The Legacy of Wannsee, 85 Years Later 

On January 20^th, 1942, various Nazi officials gathered at a villa just outside of Berlin for a brief 90-minute conference. Their purpose? To streamline the process and bureaucracy behind a mass murder of millions that had already begun. Many scholars and educators refer to the Wannsee Conference as the quintessential administrative prelude to the “Final Solution,” a policy that Nazi officials had already agreed upon to institute the mass murder of millions of Jews and others under their control. What makes the conference so significant is not that it initiated genocide, but that it formalized and accelerated the machinery carrying it out. Its lasting historical weight comes largely from its documentation. Its minutes, found by chance after the war, were used in numerous post-war trials as evidence of intent for several Nazi officers. This paper trail transformed a single closed-door meeting into one of the most cited pieces of evidence in Holocaust history. 

During this 90-minute workshop, educators will receive a comprehensive overview of the conference, the historical context surrounding it, the individuals who attended, and review the minutes of the meeting itself. Educators will also receive virtual handouts and resources to help introduce or elaborate on this topic in their classrooms as the 85^th anniversary of this event in Holocaust history approaches.

Workshop Includes:

• 1.5 CPDU Hours
• Ready to Use Classroom Resources