Endlösung : Völkerverschiebung und der Mord an den europäischen Juden

Using memos and correspondence of lower-level officials, analyzes the processes in 1939-41 that led to the Final Solution in the context of Nazi demographic policy. The Warthegau (and eventually all of Poland and large sections of the USSR) was to be settled by Volksdeutsche. To make room for these, hundreds of thousands of Slavs and all the Jews were to be deported. When deportations could not keep pace with the arrival of Volksdeutsche, these were moved into the homes of Poles, Poles into the homes of Jews, and Jews into ghettos. For a time, local Nazi authorities complaining of overpopulation in their jurisdictions and untenable conditions in the ghettos were promised that the problem would be solved when territories became available in the Soviet Union. By August 1941 this expectation was not fulfilled and local functionaries sought more radical solutions. Suggests that although Hitler did not give an explicit order, he probably expressed a wish that the Jews be eliminated and left the methods to Himmler, Heydrich, and their local subordinates. These acted according to the dictates of the situation, their own hatred of Jews, and what they understood to be Nazi policy. Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-432) and index. 446 pages : maps ; 22 cm