Chapter VI:
National-Socialist Policy of Jewish Emigration

Since Adolf Hitler 's assumption of power, the National-Socialist policy toward the Jews was consistently that of pursuing their 'removal' from Germany.[505]

On August 28, 1933, the Ministry of Economics of the Reich concluded the so-called 'Haavara Agreement' with the Jewish Agency for Palestine, an economic agreement that was supposed to form the foundation for the emigration of approximately 52,000 German Jews to Palestine up to the year 1942.[506] Up until the outbreak of the Second World War and indeed even after its start - as long as circumstances permitted it - the emigration of Jews into all nations prepared to accept them was the leitmotif of the National-Socialist policy. This is confirmed by a report of the Foreign Ministry of January 25, 1939, which bore the title: "Die Judenfrage als Faktor der Außenpolitik im Jahre 1938" (The Jewish question as a factor of foreign policy in 1938):[507]

On the previous day, the 25th of January 1939, Hermann Göring had issued a decree, which approved the establishment of a 'Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration.' Reinhard Heydrich was put in charge of it. In the first line, Göring summarized the basic principle of the NS policy vis-a-vis the Jews:

The Reich Central Office mentioned had the mission of "effecting all measures for the preparation of an intensified emigration of the Jews," of promoting preferential emigration of poor Jews and, lastly, of facilitating the bureaucratic practices for individual persons.[508]

On June 24, 1940, Heydrich asked Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop to be informed about possible ministerial meetings regarding the 'final solution of the Jewish question.' The German wording of this phrase, upon which so much print has been expended and about which so much disinformation has been propagated, is "Endlösung der Judenfrage." Heydrich gave these reasons for his request:[509]

As a result of this letter, the Foreign Ministry devised the so-called Madagascar Plan. On July 3, 1940, Franz Rademacher, Director of the Jewish Department in the Foreign Ministry, composed a report entitled "Die Judenfrage im Friedensvertrage" (The Jewish Question in the Peace Treaty), which begins with the following declaration:

Rademacher explained that with the peace treaty - regarded as imminent - with France, the latter would give up the island of Madagascar as a mandate territory, to which all European Jews would be deported and which would form an autonomous state under the control of Germany:[510]

The project was approved by Ribbentrop and was referred to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, which was supposed to be responsible for the technical preparations for the resettlement of the Jews onto the east African island and the supervision of the evacuated Jews.[511]

It was just this, which was the "territorial final solution" of the Jewish question, which Heydrich had in mind.

On August 30, 1940, Rademacher prepared the note "Madagaskar-Projekt," in which the section "Finanzierung" (Financing) begins with the following words:[513]

The 'final solution of the Jewish question' therefore meant nothing other than the resettlement of the European Jews to Madagascar. On July 12, 1940, Hans Frank, Governor General of Poland, gave a speech, in which he made known the decision[514]

On July 25, Frank repeated that the Führer had decided to deport the Jews,[515]

In October 1940, Alfred Rosenberg wrote an article entitled "Juden auf Madagaskar" (Jews on Madagascar), in which he recalled that already at the anti-Jewish Congress of Budapest in 1927

Rosenberg took up the proposal and expressed his wish that "Jewish high-finance" of the USA and Great Britain might also contribute to the establishment of a 'Jewish reservation' on Madagascar, which in his opinion constituted "a world problem."[516]

At the conference whose theme was "The Jewish Question as World Problem," which took place on March 29, 1941, Rosenberg declared:

He mentioned in this connection a "Jewish reservation," which - even though Rosenberg did not expressly say it - was obviously supposed to be located on Madagascar.[517]

According to the testimony of Moritz von Schirmeister, a former official in the Propaganda Ministry, Josef Goebbels also spoke about the Madagascar Plan several times,[518] and Ribbentrop recalled the decision of the Führer to deport the European Jews to north Africa or Madagascar.[519] This was no idle pipe-dream, but rather a very real and concrete project. Parallel to this, the authorities of the Reich kept promoting the Jewish emigration mainly out of Germany by all means.

