The Wannsee Conference presided over and organised by the Head of Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), Reinhard Heydrich. It was a 90 minute conflab of 15 high ranking Nazi’s that decided The Final Solution and thus the fate of 6 million Jews. Catching the S7 from Hauptbahnhof and the conveniently connecting bus 114 found me 40 minutes later at Lake Wannsee – a stunning area of stately old homes of the former wealthy elite of Berlin.

The actual conference house  (a grand old villa) is now a quite moving memorial to the Holocaust. It features great displays and the conference room itself harbours the ghosts (well, pictures at least) of Eichmann, Heydrich, Freisler, Muller (head of the Gestapo and never found) and a bunch of other undesirables, who you would not have willingly ever invited to dinner! This event is not that well known but is quite fascinating. There is plenty of info online and on YouTube you will find the 85 minute German made film (with subtitles) – The Wannsee Conference. It’s broken into 7 parts but well worth watching. The likeness of the actors to those original conference attendees is remarkable. The later released ‘Conspiracy’ starring Kenneth Branagh is much less convincing. The sheer ‘ordinariness of evil’ that occured at this conference is sobering indeed.

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