1942-2022: the Wannsee Conference, 80 years after

80 years ago, the Wannsee Conference was held in Berlin, gathering fifteen senior government officials from the Nazi Regime. The perpetrators labelled it the “final solution to the Jewish question”: the coordination between all administrative, technical, logistical and economical means to organise the industrial mass slaughter of millions of European Jews and other minorities.

While preceeded by the Holocaust by bullets, and the mass murders in Eastern Europe, the Wannsee Conference is widely regarded as a key event in the Nazi Regime’s attempt to eradicate the Jews of Europe.

On this day, we remember how indiference to hatred, racism and fascism can lead to violence and destroy a continent, tear it apart, murder its people.

On this day, we recall how indifference toward hatred, racism, and fascism can lead to violence, destroying a continent, tearing it apart, and in the most extreme cases, murdering its people. Today we face a sad truth: extremist movements are again on the rise. These must be opposed systematically. By ensuring that we remember the Holocaust, we bring ourselves closer to ensuring that nothing like it happens again.

EUJS President Elias Dray declared: “The Wannsee Conference marked the beginning of the industrial mass murder of millions European Jews, a key date in European history. Today, 80 years on, we must ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never forgotten. In 2022, we face similar threats: the rise of antisemitism, racism, fascism, political and religious extremism, and other forms of discrimination. Modern Europe was built on the ruins of the war. It symbolises peace, unity, and diversity. This is what we fight for when we say loudly: Never Again! I call on all citizens to ask themselves: where and how can you oppose fascism today?”

In 2022, we remember the Wannsee Conference and its effects, and recognise the importance of calling out threats to the peace, unity, and diversity of Europe and world alike.