On May 20, 1941, in expectation of the execution of the Madagascar Plan, which, so it was thought, was imminent, Heydrich prohibited Jewish emigration from France and Belgium "in view of the undoubted approaching final solution of the Jewish problem."[520] But Heydrich nevertheless repeated the central principle of the NS policy toward the Jews:[521]

Heydrich then unambiguously explained the reasons for the prohibition of Jewish emigration from France and Belgium:[520]

Two months after that, on July 31, Göring entrusted Heydrich with the mission to effect all necessary preparations for the 'final solution,' i.e. the emigration or evacuation of all Jews located in the German sphere of influence, to Madagascar. In his letter we read:[522]

This document is in full conformity with the Madagascar Plan. The instructions from Göring issued in "supplement" to those already given to Heydrich in the order of January 14, 1939, in fact consisted exclusively in the realization of the solution of the Jewish problem "in the form of emigration or evacuation"[523] of the Jews from the Reich, while at the same time a territorial 'final solution' for all Jews in the German-occupied European nations, by means of forced resettlement to Madagascar, was the aim. Precisely because it included all Jews of the occupied European nations, this solution was described as the "Gesamtlösung" (complete solution).

By virtue of the fact that Heydrich wrote on November 6, 1941, that he had already been charged for years with the preparation for the 'final solution' in Europe,[524] he himself was clearly referring to the task assigned to him by the order of January 14, 1939, and identified the 'final solution' with the "solution in form of an emigration or evacuation," which Göring had specified as the goal in the letter of July 31, 1941. In the same context belongs an order, which was transmitted to the Foreign Office by Adolf Eichmann on August 28, 1941, and which prohibited "an emigration of Jews out of the territories occupied by us, in consideration of the final solution of the issue of European Jews, which is in preparation and is approaching."[525]

In the months that followed, the prospect of large territorial gains had become realistic since the start of the Russian campaign, so that new perspectives developed, which led to a significant change of course in the NS Jewish policy. In place of the 'final solution' by forced resettlement to Madagascar, a 'territorial final solution' emerged by means of deporting the European Jews into the eastern territories conquered by the Germans.

This change of course was announced on August 22, 1941, by SS-Sturmbannführer Carltheo Zeitschel, an advisor at the German embassy in Paris, who wrote a note to the attention of ambassador Otto Abetz:[526]

After Zeitschel had alluded to the situation of French Jewry, he concluded:

The plan of deporting the Jews into the eastern territories had already been considered earlier several times. On April 2, 1941, even before the start of the eastern campaign, Reichsminister Rosenberg had toyed with the thought[527]

On July 17, 1941, General Governor Frank made the following entry in his work diary:[528]

On August 20, 1941, after a visit to the headquarters of the Führer, Goebbels confided the following to his diary:[529]

On September 24, 1941, Goebbels had a conversation with Heydrich in the Führer's headquarters; on the day after, he wrote in his diary that the Jews in the east

Likewise, on September 28, he wrote that the Führer held the view that one must push the Jews step by step out of all of Germany, and he expressed the following desire:[529]

In a note of October 7, 1941, Werner Koeppen, a liaison to Rosenberg, wrote that Hitler had declared the following on the previous day with respect to the Protectorate: [529]

On October 13, 1941, Frank and Rosenberg had a conversation, during which they also discussed the deportation of the Jews from the General Gouvernement:[530]

Zeitschel 's proposal was thus accepted some months later by Hitler himself, who resolved to temporarily shelve the Madagascar Plan and to deport all Jews living in the occupied territories to the east. This decision of the Führer was probably made in September 1941. On October 23, 1941, Himmler prohibited Jewish emigration, effective at once,[532] and on the following day the evacuation of 50,000 western Jews to the east was ordered. On October 24, Kurt Daluege, Chief of the Ordnungspolizei (regular police force responsible for keeping public order), issued a decree that dealt with "Evacuations of Jews from the Old Reich and the Protectorate":[533]

On October 25, 1941, Franz Rademacher, Legation Counselor at the Foreign Office, composed a note, in which he added the following after the announcement of the shooting of 8,000 male Jews in Serbia:[534]

If, according to this, a portion of these Serbian Jews (the adult males) were shot and the rest were subject to the "total solution to the Jewish problem," it is clear that the physical destruction of the Jews could not have been meant by the latter, but merely the deportation into "reception camps in the east," which served to accept Jews incapable of working.

