Summary

The Jews in Alfons' town of Wittlich had all but disappeared and Alfons paid little attention to how they had been treated. The newspapers were filled with stories about how the Jews were trying to corrupt good Germans but Alfons could not really understand how they could be much of a threat to Germany. Alfons thought that Auschwitz was a big farm and did not understand why people were making such a fuss about having to work on a farm.

On December 18, 1940, Hitler gave a speech to his staff in which he addressed "the final solution to the Jewish question." One of the tactics was to invade Russia in spite of signing a non-aggression pact with Russia just a year earlier. Hitler also gave the SS the power to exterminate all Jews and other political enemies of the Reich. Most people thought that...