (over 3 million Jews were murdered in the “Holocaust by Gas”), it was a very successful team building event indeed.

[RolandVT]

Operationally defined, to be more precise – legally it was defined by the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Operational definition was needed to determine who will be killed – and who will be spared; consequently, it included the definition of what was to be done with the person in question with some Jewish blood

Three possible outcomes for a “part-Jew” were announced at Wannsee Conference they can be: (1) “evacuated to the East” (deported to killing centers in Poland for gassing); (2) interned in “old age ghetto” in Theresienstadt; or (3) left alone.

The chosen destination depended mostly on the amount of Jewish blood in the veins of the individual in question (i.e., on who the person was – not on what he or she did – a textbook definition of genocide) – but also on his/her age (Jews over 65 were theoretically supposed to go to Theresienstadt). As were wounded Great War veterans and veterans with war decorations (Iron Cross First Class).

It must be noted that the “Theresienstadt reprieve” in reality was to be only temporary – in reality it was just another transit ghetto. Ultimately, all its inhabitants were destined to be gassed in killing centers (many were).

Nazis claimed that they defined Jews racially (by blood); however, it was not true because it was impossible (still is). Nazi research centers (Ahnenerbe and others) spent colossal amount of money, time and effort to solve this existential problem – and failed.

So, they had to resort to defining a Jew by the religion of his/her grandparents: everyone who had two grandparents who were of Jewish faith (Judaism) was considered a Jew.

This definition implicitly assumed that two generations ago all Jews by blood were of Jewish faith (which was not the case – but close enough for the Nazis). And, obviously, relied on ledgers taken from synagogues that listed all individuals of Jewish faith in the territory in question.

Individual with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered Volljude (“fully Jewish”) and was subject to mandatory “evacuation” (deportation to the killing center in occupied Poland).

A person with two Jewish grandparents was also “legally Jewish” if that person met any of these conditions: (1) was enrolled as a member of a Jewish congregation when the Nuremberg Laws were issued or joined later; (2) was married to a “full Jew”; (3) was the offspring from a marriage with a Jew, which was concluded after the ban on mixed marriages; or (4) was the offspring of an extramarital affair with a Jew, born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.

A person who did not belong to any of these categorical conditions, but had two Jewish grandparents was classified as a Mischling of the first degree according to. A person with only one Jewish grandparent (e.g., Vladimir Lenin) was classified as a Mischling of the second degree.

Operational definition of the Jew made by the Wannsee Conference (i.e., Reinhard Heydrich) was murderously broader. Persons of mixed blood (Mischling) of the first degree were to be treated as Jews and thus subject to mandatory “evacuation” (deportation to the killing center in occupied Poland).

There were two exemptions – one general and one individual. Persons of mixed blood of the first degree married to persons of German blood if their marriage has resulted in children (persons of mixed blood of the second degree) were exempt from “evacuation” and these children (Mischling of the second degree) were to be treated essentially as Germans.

Also exempted from evacuation (spared from gassing) were Mischlings of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Party and State have already issued exemption permits. However, each individual case was to be examined by the SS, and it was not ruled out that the decision may be made to the detriment of the Mischling in question.

The prerequisite for any exemption had always to be the personal merit of the person of mixed blood. (Not the merit of the parent or spouse of German blood.)

However, Mischling of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for all. Such sterilization will be voluntary. The sterilized Mischling was thereafter to be free of all restrictions to which he or she was previously subjected by the laws of the Reich.

Mischling of the second degree was to be treated fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be considered as Jews:

a) The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed blood.

b) The person of mixed blood of the second degree had a racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew (which was subject to a wide and highly subjective interpretation).

c) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a particularly bad police and political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew (ditto).

In these cases, exemptions were not to be made if the person of mixed blood of the second degree has married a person of German blood.

Marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and persons of German blood were treated especially brutally. If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of mixed blood of the first degree was be “evacuated” or sent to an old-age ghetto (Theresienstadt).

If children have resulted from the marriage (Mischlings of the second degree), they were, if they were to be treated as Jews, to be “evacuated” or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these children were to be treated as Germans (regular cases), they were exempted from evacuation as was therefore the parent of mixed blood of the first degree.

In marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and Mischlings of the first degree or Jews all members of the family (including the children) will be treated as Jews and therefore be “evacuated” or sent to an old-age ghetto.

In marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and Mischlings of the second degree both partners were to be “evacuated” or sent to an old- age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish person of mixed blood of the second degree.

[RolandVT]

The ultimate objective of Wannsee Conference was to facilitate the second stage of the Holocaust Project (“Holocaust by Gas”) – although there might have been the discussion of the “Holocaust by Bullets” as well. The objective of the former was to commit a serial mass murder of ultimately up to 4,500,000 Jews under German control (further 3 million or so were supposed to be shot).

Consequently, it was, indeed, the criminal conspiracy to commit a serial mass murder. Every attendee knew that he was conspiring with the others to commit genocide; everyone agreed to take part in this criminal enterprise (no one refused, let alone resigned in protest).

Everyone knew that he was supposed to (and did) make a not insignificant contribution to a serial mass murder of ultimately up to 4.5 million men, women, children and the elderly.

Hence, every attendee was guilty of a criminal conspiracy to commit mass murder. It is a capital crime punishable by death (where death penalty is on the books) or life in prison without the possibility of parole – LWOP – where it is not.

It is a colossal shame and a grave injustice that there was no “Wannsee Conference trial” (actually, there was no separate “Holocaust trial”). Only one attendee (Adolf Eichmann) was executed for his contribution to the Holocaust; two others – Josef Bühler and Karl Eberhard Schöngarth were executed for unrelated crimes.

By the date of Wannsee Conference, decision to kill all Jews under German control (and under control of Axis powers in Europe) via “Holocaust by Gas” has been made (by Heydrich and Himmler) and approved (by Göring and Hitler).

The first killing center (Chelmno) had been operational for over a month and three others – in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka – were under construction. As was Auschwitz II – Birkenau, the killing center next to Auschwitz I labor camp.

To operate (let alone at maximum performance), “Holocaust by Gas” needed operational infrastructure. To create and operate this diabolical system, joint effort of several Nazi agencies was needed.

The SS (RSHA, Order Police, RuSHA, WVHA, HSSPF); Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, NSDAP, Ostministerium (it was needed to complete “Holocaust by Bullets” in the occupied territories of the USSR), General Government and Reich Chancellery. Office of the Four-Year Plan also had to be involved – to (temporarily) spare the “productive Jews” vitally important for the war effort.

Bosses of all of the above gave their approval prior to Wannsee Conference (it was done in one-to-one conversations between them and Reinhard Heydrich – the CEO of the “Holocaust Project”).

However, to create and operate the murderous infrastructure for the “Holocaust by Gas” (and complete the “Holocaust by Bullets”), Heydrich needed to assemble and manage a highly efficient team of those who will actually do this job. Hence, Wannsee Conference was essentially a team building event. A highly successful team building event, expertly managed by Heydrich.

Holocaust perpetrators (especially the leaders of the “Holocaust Project” – Himmler, Heydrich, Göring and, yes, Adolf Hitler) were textbook mission-oriented serial killers. Serial mass murderers, true – but still serial killers.

Nazi leaders were made into serial killers by a sequence of highly emotionally traumatic external events in 1914-33 (from hardships of war to Great Depression). As all these highly emotionally traumatic events were directly or indirectly associated with Jews, it is no surprise that the Nazi leaders made committed serial mass murder (genocide) of the Jews.

All serial killers share the same dynamics: they escalate (“graduate” from torturing animals to petty crimes to more serious crimes to very serious crimes such as rape); then snap (and start killing); then escalate (“graduate”) again to more and more vicious murders.

And that’s exactly what happened to the Nazis leaders: Hitler, Göring, Himmler, and Heydrich. First, they escalated both in strategy (from forced emigration to deportation to inhospitable places) and in tactics (to a more and more severe persecution of Jews).

Then – sometime in early April of 1941 – they snapped and decided to commence mass murder of the Jews (initially, just men of military age in the Soviet Union). This snap was obviously triggered by an external event: On March 30, Adolf Hitler announced the existential war of annihilation against the “Judeo-Bolshevist” Soviet Union in May 1941 (it commenced on June 22nd).

Then they escalated again: from shooting all male Jews they graduated to murdering all Jews in the Soviet Union… and then escalated to murdering all Jews in all territories controlled by Germany and its allies. Thus, from “Holocaust by Bullets” to “Holocaust by Gas”.

