Eighty-five years ago today, one of the most important directives in world history was issued. On 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring – a powerful senior member of the Nazi regime – wrote a letter to SS Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the security police and security service. In it, Göring directed Heydrich with ‘making all necessary preparations’ and ‘promptly’ submitting a plan ‘for the execution of the intended final solution of the Jewish question.’  

We found a third of students still believe Hitler was solely responsible for the Holocaust – while 39.9 per cent of pupils believed mass killings began with Hitler coming to power.  

We found a third of students still believe Hitler was solely responsible for the Holocaust – while 39.9 per cent of pupils believed mass killings began with Hitler coming to power.  

Today, these words have a distinctly obsidian complexion. For those familiar with the term, ‘final solution’ is understood as the bureaucratic shorthand for the annihilation of Jewish men, women and children across occupied Europe. But Göring’s directive was not the first time that the term had been used within the Nazi regime. Nor did it mark the beginning of mass murder.  

Since 1939 Heydrich had held the brief of solving the so-called ‘Jewish question’ through ‘emigration or evacuation’. Robert Gerwarth has shown that as far back as November or December of 1940 Heydrich had been........

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