Planning for the Holocaust

  • Hitler officially authorizes the T4 programme in his personal stationery

  • Himmler speaks of Jewish 'emigration'

    Speech in Berlin did not mention where Jews would go, and may have been a codeword for extermination
  • Eichmann announces to rivals that the Fuhrer entrusted him with the 'final evacuation' of the Jews

    Only German Jews are discussed. Browning believes this is referring to a plan to deport Jews to Vienna. 'evacuation' had previously been used as a euphamism for gassing. The use of codewords makes accurate understanding unclear
  • Period: to

    "Early 1941" - Alternatives to extermination (Madagascar and Sterilization) are rejected

    Brack's testimony.
  • Hitler declares that no immediate decision had been made on Jewish policy, and that for the short term, 'pragmatic considerations about Jewish labor were given priority over 'racial experimentation'

  • Brack letter recommending mass sterilization

    Brack writes to Himmler recommending mass X-Ray steralization of Jews which could manage up to four thousand per day. One week after Eichmann's comments, Brack was trying for a third time to get approval for an alternative to mass murder. Plans for mass murder therefore appear advanced by March 1941