The two main topics for debate in Chapter 21 of Exchanges are whether the Holocaust was planned by the Nazis before or after the war started. The other subject of discussion is what were the main causes for the Germans to murder six million Jews. The Germans felt threatened by the Jewish people and evidence suggests that the mass genocide of the Jews was pre-meditated (Dawidowicz 269). Although the Holocaust was unique, it was not unique in its time. According to Lindqvist, "this slaughter of civilians was made possible by more than a century of European (and American and Japanese) ideology that the extermination of other "races" was appropriate" (Lindqvist 276). Although Hitler exterminated about six million Jews, his main goal during the war was German expansionism. In determining when the Germans planned the extermination of the Jews, one must take a look at the Wannsee Conference. The purpose of the Wannsee Conference was to decide the future treatment of German Jews and Jews from Western Europe as well (Gerlach 271). The Germans were trying to figure out the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (Gerlach 271). On a speech made to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939, Hitler spoke of the extermination of the Jewish race in Europe. What many people fail to realize is that throughout Hitler's childhood, the Germans exterminated the Herero people in southwest Africa, as well as the genocide by the French, British, and the Americans (Lindqvist 276). Hitler grew up watching "inferior" races condemned to extinction (Lindqvist 275). He had plans of exterminating the Jews since his Reichstag speech in 1939. Hitler announced his declaration of war against the United States on December 11, 1941. His vision was starting to come together. The day after he declared war, Hitler held a meeting with the Reichsleiter, the National Socialist Party, and the Gauleiter.