The new course of the NS policy toward the Jews was officially announced to the senior party ranks at the Wannsee Conference, called expressly for this purpose. The Conference, originally planned for December 9, 1941,[536] but then postponed, took place on January 20, 1942, at Großer Wannsee 56/58 in Berlin. The speaker was Reinhard Heydrich. The Conference protocol begins with a broad retrospective on the National-Socialist Jewish policy up to that point:[537]

"At the beginning of the discussion Chief of the Security Police and of the SD [Sicherheitsdienst = Security Service], SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, reported that the Reich Marshal had appointed him delegate for the preparations for the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe and pointed out that this discussion had been called for the purpose of clarifying fundamental questions. The wish of the Reich Marshal to have a draft sent to him concerning organizational, factual and material interests in relation to the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe makes necessary an initial common action of all central offices immediately concerned with these questions in order to bring their general activities into line. The Reichsführer-SS and the Chief of the German Police (Chief of the Security Police and the SD) was entrusted with the official central handling of the final solution of the Jewish question without regard to geographic borders.

The Chief of the Security Police and the SD then gave a short report of the struggle which has been carried on thus far against this enemy, the essential points being the following:

• the expulsion of the Jews from every sphere of life of the German people,

• the expulsion of the Jews from the living space of the German people.

In carrying out these efforts, an increased and planned acceleration of the emigration of the Jews from Reich territory was started, as the only possible present solution.

By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration was set up in January 1939 and the Chief of the Security Police and SD was entrusted with the management. Its most important tasks were:

• to make all necessary arrangements for the preparation for an increased emigration of the Jews,

• to direct the flow of emigration,

• to speed the procedure of emigration in each individual case.

The aim of all this was to cleanse German living space of Jews in a legal manner."

Heydrich emphasized that as a result of this policy and despite various difficulties, up to October 31, 1941, approximately 537,000 Jews had emigrated:

• - approximately 360,000 from the Old Reich, borders of January 30, 1933.

• - approximately 147,000 from the Ostmark, borders of March 15, 1938.

• - approximately 30,000 from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, borders of March 15, 1939.

The protocol continues:

Thus, on Hitler 's order, the deportation of Jews into the occupied territories of the east replaced the emigration or expulsion of all European Jews to Madagascar, though merely as a "provisional" solution pending a 'final solution' of this issue after the war's end.

Already in August 1940, Hitler had announced his intention to evacuate all Jews of Europe after the war.[538] According to a note of the Reich Chancellery from March or April 1942, he had repeatedly informed Lammers, the chief of this Chancellery, "that he wanted to defer the solution of the Jewish problem until after the war."[539] On July 24, 1942, the Führer confirmed this intention with pithy words:[540]

The intention of the National-Socialists to deal with the solution of the Jewish problem after the war is also apparent from the so-called 'Brown Portfolio,' which was devised by Rosenberg on June 20, 1941, and integrated into the 'Green Portfolio' of September 1942. There, the section "Richtlinien für die Behandlung der Judenfrage" (Guidelines for the handling of the Jewish question) begins with the following words:[541]

In a copy of these "Guidelines for the handling of the Jewish Problem," which however bears no date but which nevertheless certainly comes from this period of time, an additional sentence was inserted after the sentence ending with "decisions otherwise affecting this area":[542]

In connection with Jews of Spanish nationality residing in occupied France, a note by Luther of October 17, 1941, likewise mentions

