The Participants at the Conference

From 1941 to 1943, Leibbrandt headed the departments dealing with general politics, the Ukraine, the Occupied Eastern Territories (Ostland), the Caucasus, Russia, and also the press and cultural affairs. In this capacity he was prominently connected with the genocide of the Jews. As early as October 1941, Leibbrandt participated in a meeting with Heydrich where the inclusion of all Jews into the extermination program was discussed. Two days after the Wannsee Conference, he issued invitations for an official meeting to discuss the definition of the term “Jew” in the “Eastern Territories.”

Born in Hoffnungsthal near Odessa. High school in Dorpat and Odessa. Fled to Berlin after the Bolshevist revolution. From 1920, study of theology, philosophy and national economy in Tübingen and Leipzig. Study trips to Paris, London, the Soviet Union and the USA. Ph.D. in 1927. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1933. Head of “Section East” (Ostabteilung) in the Nazi Party’s office for foreign policy. Thereafter, in charge of anti-Communist and anti-Soviet propaganda. In 1938, assessor (Beisitzer) at the People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof). In July 1941, Director of the Main Department No. 1 (Politics) in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. In the summer of 1943, he reported for duty in the navy. Was interned in 1945. Released from detention in 1949. A preliminary investigation by the District Court of Nuremberg-Fürth, begun in January 1950, was called off in August 1950.

 

From 1940 until 1943, Luther was Head of Department D (Deutschland, i.e. internal affairs) and as such responsible for liaison with Himmler and the Reich Security Main Office. He was simultaneously in charge of Section D III (“Jewish question, race policy, and providing information about important domestic  developments to the foreign missions”). By his close cooperation with the Reich Security Main Office, and with Adolf Eichmann’s office in particular, Luther turned Section D into one of the administrative agencies involved in the “Final Solution.” In the long run, the contribution which the Foreign Office made to the genocide amounted above all to the diplomatic preparation and protection of the deportations that proceeded from occupied and friendly countries. At the Wannsee Conference, Luther recommended to defer initially all deportations from the nordic countries because of the small “Jewish numbers” and the possibility of arising troubles; instead, one should concentrate first on Europe’s south-eastern and western parts.

Born in Berlin. Did not graduate from high school. War volunteer in 1914, and lieutenant in 1918. Worked subsequently as a shipping agent for furniture. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in March 1932. In 1933/34, Head of the Economic Consulting Center of the NSDAP in Berlin. Placed in charge of the Party’s Consulting Center at the Office of the Representative of the Nazi Party for Foreign Affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop, in 1936. When the latter was appointed foreign minister in 1938, Luther became Head of the “Special Section of the Nazi Party” within the Foreign Office. In 1941 appointed permanent secretary (Ministerialdirektor), although his official designation was “undersecretary of state” (Unterstaatssekretär). On account of his attempt to overthrow Ribbentrop, he was dismissed in February 1943 and imprisoned as a “privileged prisoner in protective custody” in Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen. Freed by the Red Army, Luther died a month later in Berlin.

 

From the summer of 1941 until November 1942, Meyer, as deputy of Minister Alfred Rosenberg, was responsible for the three major departments of politics, administration and economy. In this capacity he participated in the exploitation and pillage of the occupied Soviet territories and the suppression and extermination of its inhabitants, in particular the Jewish population. Meyer had been invited to the Wannsee Conference because the genocide of the Jews on the part of the Special Units (Einsatzgruppen) was already underway in the region which his ministry administered. Meyer suggested at Wannsee that “certain preparatory measures” should always be carried out locally so as not to create unrest among the civilian population. In July 1942, he proposed to subject persons of “mixed blood” (Mischlinge) in the Soviet Union to the same measures applied to the Jews.

Born in Göttingen into a Protestant family, the son of a government councilor and building official. High school diploma in 1911. Officer cadet in 1912, company commander in 1914, and subsequently battalion commander. Prisoner of war in France in 1917. Discharged as a captain in 1920. Commercial employee and study of law, political science and political economy. Ph.D. in political science in 1922. From 1923 to 1930, legal adviser to a mining firm in Gelsenkirchen. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1928 and became head of a local party branch (Ortsgruppenleiter). Party district leader of Emscher-Lippe 1929/30, member of the Reichstag in September 1930, and in 1931 Nazi Party Gauleiter of Northern Westphalia. Appointed deputy governor (Reichsstatthalter) of Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe in May 1933, and in 1936 Head of the Lippe state government. In 1938, Meyer became governor (Oberpräsident) of the Province of Westphalia and lieutenant general of the stormtroopers (SA). From November 1942 on, he was Reich Defense Commissioner of Northern Westphalia. Suicide in May 1945.

 

Müller, as head of the Secret State Police (Gestapo), participated prominently in nearly all crimes that were planned, prepared and organized in the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt – RSHA), and most notably in the genocide of the European Jews. From early September 1939, he issued directives in regard to “special treatment” (Sonderbehandlung, i.e. murder) of political opponents. The so-called “Jewish Section” (Judenreferat) administered by Eichmann was likewise under his direction. He was informed about the genocide of Jews in the Soviet Union in minute detail. Following Heydrich’s instructions, Müller formulated orders to the “Special Units” (Einsatzgruppen) and was responsible for drafting the “Report of Events” (Ereignismeldungen), the summary of the Special Unit Reports. Müller was in fact one of the most powerful masterminds behind the scenes of the National Socialist regime.

