![Berlin environs, 1942 [LCID: ber49030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c159403c-b715-47b3-880d-13294fa3d390.gif "Berlin environs, 1942 [LCID: ber49030]")
Berlin was a center of Jewish life in Germany and—as the capital of the Reich—also the center for the planning of the "Final Solution," the decision to kill the Jews of Europe. The Wannsee Conference, named for the resort district in southwestern Berlin where it was held, took place in January 1942. High-ranking officials from the Nazi party, the SS, and the German state met to coordinate and finalize what they referred to as the "final solution to the Jewish problem." At the conference, these officials were informed that the SS would be responsible for carrying out the killing program and that the Jews of Europe would be deported to occupied Poland and killed.
Item View![Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe [LCID: eur73960]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e71749ea-5732-47f0-8439-edc291ee884a.gif "Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe [LCID: eur73960]")
![Major deportations to killing centers, 1942-1944 [LCID: eur78940]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/7bbc2613-3771-45d9-b906-a740cc398124.gif "Major deportations to killing centers, 1942-1944 [LCID: eur78940]")
This map shows some of the major deportations of Jews from all over Europe to Nazi killing centers in 1942–1944. It depicts transports from transit camps, ghettos, and major cities. Most Jews on these transports were murdered in gas chambers upon their arrival at the killing centers. The Nazis and their allies and collaborators coordinated these deportations as part of the “Final Solution”—the Nazi plan to murder all of Europe’s Jews
On this map, the Majdanek camp is marked as a killing center. In the past, many scholars counted Majdanek (located just outside the city of Lublin) as a sixth killing center. However, based on newer research, Majdanek is usually classified as a concentration camp (officially Konzentrationslager Lublin).
Item View![Facilities equipped with gas chambers, 1939-1944 [LCID: eur72100]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/494db4bc-cee5-4118-9d21-59718c5d61ab.gif "Facilities equipped with gas chambers, 1939-1944 [LCID: eur72100]")
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