[RolandVT]

My background is in investment banking (corporate finance), so the book begins with Executive Summary that provides key information on Wannsee Conference and the Holocaust in general. Executive Summary is followed by Timeline that presents key events leading to Wannsee Conference and in its aftermath.

Timeline is followed by ten chapters of the book core. The first chapter presents the essence of Wannsee Conference (it was a criminal conspiracy to commit serial mass murder – genocide of Jews under German control) and explains why it was the centerpiece of the whole “Holocaust project” (the “final solution of the Jewish question”) and the Holocaust infrastructure.

The second chapter presents a number of key facts about the Holocaust: it was the fourth (!!!) genocide of Jews in human history; it was not the only genocide in XX century (there were 17 other genocides); its dynamics was similar to an avalanche and Nazis deeply (and erroneously) believed that they had to kill all Jews in Europe.

The third chapter presents the “road to Wannsee Conference” – a brief description of decisions made and actions taken (prior to this Conference) by Nazi leadership (mostly Hitler, Himmler and Heydrich) to implement the “final solution to the Jewish questions” and external events that made them believe that total extermination of Jews under their (direct or indirect) control was their only option.

The fourth chapter provides a brief description of partners in crime (serial mass murder – genocide of Jews) – organizations that had to work closely together to implement the diabolical “Holocaust Project”: from the SS to (surprise) IBM.

The fifth chapter presents the attendees of the Wannsee Conference and explains why they were invited and what was their contribution to the implementation of the “final solution to Jewish question”.

The sixth chapter is devoted to the conference proper and the seventh chapter presents a detailed criminal profile of Holocaust perpetrators (serial mass murderers – “mission-oriented” serial killers).

The eighth chapter presents the key events in the “final solution of the Jewish question” after the Wannsee Conference (its aftermath). The ninth chapter is devoted to key Jewish uprisings in ghettos and death camps and the tenth chapter provides a brief description of post-war trials of Holocaust perpetrators.

The book ends with Conclusions, Appendices and Bibliography.

[RolandVT]

June 3rd, 2008, Prague, Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic

Bearing in mind the dignified and democratic future of our European home,

· whereas societies that neglect the past have no future,

· whereas Europe will not be united unless it is able to reunite its history, recognize Communism and Nazism as a common legacy and bring about an honest and thorough debate on all the totalitarian crimes of the past century,

· whereas the Communist ideology is directly responsible for crimes against humanity,

· whereas a bad conscience stemming from the Communist past is a heavy burden for the future of Europe and for our children,

· whereas different valuations of the Communist past may still split Europe into “West” and “East”,

· whereas European integration was a direct response to wars and violence provoked by totalitarian systems on the continent,

· whereas consciousness of the crimes against humanity committed by the Communist regimes throughout the continent must inform all European minds to the same extent as the Nazi regimes crimes did,

· whereas there are substantial similarities between Nazism and Communism in terms of their horrific and appalling character and their crimes against humanity,

· whereas the crimes of Communism still need to be assessed and judged from the legal, moral and political as well as the historical point of view,

· whereas the crimes were justified in the name of the class struggle theory and the principle of dictatorship of the “proletariat” using terror as a method to preserve the dictatorship,

· whereas Communist ideology has been used as a tool in the hands of empire builders in Europe and in Asia to reach their expansionist goals,

· whereas many of the perpetrators committing crimes in the name of Communism have not yet been brought to justice and their victims have not yet been compensated,

· whereas providing objective comprehensive information about the Communist totalitarian past leading to a deeper understanding and discussion is a necessary condition for sound future integration of all European nations,

· whereas the ultimate reconciliation of all European peoples is not possible without a concentrated and in depth effort to establish the truth and to restore the memory,

· whereas the Communist past of Europe must be dealt with thoroughly both in the academy and among the general public, and future generations should have ready access to information on Communism,

· whereas in different parts of the globe only a few totalitarian Communist regimes survive but, nevertheless, they control about one fifth of the world’s population, and by still clinging to power they commit crimes and impose a high cost to the well-being of their people,

· whereas in many countries, even though Communist parties are not in power, they have not distanced themselves publicly from the crimes of Communist regimes nor condemned them,

