The Wannsee conference and the "final solution" (due Thu., Mar. 3)
 

How matter-of-fact it was to figure out how to manage the logistics of murdering millions of people.

As you watched excerpts from the reenactment of the Wannsee conference, surely you had to wonder: there were a substantial number of people around that table. Quite obviously it was suggested that a number had significant doubts. Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann led an efficient, dissent-free meeting, no?

But still one has to wonder, just as we've often speculated this year about the "what if's" of history: why didn't any of those alleged doubters speak out? What was it that led to the tacit agreement that this plan should proceed without question? These men had wives, children, families, friends who would technically fall within the categories of people that would be the victims of this "final solution." So where were their voices, never mind their consciences?

I'm eager to hear what you have to say in response to these questions.

A head's up during a busy week. By Friday, you will need to read a portion of Samantha Power's book, "A Problem from Hell"--specifically pages 15-45 (chapters 2 & 3).

The film we watched today was definitely creepy and chilling. To see a group of grown men who are leaders of a society have not one drop of humanity or conscience seems almost unreal, and then it hits you that this is a reenactment; it all really happened.

I think it is difficult to say what would happen if one or two men had tried to disagree with Heydrich, it seemed that the little amount of resistance he found, he quickly squashed. I think if anyone had wanted to speak up, they were afraid of the repercussions of their resistance. With millions of lives at risk, they should have tried anyways, but I don’t think such heartless men would have anyone in mind except themselves.

I think men whose wives, children family and friends fell into the categories would pull some strings to get “exceptions” and hopefully for them, avoid sterilization also.

I’m really not sure where their voices or consciences were during this meeting. I think all of these men had been brainwashed by the Nazi campaign, the Anti-Semitism and a hunger for power. I think their consciences had been lost for quite sometime, to become such important parts of such an immoral organization.

wow! first post in a while, it feels good to be back

I was honestly shocked watching the movie in class today at the amount of control that Reinhard had over the group. obviously he is a man of great finesse and presence but he held that meeting in the palms of his hands, the other members at the meeting seemed to just take what he said for fact and those who chose to disagree quicky retracted their objection. the meeting ran in a very smooth nazi like way, meaning it was organized and ran like a well oiled war machine. It was hard to watch these men who obviously had other ideas going through their heads that did not agree with Reinhard sit and agree and pass the order to gas the jews as the solution.

I think the men in that room understood that the plan that was being put before them had already been enacted in some fashion and was most likely well underway. They seemed to grasp that the purpose for their gathering was not to debate wheter the so called "jewish solution" of gassing millions of jews was the ethical, efficient or the corrent way to dispose of the "burden" that the germans had absorbed by conquering much of europe. They didnt speak out because they knew regardless of not that they agreed on the content of the meeting it would be put into action and carried out, if needed in secret.

It is hard to say where their consciences were becuase it is obvious that the men present would be affected themselves. It seems that the Nazi's and Hitler cast a spell over men, and they seemed to lose their own ideas and opinions when they were in the room with a nazi order or plan of action. They might have assumed that since they were high up enough in the government that they coudl bring themselves and those who they loved to safety if it came down to that. They migh have also been afraid to bring the fact that they were related to a jews up at one of these meetings for fear of being labled a "jew sympathizer".

The movie that we watched today to me was not as disturbing as people thought but rather eye opening. Who would have thought that twelve men could make decisions that had ramifications which ended the lives of millions of people?. I sure did not.
I would hope that the leaders of our country would not just gather around a table while eating and drinking obscene amounts would make a decision that would result in millions of people dying.
I found it very hard to believe that the people who disagreed with the rest of the group did not day anything; they clearly were against what the others were saying so why not say something. You know that your decision will have a huge effect on the country and the world, so what if you get ganged up on because you don’t feel the same way as others; you need to at least speak up. I doubt that one person saying something would actually have done anything but who knows it might have and its definitely a chance the opposition should have taken.

That movie was definitely chilling. The subject matter of this post is actually what I was asking myself throughout the movie because I kept wondering if I was reading too much into it, but it seemed to me there were quite a few men with apprehensive if not appalled looks on their faces. Sadly, though it is very obvious that since the Jewish Question was talked about in such a matter-of-fact manner that you can tell most of those men barely considered Jews human.

Why didn't they say anything? Well, they were in a room of peers who shared the same beliefs as them so many probably felt that if they said anything no one else would join them. Not many people are brave enough to be the first one to object to a powerful person in the party like Heydrich or Eichmann.

