The Camp at Auschwitz (dossier1942)

World
Jewish Congress Reports from Switzerland that Hitler has
Decided on Final Solution: but is it Genuine?

Source:
PRO file
FO.371/30917

Right: Riegner at time of his death,
2001

FROM BERNE TO FOREIGN OFFICE

Mr. Norton. D. 4.48 p.m. August 10th, 1942. No. 2851. R. 6.25 p.m. August 10th,
1942.

August 10th, 1942.

Following from His Majesty's Consul General at Geneva
No. 174 (Begins).

Following for Mr. S.S. Silverman M.P., Chairman of
British Section, World Jewish Congress London from Mr.
Gerhart Riegner Secretary of World Jewish Congress,
Geneva.

[Begins].

Received alarming report stating that, in
the Fuehrer's Headquarters, a plan has been discussed,
and is under consideration, according to which all Jews
in countries occupied or controlled by Germany numbering
3 1/2 to 4 millions should, after deportation and
concentration in the East, be at one blow exterminated in
order to resolve, once and for all the Jewish question in
Europe. Action is reported to be planned for the autumn.

Ways of execution are still being discussed including the
use of prussic acid. We transmit this information with
all the necessary reservations as exactitude cannot be
confirmed by us. Our informant is reported to have close
connexions with the highest German authorities, and his
reports are generally reliable. Please inform and consult
New York. [Ends]

(INDIV).

Website
Comment:

Tel. Norton (Berne) to FO, No. 2831, Aug 10,
1942, with the text of a telegram from Riegner to
Sydney Silverman MP (PRO file FO.371/30917). The
30-year-old Riegner claimed to have the report from a
‘German industrialist,’ whom he has refused to identify.

Dr Benjamin Sagalowitz, press officer of the Swiss
Jewish community, claimed to have given the name to
Leland Harrison, the American ambassador in Berne,
to place in a sealed envelope; there is no archival
evidence to support this. Walter Laqueur, writing
in Encounter, Jul 1980, page 13, expressed doubts that
the man was German or an industrialist. Harrison regarded
Riegner’s story as a ‘wild rumor inspired by Jewish
fears’ (ibid.;

NA: RG.226, Berne, folder 2, box 2, entry
4).

[Handwritten Minute, September
9, 1942]

Mr. Silverman having asked if he could see somebody about the cable in C.7853/61/18, Sir
Brograve Beauchamp had a talk with him this morning.

1. First, Mr. Silverman said he would let us have some particulars about Mr. Riegner, whom he regards as entirely trustworthy,

2. Secondly, Mr. Silverman stated that he had received reports of transportation of Jews from occupied territories and Germany towards the east which might be a confirmation of the alleged plan.

3. Thirdly, he said that he had repeated the cable to Dr. Weiss (?), President of the
American-Jewish Congress in New
York.[2]
Mr. Silverman said I that he would very much like permission to talk to Dr. Weiss on the telephone in order to find out the reaction of the American Jewish Congress to this story, and to see whether there was any action which could be taken. Mr.

Callender is enquiring into the possibility of his being allowed to do this, but considers it unlikely that it could be allowed.

4. Fourthly, Mr. Silverman would like advice as to whether the Foreign Office thought that good would be done by giving publicity to this rumour by getting it into Germany, or whether we could by any means bring some pressure to bear on the Germans, e.g. through the
Vatican. He would be grateful to receive the views of the
Foreign Office on this point as soon as possible.

Mr. Silverman is proposing to see
Mr.
Winant[3]

[signed]

9th September 1942

2. We have also received plenty of evidence that Jews deported from other parts of Europe have been concentrated in the General Government.

Notes:

1. Sydney Silverman was a far-Left Member of
   Parliament (Labour).
2. Weiss: Rabbi Stephen Wise, New York [see
   Lord Halifax’s unflattering
   depiction of Wise]; and his
   report in The American Hebrew, New York, December 4,
   1942.
3. John Gilbert Winant was US ambassador in
   London.