Further, for the purpose of simplifying the problem of mixed marriages it would be required to consider how it would be possible to attain the object that the legislator can declare: "These marriages are dissolved."
Regarding the question of the effects produced by the evacuation of the Jews on the economic life, Under Secretary of State NEUMANN declared that the Jews assigned to work in plants of importance for the war could not be evacuated as long as no replacement was available.
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer HEYDRICH pointed out that besides, according to the directives approved by him governing the carrying out of the evacuation program in operation at that time, these Jews would not be evacuated.
Under Secretary of State Dr. BUEHLER stated that it would be welcomed by the Government General if the implementation of the final solution of this question could start in the Government General, because the transportation problem there was of no predominant importance and the progress of this action would not be hampered by considerations connected with the supply of labor. The Jews had to be removed as quickly as possible from the territory of the Government General because especially there the Jews represented an immense danger as a carrier of epidemics, and on the other hand were permanently contributing to the disorganization of the economic system of the country through black market operations. Moreover, out of the two and a half million Jews to be affected, the majority of cases was unfit for work.
Under Secretary of State BUEHLER further stated that the solution of the Jewish question in the Government General as far as the issuing of orders was concerned was dependent upon the chief of the Security Police and the SD, his work being supported by the administrative authorities of the Government General. He had this one request only, namely that the Jewish question in this territory be solved as quickly as possible.
Towards the end of the conference the various types of possible solutions were discussed; in the course of this discussion Gauleiter Dr. MEYER as well as Under Secretary of State Dr. BUEHLER advocated the view that certain preparatory measures incidental to the carrying out of the final solution ought to be initiated immediately in the very territories under discussion, in which process, however, alarming the population must be avoided.
With the request to the persons present from the Chief of the Security Police and the SD that they lend him appropriate assistance in the carrying out of the tasks involved in the solution, the conference was adjourned.
Source: English translation of Document No. NG-2586 (Nuremberg Government series of the Nuremberg documents), Office of the Chief Counsel of War Crimes; reprinted in John Mendelsohn, ed., The Holocaust: Selected Documents in Eighteen Volumes. Vol. 11, New York: Garland, 1982, pp. 18-32.
Source of original German text: Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Inland IIg 177 (T120 / 1512 / 372024-28); reprinted in John Mendelsohn, ed., The Holocaust: Selected Documents in Eighteen Volumes. Vol. 11. New York: Garland, 1982, pp. 3-17.
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