Language:
English
Year of publication:
1996
Titel der Quelle:
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
10,1 (1996) 3-10
Keywords:
Riegner, Gerhart
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
National socialism
Abstract:
On 8 August 1942, Gerhart Riegner of the World Jewish Congress sent a telegram from Geneva to Sidney Silverman and Stephen Wise, in which he relayed information on Hitler's plan to kill all the Jews of Europe in one blow in the fall of 1942. Historians of Nazi Jewish policy - those writing "perpetrator" history - have paid this telegram only scant attention because its details seemed incorrect. Contends that, in fact, Riegner's telegram was a rather precise message; it was sent three weeks after Hitler and Himmler's meeting on 16 July at which it was decided to intensify and accelerate the mass murder of the European Jews. Describes the beginnings of the mass murders and the problems which arose, requiring better facilitation by the Nazis. Eduard Schulte, the German industrialist who provided Riegner with the information, received it, most probably, from the Silesian SS leaders with whom Himmler had visited Auschwitz a few days earlier and who were involved in the decision making.
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