Berlin environs, 1942

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.