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"Shouldn't have mixed wine with whisky."
Great but disturbing movie. All those men were there not to figure out what to do with the 'Jewish problem", but to be Heydrich's puppets.
Most of the men had just met. Besides the brief moments of eating and drinking, they had no real alliances with each other. They did not know each other, so how could they trust in each other, to confide in each other?
Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger was the only one that was really not intimidated by Heydrich in the beginning. He was actually angry with him. But what was more important was Heydrich's actions - he silenced him, he established his authority. If the head of the Reichs Chancellery, one who was very close to Hitler, was silenced by this man, then who else can speak up? If someone joined Kritzinger strongly, maybe something would have been different - but Heydrich was also supported by Adolf Eichmann.
The meeting lasted less than 3 hours - and in that time they decided how to 'evacuate' the Jews. As ArtVandelay pointed out, the success of Heydrich's plan depended him on moving the meeting as fast as he could. The other men did not know why they were there in the first place - many did not even know of the use of carbon monoxide. There was much information, and they did not have time to process it. If any alarm bells rang from their consciences, they were suppressed by Heydrich's control, and even fear.
Some had their own concerns, like the man on the overcrowding in Poland. In the final approval of Reinhard Heydrich plans, all said yes, and some put in a tiny request. One could not even say that thier decision to go along was a defeat, because they hardly fought for any moral ideas.
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