Wannsee conference, was it the place where the final solution was decided - Research Paper Example

Essentially, Hitler’s regime had decided to exterminate the entire global population of the Jews. This would be the second time the Jews were facing persecution in Europe. The first significant period of persecution has to be the period of the Black Deaths. This is the time when they were perceived to be the ones accountable for the extensive spread of the plague. Apparently, they achieved this by poisoning the water. During this period, the Jews were suffering the persecutions as the only victims of continental rage.

However, during the Holocaust, aside from the Jews, the disabled, the homosexuals, gypsies and at times twins were the recipients of these persecutions. These cleansing expeditions by the Nazis resulted in approximately six million deaths. This is aside from the emotional torture that it subjected to those who were lucky enough not to die. The extensive damage to the human race attributed to the Holocaust is as a result of proper planning by a team of German intellectuals. The meeting in which they designed and formulated the strategy of this genocide is referred to as the Wannsee Conference.

It is the ambition of this paper to give an extensive view of this Conference. This will be realized through the study of seven texts that focus on this Conference. Analysis Gerlach, Christina. "The Wannsee Conference, the Fate of German Jews, and Hitler's Decision in Principle to Exterminate All European Jews." The Journal Of Modern History, 1998: 759-812. The Wannsee Conference has been highlighted as the place where the decision of cleansing Europe of Jews took place. However, what has not been highlighted upon is the political pressure that had characterized Germany prior to the Holocaust.

Gerlach illustrates this by stating the political pressure Hitler faced: “ Hitler was reacting to political impulses and initiatives that originated from within the administration and within the party apparatus.”1 According to the author, the Conference had not been mandated with the extermination of the entire Jewish population rather, the Conference had been purposed to decide on who to classify as a Jew. This is crucial given the fact that the Holocaust persecuted not only the Jews, but the homosexuals, the gypsies, the disabled and t extreme levels also twins.

This is a rather astounding given the fact that the initial decision was only to cleanse Europe of Jews. The world has over time insinuated that Hitler acted alone in his narcissistic acts of dehumanization. However, Gerlach gives evidence that the political structure of Germany was all a long instrumental in the actions. She writes of the actions of Hitler in deporting the eastern Jews as being as direct urging by the political structure. Author cites documents that are believed to have originated from the Hitler administration showing aliasing of ideas on how to deal, best, with the Jewish community.

In light of this, the fact that the idea of exterminating the was directly and only from the Hitler becomes suspect. The Conference proceedings were established with the primary motive of deliberating on vital political and economic issues that were pertinent to Germany at the time. To give additional evidence of the vital nature of the Conference, the author illustrates that Hitler approved the deportation of the Jews2. If he was the one who orchestrated all the terrors that were realized due to this continental discrimination, then he would have simply carried