Born in Munich into a Catholic family. Father was a policeman. Junior high school, then training as an airplane mechanic. Volunteered in 1917 for military service and was discharged as a corporal in 1919. Thereafter, employee in the Munich police headquarters. In 1929, secretary with the Munich political police, operating against Communist organizations. Joined the SS in 1934 and was transferred to the Secret State Police Office in Berlin. In 1936, Deputy Chief of the Political Police Section of the Security Police’s Main Office. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1938. In 1939, Manager of the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration, and since October 1939 Head of Department IV (Gestapo) of the Reich Security Main Office with the rank of an SS Oberführer (no English equivalent; between colonel and brigadier general) and Major General of Police. Lost without trace since May 1945.

 

Neumann had participated as early as November 1938 in a meeting called by Göring to discuss the “Aryanization of the economy” as well as the special identification and isolation of Jews. At the Wannsee Conference, he represented the Ministries of Economic Affairs, Labor, Finances, Food, Transportation as well as Armaments and Munition. As Göring’s state secretary, he looked out for the interests of the administrative office of the war economy and strongly suggested to defer the deportation of Jewish workers employed in firms essential to the war effort.

Born in Forst (Lower Lusatia) into a Protestant family. Son of a factory owner. After receiving his high school diploma, he studied law and national economy in Freiburg, Leipzig and Halle. Wartime service 1914–1917, ultimately as first lieutenant. In 1920, governmental civil servant (Regierungsassessor) in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, thereafter in the Essen District Office. Senior Executive Officer (Regierungsrat) in the Prussian Ministry of Commerce in 1923. 1927/28, District President (Landrat) in Freystadt (Lower Silesia), then as Ministerial Junior Assistant Secretary (Ministerialrat) again in the Prussian Ministry of Commerce. In September 1932, Permanent Secretary (Ministerialdirektor) in the Prussian Ministry of State in charge of administrative reforms. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in May 1933, the SS in August 1934. Served in the Prussian Ministry of State at the end of 1935, and in October 1936 in the Office of the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, Hermann Göring. Appointed state secretary in the summer of 1938, and from 1941 was deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the Continental Petroleum Corporation, which was entrusted with the exploitation of oil resources in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union. Since early 1942, general manager of the German Potassium Sydicate, Inc. Internment in 1945. Released from prison early in 1948 for reasons of health.

 

As commander in chief of the Security Police and Security Service for the entire German occupied region of eastern Poland (Generalgouvernement), Schöngarth participated in all measures of suppression and extermination of the Polish and Jewish population in occupied Poland. After the attack on the Soviet Union, he formed a “Special Unit” in eastern Galicia which from July until September 1941 shot 4,000 Jewish men in territory bordering Poland. At the Wannsee Conference he was, along with Lange, an “experienced practitioner” in mass executions.

Born in Leipzig, son of a construction supervisor. High school. 1920 freecorps fighter. Joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and the stormtroopers (SA) in 1922. Bank employee from 1922 to 1924. In 1924, he began the study of law and political science in Leipzig, and in 1929 received his doctor of law degree. From 1932 on, he worked as a junior barrister at the regional courts of Magdeburg, Erfurt and Torgau. Joined the SS in 1933. In November 1933, he went to work for the Reich Post Office Administration at Erfurt, and in 1935 started Work in the press section of the Secret State Police. In spring of 1936, he headed the Secret State Police offices in Dortmund, Bielefeld and Münster. In 1939, Senior Administrative Councilor and SS Lieutenant Colonel. In May 1944, Commander in Chief of Security Police and Security Service in the occupied Netherlands. In February 1946, a British military court sentenced him to death and had him executed for having ordered the shooting of a prisoner of war.

 

Stuckart, in the Reich Ministry of the Interior with its subordinate departments of “Constitution, Legislation, Administration,” participated from 1935 in drawing up basic laws and decrees against the Jews that lived in the German Reich, most notably the “Reich Citizenship Law” and the “Law for the Protection of German Blood  and German Honor” (the Nuremberg Laws). In 1940, he participated in the preparatory measures designed to deprive Jews of their German citizenship. In 1941, he worked out a proposal for having Jews inside the German Reich wear distinguishing marks. At the Wannsee Conference, Stuckart proposed compulsory sterilization of all persons of “mixed blood” (Mischlinge). And in April 1943, he presided over a conference of state secretaries on “Punishment by the Police of Jews guilty of criminal acts” (13th Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law).

Born in Wiesbaden, the son of a railway employee. Brought up as a Christian. High school diploma. Freecorps fighter in 1919. From 1922 on, study of law in Munich and Frankfurt/Main. Joined the Nazi Party in 1922. Doctor of law degree in 1928. Since 1930, judge in a lower district court. From 1932 to March 1933, lawyer and legal consultant of the stormtroopers (SA) in Pomerania. In June 1933, State Secretary in the Prussian Ministry of Sciences. State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior in 1935. Joined the SS in 1936. SS Lieutenant General (Obergruppenführer) in 1944. Was interned in 1945 as Minister of the Interior in the Dönitz Government in Flensburg. In the “Wilhelmstrasse Trial” in May 1945 he was sentenced to three years and ten months imprisonment which, because of his preceding detention, was counted as having been served. A denazification court classified him in 1950 as a “fellow traveller” (Mitläufer), and in 1952 fined him DM 500 [German Mark]. He died in November 1953 in a traffic accident.