Something else is that the objectors may have felt that if they did say anything, their careers could be at risk. This was such a secretive meeting so how could they be trusted to keep their mouths shut. They probably figured that they would put themselves and their family in serious risk and they protest.

polkadot17 brings up an excellent point that "the men in that room understood that the plan that was being put before them had already been enacted in some fashion and was most likely well underway." It's a daunting task to be one of the few people to stand up for their beliefs if you feel like regardless of what you do or say this plan is out of your control and is most certainly going to be used.

The video clip we watched today in class was chilling, and eye-opening at the same time. Almost everyone has commented on the unfathomability of several grown men, leaders of a nation, sitting around discussing a Final Solution to national issues, involving gassing millions of people. While coordination was obviously vital in the Holocaust, that someone actually sat down and talked it over so coolly is hard to imagine.

I think one of the better aspects of the video was that it really showed just how backbiting and ambitious most Nazi officials really were. I would question whether everyone there truly believed in the plan they set into action, or if they merely went along with mass murder to further their careers. While we as Americans often have a notion of a totally unified Nazi government, devoted solely to one vision, from a man to man basis, petty rivalry and jealousy were rampant, and the movie did a fine job illustrating this.

Particularly powerful was the scene in which Heydrich responded to a lower ranking officer’s question about Hitler’s knowledge of the ‘evacuations’. While I forget the exact wording of the reply, it was subtle enough to suggest that Hitler knew full well of what was going on vis a vis Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the other countries where ‘evacuations’, or any of the other euphemistic campaigns were already underway.

Trevormanila, here I don’t know how much being a non-bystander would have helped. If someone had stormed out of the room and sent his minutes to the Times, I don’t know how much the US, or anyone, would have done to stop what came later. America was already in the war at the time, as one of the officials noted onscreen. Popular opinion was already against the Nazis, and everyone already knew full well of Hitler’s feelings toward Jews. Top American military officials later in the war knew from aerial reconnaissance of the factories of death, including locations of crematoria and gas chambers. If they refused to act then, after millions had died, would they have done anything to try to stop the Germans based on the minutes from a secret meeting provided by a disgruntled Nazi?

Wannsee Conference
 

I thought the movie clips today were very interesting. But as it was mentioned in class, the meeting wasn’t really a discussion about “what should be done.” It was more of a lecture by Heydrich and Eichmann on “this is what we are doing…and will continue to do.”

Throughout the portions of the meeting we saw, Heydrich was in charge of the conversation. Anytime a person asked a question, or for more specifics, Heydrich would shoot them down, and say that he would get to it later.

I think the main reason why no one spoke out about the agreement was because they knew that they would be reprimanded by Heydrich, and perhaps more serious consequences. It also seemed like Heydrich wanted to hear just that the person agreed, and then continued on to the next person without much of a chance to speak out. Also, as many others have said, the men in that room knew very well that the plan was already in action. Maybe they felt that their one voice couldn’t change anything.

Now, in regards to the men who had children, wives, families and friends that could be harmed by the final solution: I think that those men must have hoped/believed that their loved ones would be one of the exceptions to the plan. But that doesn’t make an excuse for not rejecting the plan.

Couldn’t they think of more than just themselves and their families? What about other German men or women with a Jewish spouse or friend?

After reading some of the other posts I do have one contrary comment to make. Many of you called the men at the Wannsee Conference heartless, cold, having no conscience or humanity. Certainly I agree that this was the case for many of them (as far as I could tell from the movie we watched), but I would not say that that was the case entirely for all of the men there. Certainly the portly man who constantly made inappropriate jokes of a sexual nature and the man who laughed when Eichmann said that the carbon monoxide turned it's victims pink and undoubtedly Heydrich, simply based on his eagerness about the topic, were cold and probably heartless and probably had a very quiet conscience and little to no sense of humanity. But what about the tall man in the blue suit? When he agreed at the end it was clear that he was awestruck, in a daze, aware of the monstrosity about to occur partially at his hands. And what about the man who felt sick? Beer (or wine in this case) before liquor, never been sicker, sure, but he even said himself that he didn't think it was the "mix" of alcohols that was making him sick. Even Eichmann seemed a little fazed by the idea of the Final Solution when having to explain it's means and not being able to say, with ease, how the victims would be killed. I do not disagree with anyone that the acts these men decided upon were horrific and cold and heartless but I would not say that that was everyone's "excuse" for agreeing to the terms at the Wannsee Conference.