· whereas Prague is one of the places that lived through the rule of both Nazism and Communism,

believing that millions of victims of Communism and their families are entitled to enjoy justice, sympathy, understanding and recognition for their sufferings in the same way as the victims of Nazism have been morally and politically recognized,

we, participants of the Prague Conference “European Conscience and Communism”,

· having regard to the European Parliament resolution on the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe on 8 May 1945 of May 12th, 2005,

· having regard to Resolution 1481 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of January 26th, 2006,

· having regard to the resolutions on Communist crimes adopted by a number of national parliaments,

· having regard to the experience of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa,

· having regard to the experience of Institutes of Memory and memorials in Poland, Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United States, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania, the museums of occupation in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as the House of Terror in Hungary,

· having regard to present and upcoming presidencies in the EU and the Council of Europe

· having regard to the fact that 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the collapse of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe as well as the mass killings in Romania and the massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing,

call for:

1. reaching an all-European understanding that both the Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes each to be judged by their own terrible merits to be destructive in their policies of systematically applying extreme forms of terror, suppressing all civic and human liberties, starting aggressive wars and, as an inseparable part of their ideologies, exterminating and deporting whole nations and groups of population; and that as such they should be considered to be the main disasters, which blighted the 20th century,

2. recognition that many crimes committed in the name of Communism should be assessed as crimes against humanity serving as a warning for future generations, in the same way Nazi crimes were assessed by the Nuremberg Tribunal,

3. formulation of a common approach regarding crimes of totalitarian regimes, inter alia Communist regimes, and raising a Europe-wide awareness of the Communist crimes in order to clearly define a common attitude towards the crimes of the Communist regimes,

4. introduction of legislation that would enable courts of law to judge and sentence perpetrators of Communist crimes and to compensate victims of Communism,

5. ensuring the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination of victims of all the totalitarian regimes,

6. European and international pressure for effective condemnation of the past Communist crimes and for efficient fight against ongoing Communist crimes,

7. recognition of Communism as an integral and horrific part of Europe’s common history

8. acceptance of pan-European responsibility for crimes committed by Communism,

9. establishment of 23rd August, the day of signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, as a day of remembrance of the victims of both Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes, in the same way Europe remembers the victims of the Holocaust on January 27th,

10. responsible attitudes of National Parliaments as regards acknowledgement of Communist crimes as crimes against humanity, leading to the appropriate legislation, and to the parliamentary monitoring of such legislation,

11. effective public debate about the commercial and political misuse of Communist symbols,

12. continuation of the European Commission hearings regarding victims of totalitarian regimes, with a view to the compilation of a Commission communication,

13. establishment in European states, which had been ruled by totalitarian Communist regimes, of committees composed of independent experts with the task of collecting and assessing information on violations of human rights under totalitarian Communist regime at national level with a view to collaborating closely with a Council of Europe committee of experts;

14. ensuring a clear international legal framework regarding a free and unrestricted access to the Archives containing the information on the crimes of Communism,

15. establishment of an Institute of European Memory and Conscience which would be both – A) a European research institute for totalitarianism studies, developing scientific and educational projects and providing support to networking of national research institutes specializing in the subject of totalitarian experience, B) and a pan-European museum/memorial of victims of all totalitarian regimes, with an aim to memorialize victims of these regimes and raise awareness of the crimes committed by them,

16. organizing of an international conference on the crimes committed by totalitarian Communist regimes with the participation of representatives of governments, parliamentarians, academics, experts and NGOs, with the results to be largely publicized world-wide,

17. adjustment and overhaul of European history textbooks so that children could learn and be warned about Communism and its crimes in the same way as they have been taught to assess the Nazi crimes

18. the all-European extensive and thorough debate of Communist history and legacy,

19. joint commemoration of next year’s 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the massacre in Tiananmen Square and the killings in Romania.

We, participants of the Prague Conference “European Conscience and Communism”, address all peoples of Europe, all European political institutions including national governments, parliaments, European Parliament, European Commission, Council of Europe and other relevant international bodies, and call on them to embrace the ideas and appeals stipulated in this Prague Declaration and to implement them in practical steps and policies.

Overall number of signatories: 7833 (as of 2020)

[earlbrooks]

Does anyone reply besides me?
Where is everyone?!?!

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Quote: "enable courts of law to judge and sentence perpetrators of Communist crimes"

Recently, Two arrest warrants have been issued by the International court, yet the corrupt leaders still travel about.
I shake my head.