Final Solution

At the Wannsee Conference in 1942, Nazi officials coordinated the implementation of the Final Solution: the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews. The conference should not be understood as the moment when persecution or killing first began. It helped organise cooperation between government agencies for deportation and murder on a continental scale.

The Nazis used the expression ‘Final Solution’ to disguise their plan to murder Europe's Jews. The exact point at which the leadership decided upon a Europe-wide programme remains uncertain. However, mass murder was already underway before the Wannsee Conference, held near Berlin in January 1942.

Nazi policy developed into the attempted murder of all of Europe’s Jews, which the Nazis called the ‘Final Solution’.