The Participants of the Conference

Born in Waldsee (Württemberg), son of a baker. Doctorate in Law in 1932. Joined the Nazi Party in April 1933. As a senior public prosecutor, he was office manager for Hans Frank, Reich minister without portfolio. Promoted in 1939 to ministerial junior assistant secretary; in December of that year, became office head for Governor General Hans Frank at Cracow. In March 1940 he became Frank's undersecretary, and in July 1941 his deputy. Participated in the introduction of distinguishing marks for Jews, the establishment of ghettos, and the "special pacification operation" of May-June 1940, in which 3,500 Polish intellectuals were killed.
On the morning of January 20, 1942, Bühler and Heydrich had a private talk. Bühler urged at the Wannsee Conference that "the final solution of this question should begin in the Generalgouvernement, where transportation problems play only a minor role, and questions pertaining to deployment of labor would not impede the course of this operation."
Involved in planning for the establishment of German settlements at Lublin and Zamosc, and in the deportation of Poles to Germany for forced labor.
Fled Cracow in January 1945. In April 1946, witness for Frank at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Thereafter extradited to Poland. Sentenced to death in Cracow in July, executed in August 1948.

Born in Solingen, son of a bookkeeper. After abandoning his studies, he worked as a salesman from 1925 to 1927, then as a sales representative. Joined the Nazi Party and the SS in April 1932. Military training in 1933; active in the fall of 1934 in the SS Security Service (SD) in Berlin, and as of 1935 in Section II/112 (Jewry). Director of the Centers for Jewish Emigration in Vienna and Prague in 1938-1939. Drew up plans for a "Jewish reservation" in Nisko on the river San (Poland) in October 1939. In December 1939, Eichmann took over Section IV D4 (Emigration, Evacuation) in the Reich Security Main Office, then Section IV B4 (Jewish Affairs and Evacuations) in March 1941. In August 1941, he visited Auschwitz and discussed plans for deportation and extermination. Eichmann was made an SS lieutenant colonel in November 1941.
Inspection of Theresienstadt Ghetto on January 19, 1942; the following day, he participated in and served as secretary to the Wannsee Conference. Between 1942 and 1944, Eichmann coordinated the deportations and mass murder of millions. Sent to Budapest in March 1944 as head of "Special Detachment Eichmann" to prepare the deportation of over 437,000 Jews.
In early May 1945 he posed as an air force private; he was captured, but escaped. Worked under false name as a forestry worker near Celle; fled to Italy in 1950 and on to Argentina. Kidnapped by members of the Israeli Intelligence Service in May 1960. Sentenced to death in Jerusalem in December 1961. Executed on May 31,1962.

Born in Celle, son of an engineer. War service as officer cadet in 1914, prisoner of war in Russia in October 1915. Close contacts with the Bolsheviks. Return to Germany in 1920. Doctor of law degree in 1922 from Jena University. From 1924 on, worked as a lawyer in Kassel and as city councilor for the Völkisch-Social bloc. Joined the Nazi Party in July 1925 and worked regularly for the party on political crime cases.
In March 1933, participated in the assault on Kassel’s city hall and courthouse. Appointed ministerial secretary at the Prussian Ministry of Justice; became undersecretary in June 1933. In June 1934, Freisler was named undersecretary in the newly-combined Reich and Prussian Ministry of Justice, in charge, among other things, of personnel, penal legislation, and execution of sentences. In 1939, Freisler called for stricter laws and greater authority for special courts, "courts-martial on the domestic front." He participated in the Wannsee Conference as representative of Undersecretary Franz Schlegelberger, acting minister in the Reich Ministry of Justice.
As President of the "People's Court" (Volksgerichtshof) starting in August 1942, Freisler presided over 1,200 trials of political adversaries. Nearly all ended with the death penalty. Died during an air raid in the courtyard of the "People's Court" in Berlin on February 3, 1945.

Born in Halle, the son of a composer and director of a conservatory. Catholic high school. Freecorps fighter in 1920. Joined the German Navy in 1922. In 1926, appointed naval lieutenant, intelligence and signal officer. Dishonorable discharge as first lieutenant in 1931. Joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931. In July 1932, Himmler entrusted Heydrich with organisation of the Security Service (SD) for the surveillance of political opponents.
Became head of the Bavarian Political Police in 1933 and head of the Secret State Police Office in Berlin in 1934. Named head of the Main Office of the Security Service in January 1935, Chief of Security Police in June 1936, and Head of the Reich Security Main Office in October 1939. Fighter pilot in April-May 1940. In June 1941, ordered the "Special Units" to carry out pogroms and executions in the Soviet Union. At the end of July 1941, he received authorization from Göring to lay the groundwork for a "General Solution of the Jewish Question," which he had earlier requested. In September 1941, Heydrich became Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
At the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich submitted a report on a general plan for the genocide of over eleven million Jews, to be deported "to the East." At the same time he asked for "cooperation" from the various ministries represented at the conference.
On May 27, 1942, Czech resistance fighters made an attempt on his life in Prague. He died of his wounds on June 4, 1942.