I think that there are numerous factors that led all of the men to agree with little to no argument. Some of their willingness to agree could be attributed to the "just following orders" theory. Some of it could also be attributed to the fact that those who maybe were opposed to the Final Solution felt as if there was nothing they could do individually. Standing up against Heydrich and Eichmann was probably a frightening sentiment even to those men. But mostly, as many have already said, I think these men realized that the Final Solution was already under way and they were simply being let in on it. They knew that nothing could be done; everything was made and ready to go and the Final Solution would be enacted whether the men at the Wannsee Conference supported it or not. It was clear that the conference and the decisions made at it were entirely dictated by Heydrich. That conference could have been held with an entirely different group, but as long as Eichmann and, more importantly Heydrich, were there, the conclusion of the conference would always be the same.

For those who had family members in possible danger, again, there was nothing they could do to stop the Final Solution. Maybe they said nothing because by having an inside scoop, perhaps they were able to save their family members, get them out of the country somehow, get differnt I.D. cards, I don't know. But regardless of what they could do to save their families, their saying "No, we can't do this because my wife and children would be in danger" most certainly would not have stopped anything, in fact, had anyone said that, they would have been laughed at probably and would be putting their family into more immediate danger.

This conference was unnerving and strange. The overall feeling I got from the film was that the Nazi officials really did think that the Jews were animals and a disease, not humans. There were many incidents where Eichmann started using numbers, as in counting cows or cattle. Later on, when Eichmann was on trial in Israel, he started showing signs of denial and an attitude of "I was just following orders". You can sort of see it in the movie. He didn't quite relish the ideal of bodies turning pink as another official did, but he did treat the "Jewish Problem" with an attitude of: " it's a dirty and harrowing business, but you gotta do it for the good of the motherland." Heindrich also showed the same attitude; it was just about getting rid of anything remotely Jewish (all the first-second-degree "Jewish" people), who cares about which way they left.

Something I noticed in the film was that the officials were especially gleeful and mocking of how much other nations detested the Jews also. They thought, not only do we not want them, but the rest of the world doesnt either. They relished the way the United States restricted immigration of the Jews, and had a good laugh over how immigration didn't work not because of demographic reasons but because of the detestful nature of the Jews and other nation's unwillingness to take them. It was as if they were stuck in their own little world of interpretation and obsession. Unlike what Lab315 said, war was actually declared by the U.S. after this conference, in December. The whole point of stressing the U.S. was to reprimand the whole world for not helping out. America could have done a lot more and so could many other countries, but the fact was, they all turned their back on the Jews and left them to suffer the holocaust. This film tried to emphasize the cowardice of the men present, but also either the indifference or weakness of other nations. I agree with pinkpolkadots about how the officials were already too deep in the Nazi mindset, and that the others were pushed into it by intimidation.

This movie was definitely chilling as most posters have already stated, but the main reason it is so chilling is that no one spoke up. Beyond the fact as waduppeeps writes The overall feeling I got from the film was that the Nazi officials really did think that the Jews were animals and a disease, not humans. There were many incidents where Eichmann started using numbers, as in counting cows or cattle. Later on, when Eichmann was on trial in Israel, he started showing signs of denial and an attitude of "I was just following orders". You can sort of see it in the movie. He didn't quite relish the ideal of bodies turning pink as another official did, but he did treat the "Jewish Problem" with an attitude of: " it's a dirty and harrowing business, but you gotta do it for the good of the motherland." Not one man stood up. There were so many facial expressions of doubt and frustration around the table, yet no one spoke up. Why would they? Heydrich just shut them down each and everytime. Eichmann- second in charge couldnt even get the words out of his mouth. He had to refer to his statistics and try and block out in his mind the idea that the men around the table were conciously deciding to kill millions of men, women and children. I think that this meeting ties back into Stanley Milgram’s experiment at Yale and how these men were "just following the orders". Their superior, Htiler had already made the decision and started to exterminate the Jews. What was the use if they were to go against him? If he is willing to kill millions of Jews, he probably would have no problem exterminating someone going against his word and the supposed "good of the motherland". The men at the meeting are another example of bystanders, unwilling to stand up for what is right because they face the consequence of disobeying a superior.