Therefore, the Wannsee Conference had been called in for the sole purpose of announcing to the authorities concerned the retirement of the emigration policy and the Madagascar Plan as well as the start of a policy of extensive deportation of Jews to the east and to discuss the problems generated by it. The Madagascar Plan was officially abandoned on February 10, 1942. A letter from Rademacher to the envoy Bielfeld of the Foreign Ministry, dated February 10, 1942, explains the reasons:[544]

The 'final solution' was therefore of a territorial nature and consisted of the deportation of the Jews out of the territories governed by Germany to the east. This is fully consistent with another important document, the Luther Memorandum of August 1942. In it Luther mainly summarized all essential points of the NS policy with respect to the Jews:[545]

After he had explained the genesis and development of the Madagascar Plan, which in the meantime had been overtaken by events, Luther stressed that Göring's letter of July 31, 1941, was the result of the Heydrich letter of June 24, 1940, according to which the Jewish question was no longer to be solved by emigration, but required "a territorial final solution." Luther continues:

On the basis of this order, Luther added, the evacuation of the Jews from Germany had been implemented. Their destination was the eastern territories, to which they would be deported via the General Gouvernement:

A circular of October 9, 1942, entitled "Rumors concerning the situation of the Jews in the east," intended for party functionaries, explains the measures taken against the Jews as follows:[546]

In a report entitled "Financing the Measures for the Solution of the Jewish Problem" from December 14, 1942, Ministerial Counselor Maedel summed up the National-Socialist policy toward the Jews as follows:[547]

The National-Socialist policy for the promotion of Jewish emigration conformed to a concrete goal of the Reich leadership and was accordingly conducted earnestly and successfully. In April of 1943, Richard Korherr, Inspector for Statistics at the office of the Reichsführer of the SS, wrote a report entitled "The Final Solution to the European Jewish Question,"[548] in which the following figures are given:

Thus, 557,357 Jews emigrated from the Altreich (Germany proper), Austria, and Bohemia and Moravia, to which more than half of the 762,593 Jews from the General Gouvernement and the eastern territories can be added,[549] a figure from the categories "Emigration" and "Mortality Surplus" combined by Korherr for those two areas. Consequently, the NS government stimulated the emigration of approximately one million Jews out of the territories controlled by it from 1933 to 1942.

The policy of deportation of Jews to the east, which was decided upon by Hitler himself in September 1941, received its official blessing in a letter, which Himmler wrote to Gauleiter Arthur Greiser on September 18, 1941:[550]

At a meeting held in Prague on October 10, 1941, in which Heydrich also took part, the solution of the Jewish problem in the Protectorate as well as the partial solution of the Jewish problem in the Altreich was discussed. The start of the deportations was fixed for October 15, and the deportation of 50,000 Jews to Minsk and Riga was decided upon:[551]

In regard to the accommodation of the future deportees, we read:

As already mentioned, the deportation order was issued on October 24, 1941. The eastern territories were the destination of these deportations. At that time, the eastern territories under civilian administration were the Reichskommissariat Ostland and the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, both subject to the authority of Alfred Rosenberg, the Reichsminister for the occupied territories of the east. The Reichskommissariat Ostland, administered by Reichskommissar Heinrich Lohse, was subdivided into the four general districts or Generalkommissariats of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and White Russia, while the Reichskommissariat Ukraine was governed by Reichskommissar Erich Koch.

The first orders with respect to the Jews in the eastern territories were harsh, but in no way aimed at an extermination. The paragraph "Guidelines for the handling of the Jewish question" in the 'Brown Portfolio' dating from June 20, 1941, intended the isolation of the local Jews from the rest of the population and their exclusion from economic, social, and cultural life by means of ghettoization:[552]

The "Temporary guidelines for the treatment of the Jews in the territory of the Reichskommissariat Ostland", which were presented to Rosenberg on August 13, 1941, also planned strict measures for the exclusion of Jews from public life and their concentration in ghettos:[553]

After a reference to the self-government in the ghettos, the "Guidelines" deal with deployment of the Jews for labor:

These orders went into effect in the general district of Latvia on September 1, 1941.[554]

On September 12 of that year, Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the General Headquarters of the Wehrmacht, issued a directive dealing with the subject "Jews in the newly occupied territories of the east," which begins as follows:[555]

This struggle did not mean, however, the extermination of the Jews, but merely the prohibition of collaboration with the Jewish populace as well as of the entry of individual Jews into the auxiliary services of the Wehrmacht. The employment of Jews was permitted exclusively "in specially collected labor crews" under German supervision.

