The Wannsee Conference

On 20 January 1942, an interagency meeting of less than two hours, including lunch, was held at a lakeside villa, previously owned by Interpol, in Berlin's western suburb Wannsee to coordinate the implementation of the 'final solution of the Jewish question.' The meeting of high-ranking administrators of several ministries and other agencies was convened at the invitation of Reinhard Heydrich, head of the powerful Reich Security Main Office, on the basis of Göring's instructions to him six months earlier to make plans for a 'total solution.' In fact, by the time the meeting was hel…