Waduppeeps, the Wannsee Conference took place on January 20, 1942, war was declared on Germany on December 11, 1941.

I completely agree with this statement.

The only reason that i could think of for the men agreeing with Eichmann and Heydrich, like many have already mentioned, is that they were scared for their own lives. The man in the blue suit obviously seemed outraged the most, almost on the verge of leaving, but i think that the reason he went back to the table and sat down was because he started to think of the consequences of walking away. Most likely, the other men came to that conclusion sooner and thus didnt bother to speak out as much. Basically it was all because of fear. Everyone was too scared to risk their lives taking on Hitler.

Mea culpa
 

Oops--folks, in class, I erroneously said that the conference took place on November 29, 1941. Wrong! Invitations to the conference were issued first on November 29th; the conference itself did not take place until January 20, 1942!

My apologies for the carelessness!

Also, the guy in the blue jacket, for those of who you refer to him, is Kritzinger. Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger was deputy head of the Reichs Chancellery. At the war's conclusion, he was charged with war crimes, but was acquitted. He died in 1947.

I don't think these men really thought theu're opinions actually counted for anything sicne they all seemed to agree that this extermination process was already happening, why bother have a meeting? I think they probbaly felt that this meeting was to inform them, and whether they liked it or not it was going to happen. They didnt speak up also because of fear. What they had to say probably wouldnt be listened to so, they mgiht as well keep silence. This goes along with also with how so many Germans followed orders to shoot the Jews and never said a word or spoke up either. It is all a question whether they feel responsible for their actions. The men at the meeting might not chave condemned the Final Solution, but at least they didn't condone it so they felt no connection to its making.

While watching the movie today, it seemed pretty clear why nobody stood up to Heydrich or Eichmann: Heydrich was very controlling, bossy and scary. That doesn’t mean the men shouldn’t have tried standing up against him, because none of them seemed to really support the idea and they outnumbered Eichmann and Heydrich by about 10. All of the men had questions that opposed the idea and reasons to oppose the idea, but Heydrich just shut them all down immediately. As polkadot17 said, the plan had already begun and it wouldn’t be possible for these weak men to alter or stop the plan. The Nazi leaders planned the timing of this meeting perfectly, they waited until it was tested and the flaws were worked out of it, before letting other people know about it.

These men didn’t stand up and say anything because of fear. They were scared because Heydrich gave off a very frightening attitude. He would not listen to their opinions, so they figured why bother? Family and friends are important and should have been spoken up for, but what about the rest of the population. They were talking about killing millions of people as if it didn’t really matter. Yes, Heydrich was scary, but wouldn’t it have been at least worth a shot to put up some fight against this idea?

All the men at this meeting should be held somewhat responsible for what happened after this meeting. They had a chance to stop it and didn’t. They should have been punished in some way or form.

To tell you the truth I wasn't really that shocked by the whole thing. We've been learning for the past umpteen weeks that the whole bevy of propaganda Goebbels and Co. were putting out was created with the purpose of dehumanizing its targets.

The propaganda worked well enough that the group responsible for putting it out even started to believe what they were saying. Once they reach the point where they don't think of Jews as equal to the Aryan race (especially Heydrich and the character played by the fat guy that was in Ace Ventura 2) they can talk about them like they're cattle, sending them to and fro, into labor camps and death camps and anywhere they please.

As for the people that still felt the pangs of conscience, they didn't want to dissent from the view because it would make them look bad. The majority of the people in the conference were for the plan, and the few that dissented would likely have had taken some crap from associates and the like. They figure, there's a war going on, high ranking jobs in the government are hard to find, even if some of your family/friends are going to be affected by this decision, you still want some money to support the ones that'll still be around. The people selected to be sent to camps will either be sent anyway due to popular opinion or using your high rank, you can use your influence to somehow get them out of the camp system.

I think the video that we watched today on the Wansee Conference was completely shocking. I was startled to see that there were no serious objections and that a board room of about 20 members could so easily decided that fate of hundreds of thousands of people.

None of the "alleged doubters" spoke out because they were stricken with fear of anything being traced back to them. With only a small number of people in the conference, Heydrick, Eichmann, or other superior could fairly easily trace the leakage of information from the conference back to anyone there. These doubters thought that if they people were ruthless enough to systematically kill all of these people, then they would not have a problem killing anyone who leaked the information or spoke out against the board's "solution."

