[padre35]

Hmm...didn’t the term “Final Solution” come from the Wannasee Conference? And wasn’t Herman Goering or Heydrich the person who coined the phrase?

[PAR35]

Well, prior proposed solutions proved unworkable. In the mid 30s, the Nazis would have been perfectly happy to implement a solution which transported the Jews (without their assets, of course) to Africa or South America. They did manage to get thousands to the Middle East, despite British blockades. Attempts to send them to Cuba or the US were also blocked.

After war broke out, it became clear that resettlement wasn’t viable, and that’s when they looked for a final solution.

I think Heydrich is generally credited with the phrase.

[PzLdr]

The term ‘final solution’ predates the Wansee Conference by at least five months. It appears in the written order Goering gave Heydrich in July, 1941 ordering the latter to implement a coordinated all encompassing solution to the Nazis perceived ‘Jewish problem’. Since the Einsatzgruppen had already moved into the western Soviet Union before that date, it would appear a verbal order had been issued earlier. Himmler alluded, in conversations with underlings, that Hitler had given him such an order.

The Wansee conference was originally scheduled for December, 1941, but Pearl Harbor, and Hitler's declaration of war on the U.S [Dec. 11th] postponed it to January, 1942.