Give the students a brief overview of the lead-up to the Wannsee Conference, including a short history of the development of internment camps and ghettos. Explain that the Holocaust was a gradual process of violence and oppression; the end result of a series of events throughout the 1930s and WWII, and implemented by various groups throughout the Nazi sphere. There was no direct order signed by Adolf Hitler from the beginning. Many different people were in charge of its organization. The Wannsee Conference served to iron out details of mass extermination of the Jewish people. Despite everyone knowing what was happening, there was never a direct order for murder.

Watch the first 30 minutes of the 1984 German film Die Wannseekonferenz, available with subtitles. (Suggested stop time 31:22). Ask students to take note of details that may have surprised them, as well as key words or phrases, such as “final solution” and “Jewish question.” Stop the video at the following intervals and talk about the topics underneath, or take this time to answer any questions your students may have.

Pause movie at 10:06

• Attitude in the way people discuss these very serious topics.
• Confusion over racial versus religious definition of Jew.
• What problem did they have with the train in Riga? What was the concern?

Pause movie at 19:15

• Discuss this quote: “Shared knowledge means shared responsibility. Shared responsibility means shared liability” 13:16
• What are your thoughts about the conversation had about feeling sick at the sight of the executions and him saying, “It proves we Germans are human.”?
• What does he mean when he says, “If X, then Y”?

Lead the class in a discussion about what details may have surprised or stood out to them about the depiction of the Wannsee Conference – for example, how people casually discussed mass murder interspersed with laughter and socializing; the scene where we see one SS official paying fetch with a dog while his colleague complains that his “top secret” documents about Jewish mass killings are being circulated amongst everyone.

Ask the students how extensive they believe the planning and execution of the Holocaust may have been – i.e, what kind of organization and resources they believe Nazi authorities used to make the Holocaust a reality.

Walk the students through the resource, Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Have each student take notes on the different examples of government departments they may or may not have expected to have attended the meeting, the goals of the attendees, as well as euphemisms (words used as a less problematic substitute for terms such as “evacuation to the east” instead of “extermination”, etc), aspects or details that were discussed within the meeting that they may or may not have expected to come up.

Lead the class in a discussion about the different actors at play during the Wannsee conference. Depending on how much time you have for this discussion, answer some (or all) of the questions below.

1. Which participants may have surprised them and why?
2. What was the range of occupations and professions required to implement the Holocaust?
3. What does it say about how broadly participation in the genocide must have been, not only by the government but also by those working for different departments and the military?
4. Did the planned size and location of the Holocaust, such as inclusion of Irish or UK Jews within their planned genocide, surprise them?
5. Did they expect that things such as distinctions for decorated WWI soldiers or Jews of “mixed descent” to come up?
6. What kind of subtle language did Heydrich use to hide their plans, and why?
7. What are some outcomes that we can see from this conference taking place, such as the implementation of Zyklon B gassing as the primary method of murdering people during the Holocaust?

Give a short background of events leading up to the Wannsee conference. Make sure to mention that mass killing of European Jews had already begun, but it was not as widespread or organized. Give a list of the different people attending the conference, found here, as well as their jobs, to show the variety of different governmental agencies who were brought together to cooperate in genocide.

Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5. Provide each group with a copy of the Wannsee conference minutes. Give the groups 15 minutes to read through the minutes and ask them to highlight words or phrases used in relation to the fate of Jewish populations (i.e. “evacuation to the East”). If students are unsure, a good example would be the phrase “Jewish question” itself as it is not readily apparent that the “Jewish question” means “How do we get rid of European Jews?”

Lead the class in a discussion following the words and phrases that students highlighted. Explain these terms and phrases, and what they really meant (i.e. “evacuation to the East” meaning “being sent to a concentration or death camp”). Make sure to point out phrases that may have been overlooked.

Finish the discussion with an overview of what we can learn from this document, including relevant questions; this document shows that numerous government authorities were in cooperation in an effort to carry out this genocide:

1. Did any of the participants surprise or confuse the students? If so, why or why not?
2. How does this document show that Nazi leadership felt the necessity to tread carefully?
3. What does this mean? For example, could this indicate that the leadership knew what they were doing would be met with criticism? Criticism from whom? The German population, international groups? Both?
4. Point out the succinct, unemotional nature of the discussion and how it directly contrasts with the subject matter. Does it strike you as odd that someone could so emotionlessly discuss the genocide of an entire group of people?
5. What does this say about how Nazis felt about Jewish people?