All of the men in the room knew of the magnitude of this event and when they learned that Hitler would cover it up, but still approve of it then they knew how serious it was. None of the men wanted to step out of line in fear of losing their own life.

These men would try to squeeze their families through the cracks in an attempt to save them. In no way would they blatantly step out of line because they knew how severe the consequence would be.

The consciences were uneasy and they did not know what to do other than to go along with the solution set forth by the Wansee Conference. They voices sank down to the bottom of their stomaches because they feared any repercussions of their behavior. They were like dogs chained down by their superiors.

I agree with my class and most likely any modern person seeing the reinactment of the conference - it was creey, it was chilling, it was eerie. The worst part was how everyone agreed at the end - even though many of them had doubts.

You can't say that no one spoke up, because a couple of them tried to speak up, but were shooshed by the senior metting organizer. After being quieted many times, I think the men felt that it was no use because their opinion wouldn't be heard anyways.

Some might say that they could have had their opinion heard at the end of the meeting - they could have disagreed and walked out. Why didn't they? Because that would have been an effort and I think they didn't want to be difficult. One of the main reasons the holocaust was effective, was because no one really fought back or spoke up. This video just reiterated the point that it is easier for people to fade into the background then be bold and stand up for what they think is right.

Eventhough it is very disturbing what happened at the meeting at Wannsee, in a way just like RoundweGo said I;m not too surprised. Obviously what happened there was ridiculous but after reading about the moble killing squads and other horrible instances I almost assume something this bad from the Nazis, but just not in the manner that it was done. It was so eerie how it was so mellow during most of the meeting, considering that the men were only discussing the fate of 6 million people. :confused:

I think that the men that doubted the plan didn't speak out because they 1)kept getting shut down by Heydrick or kept seeing that happen to others 2)Were outnumbered and weren't determined enough to bother apposing someone like Heydrick possibly because they weren't positive about their own oppinions 3)were afraid of what Heydrick and Eichmann could do to them if they disagreed 4)The men knew that the plan had already begun and that thousands of Jews had died already so they probably didn't think there was anything they could do about it.

Regarless of all these reasons, the "what if" still remains. Could they have made a signigicant difference in the course of actions that were to follow this one meeting? I think that at least speaking up and sticking with their thoughts at the least, would maybe have made Heydrick reasses his plan in some way that could have possibly altered history. By that time though, so much had already begun that it just seemed inevitable to those men at the meeting.

The men would have done things undercover to save their families and friends rather than risk their own reputation or what not at the meeting. The men almost seemed scared of Heydrick everytime he would interrupt someone and it made them rethink if listening to their consciences was really going to be worth it. I think that all these men had consciences at one point or another (the man in the blue suit and a few others still did) but being almost brainwashed by all they went through (e.g. just "obeying orders" to kill innocent people)caused them to totally block out any deep feelings or morals that would have made them speak up.

NoMooreBush states it perfectly,
"The consciences were uneasy and they did not know what to do other than to go along with the solution set forth by the Wansee Conference. They voices sank down to the bottom of their stomaches because they feared any repercussions of their behavior."

I am wondering why the conference was held in the first place. It seems that it was a re-affirmation of what was already going on. I think many of the men at the conference probably felt the same way. After all, their opinion wasn’t going to affect the final outcome. It seems as if the wheels of the death machine were already turning.

I am not sure of his name, but the man who wrote the Nuremburg laws seemed the most concerned with the plan, since he realized it wasn’t exactly legal even under German law. They all seemed somewhat concerned though. The part about “decent” Jews was particularly interesting. I think that this shows that each of these men knew that what they were doing was at least somewhat wrong. But as with everything in the end, the deed must be done for the “good of the motherland”.

I don’t think that this was the conference that decided the fate of the people who died in the Holocaust. It reaffirmed the plan, but these men and this conference was not truly the place where the final decision to the final solution took place. The order given to have the conference was more of the final decision. What high level Nazi would disagree with a plan for the “Jewish question”? By having the conference the decision was basically already made.

I completely agree with you, trevormanila. i don't think speaking out on the conference would change the plan of the Final Solution.

I think we need to put a definition on the phrase "speak out". Do you consider storming out of the room "speak out"? If not, what about storming out of the room and never come back? If that was the case, then the outcome of the conference could still be the same.

