Letter on the Beginning of Deportations from Western
Europe
(June 22, 1942)
After having completed the main arrangements for
the beginning of the “Final
Solution of the Jewish Question” in Western Europe, including
determining the numbers of Jews to be deported from each country on
first instance, Eichmann apprised his counterpart at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of this information in order to obtain his consent for Belgium and France.
The following is the express letter containing these details, sent to
him on June 22, 1942. The deportations began three weeks later.
Commander of the Security Police and SD
Berlin, 22 June 1942
Express letter
Secret
[...]
Subject:Labor mobilization [ Arbeitsensatz ] of Jews
from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Re:Telephone call of 20.6.42
Arrangements have been made that from mid-July / the
beginning of August of this year Jews will be sent for labor in the
Auschwitz camp, in special trains that will leave every day, which have
room for 1,000 people—first of all about 40,000 Jews from the occupied
French territory, 40,000 Jews from the Netherlands, and 10,000 Jews
from Belgium.
The people who are included are first of all Jews who are fit for labor,
if they are not intermarried or hold the nationality of the British
Empire, the USA, Mexico, enemy countries in Central or South America,
or neutral or Allied countries.
I hope you will respond positively, and I assume that
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no objection to these measures.
Upon order:
(signed) Eichmann
Sources: Nuremberg Documents, IMT, NG-183.
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