July 31: The Boys from Brazil
On July 31, 1941, Hermann Göring orders SS General Heydrich to draft the "Final Solution" plan. Tonight's film: The Boys from Brazil (1978).
Sometimes the thought catches me: why write about a day like this at all. This is July 31, 1941, and there is no cheerful way to start it. But that is exactly why it has to be done.
That day in Berlin, Hermann Göring, Hitler’s deputy and the second man of the Reich, signs a letter. The addressee is Reinhard Heydrich, SS-Obergruppenführer, head of the Reich Security Main Office, Himmler’s right hand. The language is lawyerly, measured, every line official. Göring authorizes Heydrich to carry out all necessary organizational, material and logistical preparations for the desired total solution of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence. The German text uses the word Gesamtlösung, total solution, which would soon harden into Endlösung, final solution. Six months later, on January 20, 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich lays out the mechanics of implementation before fifteen ministry officials. One piece of paper, one signature, and the machine begins to turn.