It is apparent that there were people in the conference like Kritzinger who was very much disturbed by the Final Solution. In fact, he had also tried to voice his opinion in an attempt to amend the plan. Heydrich didn't even let him speak at first but then Kritzinger still managed to get a chance to speak out. I think Kritzinger did what he at the most could have done and i therefore do not think he was a bystander.

I also want to raise this question:" What could the officers(Kritzinger, typically) have done (if you don't consider that they have done it) so they would not be categorized as bystanders? Because I don't think Kritzinger was a bystander.

um, well first off i didnt think the movie was that eerie or that chilling as some of the classmates have noted. instead it just kinda seemed odd, very odd. it was in a meeting format, though it wasnt.. the mood was quite light hearted, with jokes about the gassings, like the bodies turning pink and all. it is quite mean and insulting but it made my head turn to the side and be like huh? more than a chill down my back.

i dont know but i dont think that kritzinger was a bystander, agreeing with PUCCA. a bystander is one who somewhat objects to the idea or action that is being carried out that harms people. it did seem at first that kritzinger was objecting to heydrich's final solution and all but when i thought bout it more it wasnt really. he was part of the reich chancellor thing, i think, having conversations with hitler himself and all, therefore making him feel important and superior. i think because he didnt have any say in it or that when he asked hitler if he could do basically what heydrich was doing, he was turned down, that he basically wanted recognition or credit or power to have a say in what happens in the final solution. so, it really wasnt protecting the jews completely but bout his rep, his power.

at the end of the meeting, many seemed annoyed and didnt really agree with the final solution, though no one disagreed, at least publically. i think that even though some of the changes in the marriage laws that heydrich did did affect them, their family, it didnt matter. they were doing their job. i think that some did sorta were concern bout the final solution, but not in the way we hoped. like, when the whole solution was announced and that it was already in action, the mobile-gas chambers, i think the guy from poland was like WHAT?!! he even stood up to make it more dramatic. but in the end it wasnt bout the horror of the method but taht it had been operating under his nose, without him knowing. once again, it seemed like power.

i dont know. there can be millions of possiblities of why they continued on with the final solution, with no real objections. but maybe, a good rep and power were all that the men needed and wanted.

That was a different movie! There’s probably lots of reasons that the men at that table did not speak out about what they were deciding on. For one, a lot of them didn’t want to speak out because as I gathered from the conclusion of the meeting, most of them were fully on board to begin. I know that a couple of them expressed some distress at what was going on, which was clearly being over-ridden by Eichmann and Heydrich. The Kritzinger guy was pretty adamant about thinking he was top level and what not, but apparently that had no weight on what they were deciding. So anyways, I think that the other guys who didn’t speak out, didn’t speak out, was because of fear of retribution for saying what was on their mind. Eichmann and Heydrich actually made it seem as if it weren’t a conference, but a “heads-up” to the rest of the men about what happening.

Where were their voices? Stuck in their throats, or just sitting there comfortably. I think it is safe to say that the majority of men there chose not to speak out because they were whole heartedly agreeing with what was going on. I think that something should have been said, but I do not think that it would have influenced the decision that was so clearly made prior to the meeting. I think that it may have swayed one person tops if Kritzinger got up and left the meeting, but I don’t think anyone could have said anything at that meeting to change the minds.

What is going on here?
 

While watching the movie in class an eerie feeling just came about. Though it was just a movie it did all happen. The fact that these men were able to carry on with "business" with such ease is scary. Its hard to imagine that there were many cold hearted people in the world and unfortunately still are. As was mentioned before I think the doubters didn't speak because in a sense they were afraid. Not of what they were doing but of the repercussion. I also think that since they were in the midst of like so many other men they held back.

Also Heydrich did a good job silencing any form of opposition so with his eerie personality and the other men put together the doubters were easily choked out. Its weird to see that everyone agreed to the plan without any questions. I guess they felt that it was already being done so what was the point of disagreeing. I mean even if they disagreed it would have probably still been carried out and the opposer would have been dealt with. But these men were cold hearted and took this matter lightly so I don't think they really cared about the method of killing off the jews just as long as it was done.

True these men did have loved ones that could fall into the category they probably had some special arrangements done. But by the looks on the some of their faces they probably felt that their loved ones should be taken care of. But who knows what they were really thinking all I know is that these men really fall under the category of evil. As for their voices that was taken a long time ago along with their consciences. So even if they had a little bit of doubt all the hatred going on during that time quickly silenced the little bit of humanity left within them.