Abstract
In this second chapter, Digan gives some historical context for her case study. First, she discusses the historiography of the Wannsee Conference, detailing what the conference exactly was and how it has lived on in historical literature and public memory. She shows how the Wannsee Conference has become a symbol for the Schreibtish-character of the Holocaust and why it still gathers public interest today. Then, she gives a brief history of the house from its beginnings in 1914 until 1966, when public discussion about the use of the house broke loose.
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Notes
For an account of the pre-war history of the villa, see: Michel Haupt, Das Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. Von der Industriellenvilla zur Gedenkstätte (Gedenkstätte Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz 2009).
Mark Roseman, The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration (New York: Picador 2002), p. 92.
It has also become a popular document among Holocaust deniers, who either ‘expose’ the document as a forgery or use it as ‘evidence’ to prove Hitler never called for a genocide (because he was not at the meeting and did not sign anything). For more about the protocol and deniers, see, for instance, the chapter ‘Hitler and the final solution’ in Richard J. Evans, Lying about Hitler: History, Holocaust and the David Irving Trial (New York: Perseus Books Group 2002).
Mark Roseman, ‘“Wannsee” als Herausforderung. Die Historiker und die Konferenz’, in Die Wannsee Konferenz am 20. Januar 1942. Dokumente, Forschungsstand, Kontroversen (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag 2013) p. 405.
Mark Roseman, The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting: Wannsee and the Final Solution (London: Penguin Books 2002), p. 73.
Eberhard Jäckel, ‘Die Konferenz am Wannsee’, in Die Zeit, 17 January 1992.
The most recent and comprehensive volume about the Wannsee Conference and its historiography is Norbert Kampe and Peter Klein (eds), Die Wannsee Konferenz am 20. Januar 1942. Dokumente, Forschungsstand, Kontroversen (Cologne: Böhlau Verlag 2013).
Reinhard Gericke, ed., 50 Jahre August Bebel Institut (Berlin: August Bebel Institute 2007).
Reinhard Gericke, ‘Jahresbericht 1951 SDP’, in his 50 Jahre August Bebel Institut (Berlin: August Bebel Institute 2007).
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© 2015 Katie Digan
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Digan, K. (2015). The Conference and the House. In: Places of Memory: The Case of the House of the Wannsee Conference. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137456427_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137456427_3
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