[Continued]

But if Himmler really acted without Hitler's will and knowledge, as Irving wants us to believe, why would he have referred to an order? Was Hitler not only to accept that Himmler acted on his own authority, but was he also falsely to be blamed for it? No, - these statements by Himmler are quite clear and unequivocal. Nor can we mistake the fact that Himmler was not happy with the order.[34] It is possible that the two men had an argument, a fact that might explain why Hitler did not put the order in writing.

At first there may have been just a private conversation, its theme so unusual, with such terrifying perspectives, that no one would have dared to record it. Besides, we know that in other cases Hitler also ordered: "Let there be no paper trail." Later on, once Himmler had given in, he would no longer have been in a position to demand an official order in writing. Faint-hearted and hesitant, Himmler now had to prove himself Hitler's loyal follower. In that way his earlier hesitation may have turned into an even fiercer determination. Spring 1941 saw the final preparation. Military planning was completed. The entire apparatus of conquest and domination was established as far as the Caucasus mountains. It was then that the Einsatzgruppen[35] were organized. After Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union these forces were deployed, behind the ever moving front, for the mass execution of Jews and Commissars. At that time Himmler received a written decree dated March 13, 1941, which empowered him to deal with the army: "On behalf of the Führer, special tasks are to be undertaken arising out of the now pending ultimate struggle between two opposing political systems."

The war of conquest and the murder of Jews had now been coordinated. Around the same time, and after a discussion with Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg, minister-designate for the occupied territories in the East, made this entry into his diary:

"What I shall not put in writing today I will, however, never forget."

On July 31 Goering gave to Heydrich, the chief of the security police and the S ,36 the assignment to prepare the long striven-for "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." Now Heydrich could organize the Wannsee conference, whereby all the German territorial acquisitions in the East were drawn into the program of mass murder.

Once again we find that this order was not signed either by Hitler or by Himmler, Heydrich's immediate superior. Because Goering had been slated to be Hitler's heir, perhaps Hitler's reticence to sign "sensitive" documents was quite intentional: Goering, once implicated in and pledged to the work, would find the Führer's silence a powerful means of compliance.

It Was Hitler After All

There is ample evidence that Hitler was the actual originator and that he was of course fully informed. Nor did he cloak himself always in discreet silence. For instance, on December 1, 1941, he addressed his guests at the Fuehrer's Headquarters during dinner:

Many Jews are quite unaware of the destructive nature of their very existence. But whoever destroys life courts death, and that is exactly what is happening to them!

On December 14 Rosenberg was with Hitler and spoke about a planned public address. In an annotation he wrote:

I am of the opinion that one ought not to discuss the extermination of the Jews. The Führer agrees with that standpoint.

Naturally he agreed. After all, the whole undertaking was secret. But clearly both men were fully aware of what it was they were discussing.

[Continued]

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