Bookstore Glossary Library Links News Publications Timeline Virtual Israel Experience
Anti-Semitism Biography History Holocaust Israel Israel Education Myths & Facts Politics Religion Travel US & Israel Vital Stats Women
donate subscribe Contact About Home

Final Solution: Himmler on the Extermination of the Jews

(June 22, 1944)

...It became necessary to resolve another important question. It was the most terrible task and the most terrible order which could have been given to any organization: the order to solve the Jewish problem...This is a good time — we had the toughness (resolve) to exterminate the Jews in our sphere (area). Don’t ask how difficult it was. As soldiers, try to understand how difficult it is to execute such an order. The order was necessary...I told them: First, there is the order, and second, our conscience tells us to carry on ruthlessly with this cleansing process. And if anyone comes along and says: ‘Well, you know, I understand very well your killing grown-up Jews, but how can you kill women and children?’, I say this: ‘These children will grow up one day....



Sources: Kaye, Ephraim. “Desecraters of Memory: Confronting Holocaust Denial.” Yad Vahsem — International School of Holocaust Studies, Jerusalem (1997).