On January 20, 1942, fifteen high-ranking representatives of the NS state, following an invitation by Richard Heydrich, met in a luxurious villa on the Wannsee to discuss the “final solution” of the “Jewish question”. The minutes of the meeting record that the decision taken was to deport a total of eleven million people, expose them to murderous forced labour and use other methods to kill any survivors and those unable to work.
Peter Longerich, one of the most eminent researchers into NS history, reveals how, in the minds of Third Reich leaders, the vague intention of destroying the Jews developed into a precise and clear-cut murder programme and how hugely significant the Wannsee Conference was within the context of the Holocaust. The book contains the complete minutes of the Wannsee Conference, annotated by Peter Longerich.