WHEN DID HITLER DECIDE ON THE FINAL SOLUTION? Introduction One of the most interesting, and hotly debated, aspects of the Holocaust is when Hitler ordered it to begin. The thinking to now has been that the decision was made in early to mid 1941, and that it got into full gear in early 1942. That thinking is now challenged by the recent discovery of hitherto unavailable documents, recently uncovered by German historian Christian Gerlach. [1] The new documents …showed first 75 words of 1764 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1764 total…e aspired final solution of the Jewish question. Die Zeit, edition of January 9, 1998. Ibid. By far the best treatment is Gerald Fleming, Hitler and the Final Solution, University of California Press, Berkley, 1984. Inter alia, Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Bantam Books, New York, 1961, p. 480. William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1960, pp. 864-865. Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, Fontana/Collins, Glasgow, 1989, p. 219.