Born in Innsbruck, son of a businessman. Volunteered for military service in August 1914, made second lieutenant in March 1917. Taken prisoner of war in Russia in June 1917, escaped in August, then trained as a pilot. Demobilized in 1919. Worked in the wholesale wine business from 1920-1925, and later as a self-employed wine salesman. Joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in April 1931. Starting in 1933, Hofmann was a full-time SS leader.
In 1934, commander of the 21st SS Regiment (Magdeburg) and, in 1935, of SS Sector XV (Hamburg). Director of the Genealogical Section within the SS Race and Settlement Main Office in 1939; head of that office in 1940, he became responsible for German settlements in occupied Poland, the "Germanization" of Polish children, and SS "genealogical preservation" (Sippenpflege). Became an SS major general in 1941.
As a participant in the Wannsee Conference, Hofmann called primarily for sterilization of persons of "mixed blood." In April 1943, he was named commander of the SS Main Sector Southwest and senior SS and police leader in Württemberg, Baden, and the Alsace. In June of the same year, he advanced to SS lieutenant general and police lieutenant general, and in July 1944 to lieutenant general of the Waffen SS as well. He was also commandant of prisoners of war within Defense Sector V (Southeast).
In the trial of the Main Office for Race and Resettlement in March 1948, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Amnestied in 1954 and released from Landsberg penitentiary. Worked thereafter as a business clerk in Württemberg. Died in late 1982.

Born in Schreibersdorf near Lauban (Silesia), son of a farmer. Freecorps volunteer in 1923. Doctor of law degree in 1927; appointed judge to a Düsseldorf district court in 1931. Joined the Nazi Party and the stormtroopers in April 1933. At the end of 1933, became a departmental official in the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture, 1934 in the State Secret Police Office. Moved from there in April 1935 to the Staff of the "Führer's Deputy," Rudolf Hess. Joined the SS in 1935 and became section manager on Hess's staff. Senior executive officer in 1936. As a ministerial junior assistant secretary in 1938, he dealt with the expropriation of Jewish businesses.
In 1939, Klopfer became an SS colonel and ministerial assistant secretary. Made ministerial secretary and director of the division for State law matters of the newly established Nazi Party Chancellery under Martin Bormann in 1941. Responsible, among other things, for questions of race and national characteristics, economic policies, cooperation with the Reich Security Main Office, and principals of occupation policies.
Klopfer participated in the Wannsee Conference on January 20,1942. In 1943, as an undersecretary in the Party Chancellery, he helped further restrict the rights of those living in "mixed marriages." Became an SS major general in 1944.
Fled Berlin in April 1945, later interned. After his release from detention in 1949, the superior Denazification Court at Nuremberg pronounced him "1ess incriminated." He became a tax advisor in 1952, and a lawyer in Ulm in 1956. In 1962, the state prosecutor's office of that city stayed all further legal proceedings concerning his participation in the Wannsee Conference. Died in Ulm in February 1987.

Born a parson's son in Grünfier (Netze district). Studied law; served from 1914-1918 at the front, ultimately as a second lieutenant. Prisoner of war in France from 1918-1920. Assessor in 1921, then employed in the Reich Ministry of Justice. Associate judge with the Prussian Ministry of Trade in 1925-1926. Returned to Reich Ministry of Justice in 1926. Became ministerial junior assistant secretary in 1930. Participated in 1934 in drafting a law to legalize the killings of June 30,1934. Several jurisdictional conflicts with the Gestapo in 1935-1936 regarding "protective custody." For this reason, Kritzinger applied in 1938 for a transfer to the Reich Chancellery, where he served as section leader with the rank of ministerial secretary. Joined the Nazi Party.
In 1939 and 1940, participated in drafting decrees against "parasites" [Volksschädlinge] and the 11th supplementary ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law, which provided the legal justification for confiscating the property of German Jews prior to their deportation.
Kritzinger took part in the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, and was soon after appointed assistant undersecretary. In November 1942 he became an undersecretary in the Reich Chancellery, responsible for all five sections. In 1942 and 1943, he participated in depriving the Jews of further rights.
Fled Berlin in April 1945, and became undersecretary in the Dönitz Government at Flensburg in May. Then interned in Bruchsal. Released in April 1946; arrested again in December of that year. During questioning before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1947, Kritzinger declared himself ashamed of the Nazi crimes. Released from detention shortly before his death in October 1947.

Born in Weisswasser (district of Liegnitz), son of a railway construction supervisor. Studied law, and in 1933 worked for the Gestapo in Halle. Joined the stormtroopers in November 1933. Doctor of law degree in 1934. Employed by the Secret State Police Office in 1936, he joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1937. Worked for the Vienna Gestapo in 1938. In 1939, Lange became an administrative councilor with the Gestapo in Stuttgart. SS captain and chief of the Weimar and Erfurt Gestapo in 1940. In September 1940, he was named deputy to the chief of the Berlin Gestapo. Attained rank of SS major in 1941.
Lange went to Riga in June 1941 with "Special Unit A" and became chief of the Riga Gestapo and Criminal Police in July 1941. In charge of "Special Commando 2," which by December 1941 had killed roughly 60,000 Jews from Latvia, as well as Jews from Germany and Austria who had been deported to Riga. In December 1941, he was named commander of the Security Police and Security Service in Latvia.
Lange participated in the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 as representative of the Senior SS and Police Leader for northern Russia and Ostland, SS Lieutenant General Friedrich Jeckeln. Lange carried out further killing operations against Jews, political opponents, and partisans in Latvia, using gas vans from 1942 on. He became a senior administrative councilor and SS lieutenant colonel in 1943. In October 1944, he became acting commander of the Security Police and Security Service in the Warta region. In January 1945, Lange was promoted to SS colonel. He was killed in Poznan in February 1945 while trying to recapture his headquarters.