On October 1, 1941, SS-Sturmbannführer Ehrlinger, with permission of his superior Franz Stahlecker, Head of Einsatzgruppe A, composed a note on the subject "Establishment of a Concentration Camp in Latvia." It proposed the formation of a camp in the vicinity of Riga for approximately 3,000 prisoners sitting in jails and for approximately 23,000 Jews living in the ghetto of Riga. The prisoners were supposed to be employed at the cutting of peat and the production of tiles. As to the Jews, it said:[556]

The proposal was approved by Reichsminister Rosenberg. On December 4, 1941, he wrote a letter to Reichskommissar Lohse on the subject of "Solution of the Jewish Question," in which he reported the following:[557]

The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Protectorate and the Altreich to Minsk and Riga, decided upon during the meeting of October 10, 1941, began a month later. However, it represented only the first step of the deportations, since the deportees were supposed to be taken even farther east. One of the first reports concerning the deportations into the Ostland is a telegram of November 9, 1941, directed to Rosenberg by Lohse, which reads as follows:[558]

On the same day, Dr. Leibbrand, head of the office at the Rosenberg Ministry, sent the following telegram to Lohse:[559]

The local authorities were anything but delighted about the influx of these western Jews and lodged protests against it several times. On November 20, 1941, the Wehrmacht commander of the Ostland wrote a letter to Lohse on the subject "Transportation of Jews from Germany to White Russia," in which he explained:[560]

The Jewish population of White Russia, the letter continued, was "Bolshevist and capable of every attitude hostile to Germany" as well as active in the resistance. Therefore, the German-Jewish new arrivals would get into contact with Communist organizations. For this reason as well as because the deportations would hinder the transports for the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht commander asked that

But the protests faded away unheard. On November 20, 1941, Stahlecker reported to Lohse:[561]

A note of January 13, 1942, from Lohse 's office reiterated:[563]

On January 5, 1942, the City Commissioner of Minsk, Janetzke, who opposed the deportations into this city, turned directly to Rosenberg. He wrote the latter a letter on the subject "Evacuation of Jews from Germany to Minsk," in which he explained that he had heard that the central authorities had the intention

About 100,000 civilians lived in that city, which literally lay in ruins, and also "about 7,000 Jews from Germany" as well as "roughly from 15,000 to 18,000 Russian Jews" as prisoners. Thus, no possibility existed of accommodating any more people. To these difficulties, "the very serious problem of feeding the population (including the Jews)" was added. For these reasons, Janetzke asked for the cessation of the Jewish transports to Minsk.[564]

County Court official Wetzel responded on behalf of Rosenberg in a letter dated January 16, 1942, which was directed to Reich Commissioner Lohse:[565]

However, on February 6, 1942, in a letter to Lohse, the Generalkommissar for White Russia, William Kube supported Janetzke 's request. He pointed out how impossible it was in a city like Minsk, 80% of which lay in ruins, to accommodate yet an additional 25,000 Jews.[566] On June 26, 1942, the Chief of the Security Police and of the SD wrote the following in a report:[567]

The measures were nothing other than the concrete carrying out of the policy as laid out in the 'Brown Portfolio,' which intended a future solution of the Jewish problem "for all of Europe after the war."

The existing railway documents[568] make it possible for us to draw only a part of the entire picture of the transports of Jews directly into the eastern territories. The transports arriving from the territory of the Reich were organized by the German Reichsbahn (Reichsbahndirektion in Königsberg), whose duty was to inform all departments involved. The transports received the abbreviation 'Da'[569] and were numbered consecutively. The empty trains, designated by 'Lp,' were assigned numbers above 1,000.

The following transports are known:[570]

Notes