Editing Wannsee Conference (section)

== Planning the conference ==
[[File:Wannsee Conference - Letter from Reinhard Heydrich to Martin Luther (Invitation).JPG|thumb|upright|Letter from Heydrich to [[Martin Luther (diplomat)|Martin Luther]], Undersecretary at the Foreign Office, notifying him that the conference would be delayed]]

On 29 November 1941, Heydrich sent invitations for a ministerial conference to be held on 9 December at the offices of [[Interpol]] at ''Am Kleinen Wannsee 16''.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|p=57}} He changed the venue on 4 December to the eventual location of the meeting.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|p=57}} He enclosed a copy of a letter from Göring dated 31 July that authorised him to plan a so-called [[Final Solution|Final Solution to the Jewish Question]].{{sfn|Browning|2007|p=406}} The ministries to be represented were those responsible for Jewish issues, including the [[Reich Chancellery]], the Foreign Office, Interior, Justice, [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Propaganda]], the [[Four Year Plan]], and the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories|Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]]. Representatives from Party and SS components with special interests in the race issue were invited, including the [[Party Chancellery]], the [[SS Race and Settlement Main Office]], and the Office of the [[Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood]] (RKFDV). Representatives from the [[General Government]] of occupied Poland were also added to the list.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|pp=58–59}}

Between the date the invitations to the conference went out (29 November) and the date of the cancelled first meeting (9 December), the situation changed. On 5 December 1941, the [[Red Army]] began a [[Battle of Moscow|counter-offensive in front of]] Moscow ending the prospect of a rapid conquest of the Soviet Union. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese carried out an [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], causing the [[United States declaration of war upon Japan|U.S. to declare war on Japan]] the next day. [[German declaration of war against the United States (1941)|Germany declared war on the U.S.]] on 11 December. Some invitees were involved in these preparations, so Heydrich postponed his meeting.{{sfn|Browning|2007|p=407}} Somewhere around this time, Hitler resolved that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated immediately, rather than after the war, which now had no end in sight.{{sfn|Longerich|2000|p=2}}{{efn|name=Gerlach}} At the [[Reich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941]] he met with top party officials and made his intentions plain.{{sfn|Browning|2007|pp=407–408}} On 18 December, Hitler discussed the fate of the Jews with Himmler in the ''[[Wolf's Lair|Wolfsschanze]]''.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=119}} Following the meeting, Himmler made a note on his service calendar, which simply stated: "Jewish question/to be destroyed as partisans".{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=119}}

The original intention was to deport the Jews to camps in occupied areas of the Soviet Union and kill them there, but because victory over the Soviet Union was not forthcoming, the plans had to be changed. Heydrich decided that the Jews currently living in the [[General Government]] (the German-occupied area of Poland) would be killed in [[extermination camp]]s set up in occupied areas of Poland, as would Jews from the rest of Europe.{{sfn|Longerich|2010|pp=309–310}}

On 8 January 1942, Heydrich sent new invitations to a meeting to be held on 20 January.{{sfn|Browning|2007|p=410}} The venue for the rescheduled conference was a villa at ''[[Ernst Marlier#Wannsee Villa|Am Großen Wannsee 56–58]]'', overlooking the [[Großer Wannsee]]. The villa had been purchased from [[Friedrich Minoux]] in 1940 by the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (Security Force; SD) for use as a conference centre and guest house.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|p=65}}