[ t h e f i n a l solution part 2 ] 


The Final Solution: the Decision

By September 1941 the mass slaughter of Russian Jews was well underway. However, what Hitler had in store for Jews in other parts of Europe remains unclear. Browning is convinced that Hitler was considering killing all Jews in July 1941 and asked Himmler and Heydrich to come up with a genocide 'feasibility study': after all, it was illogical to kill Russian Jews and then transport Polish Jews into the vacuum thus created. In Browning's view, the mass murder of Jews was the first use to which German victory was going to be put: 'in the euphoria of seeming victory [in July 1941] Hitler solicited a plan to extend the killing process already underway in Russia to the rest of Europe's Jews'.

On 31 July Goering sent the following document to Heydrich:

I hereby charge you with making all necessary preparations with regard to organisational, technical and material matters for bringing about a complete solution of the Jewish question within the German sphere of influence in Europe. ... I request you further to send me, in the near future, an overall plan covering the organisational, technical and material measures necessary for the accomplishment of the final solution of the Jewish question which we desire.

Goering (pictured) did not initiate but only signed this authorisation, which was actually prepared by Heydrich's office. (Heydrich was thus essentially giving orders to himself) Nevertheless, historian Raul Hilberg regards the Goering document as a critical 'turning point'. Browning agrees. Given that the SS already had far-reaching authority, Heydrich did not need Goering's authorisation to continue expulsion/extermination activities. The 31 July document thus suggests that Heydrich now knew he faced a new and awesome task that dwarfed even the Einsatzgruppen massacres.

However, other historians are not convinced. Some think the 31 July document simply represented an extension of Heydrich's responsibility for the Jewish question beyond Germany's borders. They point out that neither Heydrich nor Goering, in fact, behaved in the days following 31 July as if the decision to kill all Europe's Jews had been taken. There are no signs in August of frenzied activity to organise a genocide programme.

Historians like Burrin and Kershaw are not convinced that the surge of killings in the USSR meant that Hitler had yet decided to kill all of Europe's Jews. They think that Hitler's decision came later - - either in September or October 1941 - and had little to do with the euphoria of victory. 'Everything seems to suggest that there was a decision-making process lasting several weeks before the fatal verdict was handed down in September', thinks Burrin. Kershaw stresses that 'unequivocal signs of actual planning of systematic genocide in Poland, the key area, are not to be found before October'. Burrin and Kershaw believe that Hitler finally decided on genocide more out of a sense of desperation than of elation. By September 1941 Operation Barbarossa was not going to plan. The campaign, which the Germans had anticipated would last no more than four months, was far from over. By August, Hitler was increasingly anxious. The longer the USSR kept up the fight, the greater the danger of guerrilla war. Thus there was a need for even harsher methods to keep the occupied areas under control. Moreover, German casualties continued to mount. According to Burrin, Hitler decided that the Jews would have to foot the bill for the spilling of so much German blood. The central decision in late September or early October, claims Burrin, 'had arisen from a murderous rage increasingly exacerbated by the ordeal of the failure of his campaign in Russia'. By killing his archetypal enemies, he was demonstrating his will to fight to the end.

It is, of course, possible that Hitler gave two extermination orders: one concerning Russian Jews in July 1941 and another later in 1941 affecting the rest of European Jewry. This is Browning's view. Having ordered the killing of Russian Jews and the setting up of a feasibility study, Browning believes that Hitler vacillated between July and September - his mood fluctuating as the fortunes of war in the USSR fluctuated. From mid-September 1941 until mid-October 1941, however, the fighting suddenly swung in Germany's favour. At some stage in September/October 1941, with the second peak of German military success, Browning thinks Hitler unleashed the second great intensification of the Holocaust.

Given that documentation is scarce and that most of the chief people responsible for the Holocaust died before the end of the war, the debate about the precise timing of the Final Solution looks set to continue. But most Holocaust historians now accept Burrin's view that the pieces of the Holocaust fell into place between 18 September and 18 October 1941. The vast majority also believe that it was Hitler who initiated the Holocaust. Nothing so radical could have begun without his approval. Admittedly the factors which led to his decision remain speculative, but events do seem to have been propelling him towards a violent solution to the Jewish problem. The slaughter of Soviet Jews would enable Hitler to break out of the vicious circle in which military success brought millions more Jews under German control. Once he resolved to kill all Russian Jews it was but a small step to decide to kill all Jews. Just as with the euthanasia programme, Hitler seems to have been anxious to avoid associating himself too closely with the Holocaust. Thus he probably left it to Goering and Himmler to sort matters out between themselves, having given them the go-ahead in general terms. It is possible that Hitler authorised Himmler to produce a solution to the Jewish question without enquiring too closely into what would be involved. But since any genocide solution required the involvement of numerous state agencies, some form of authorisation from Hitler was necessary. At no stage were local officials acting on their own initiative. They were obeying orders from Himmler, who in turn was obeying Hitler's orders. Himmler later said: 'I do nothing that the Fuhrer does not know.