4.4 What was the ‘Final Solution’?
4.4 What was the ‘Final Solution’? For the Nazis, victory in Eastern Europe would create an opportunity for them to ‘solve’ things that they wrongly believed were problems. In the Nazis’ racist worldview, one of the main ‘problems’ was what to do with the Jewish
people who were under their control. However, even among Nazis there were different views over what to do. All believed a ‘final solution’ to the Jewish ‘problem’ was needed.
Murder moves westwards Herbert Lange
Arthur Greiser
Herbert Lange was a policeman who joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and the SS in 1933. In 1939–40, Lange was in charge of a group that murdered people who were classified by the Nazis as ‘disabled’ in the Warthegau – an area of Germanoccupied Poland. The group came up with the idea of gassing these people in converted vans.
Arthur Greiser was governor of the Warthegau. Greiser wanted to make the Warthegau free of Jews, most of whom were now living in ghettos. He tried and failed to do this by moving Jews into other parts of German-occupied Poland. Eventually, he decided to achieve his goal through murder. In the summer of 1941, once Hitler and Himmler had given their permission, Greiser and his officials began drawing up plans. Mass shootings began in September, but a new method of killing was introduced. In 1939 and 1940, gas vans had been used to kill thousands who were classified by the Nazis as ‘disabled’ in Germany and German-occupied Poland. It was decided this would be the best way to make the Warthegau ‘free’ from Jews.
Activities 1 Why did Greiser decide to murder Jews in the Warthegau?
2 What can we learn about the decision-making process behind the Holocaust from the events in the Warthegau?
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