Editing Wannsee Conference (section)

== Wannsee Protocol ==
[[File:Lake Wannsee Berlin.jpg|thumb|View of the Großer Wannsee lake from the villa at 56–58 Am Grossen Wannsee, where the conference was held]]
[[Shorthand]] notes for the minutes were taken by Eichmann's secretary, [[Ingeburg Werlemann]], and the minutes were written by Eichmann in consultation with Heydrich.{{sfn|Gryglewski|2020}} At the conclusion of the meeting, Heydrich gave Eichmann firm instructions about what was to appear in the minutes. They were not to be verbatim: Eichmann ensured that nothing too explicit appeared in them. He said at [[Eichmann_trial|his trial]]: "How shall I put it – certain over-plain talk and jargon expressions had to be rendered into office language by me."{{sfn|Cesarani|2005|p=114}}

Eichmann condensed his records into a document outlining the purpose of the meeting and the intentions of the regime. He stated at his trial that it was personally edited by Heydrich, and thus reflected the message he intended the participants to take away from the meeting.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|p=68}} Copies of the minutes (known by the German word for "minutes" as the "Wannsee Protocol"{{efn|name=Minutes}}) were sent by Eichmann to all the participants after the meeting.{{sfn|Cesarani|2005|pp=117–118}} Most of these copies were destroyed at the end of the war as participants and other officials sought to cover their tracks. It was not until 1947 that Luther's copy (number 16 out of 30 copies prepared) was found by [[Robert Kempner]], a U.S. prosecutor in the [[Nuremberg Trials|International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg]], in files that had been seized from the German Foreign Office.{{sfn|Roseman|2002|p=1}}
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