"FINAL SOLUTION": OVERVIEW The term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was a euphemism used by Nazi Germany’s leaders. It referred to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. It brought an end to policies aimed at encouraging or forcing Jews to leave the German Reich and other parts of Europe. Those policies were replaced by systematic annihilation. --- The Nazi leaders envisioned killing 11 million Jews as part of the “Final Solution.” They succeeded in murdering 6 million. --- Final Solution The Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" ("Endlösung der Judenfrage") was the deliberate and systematic mass murder of European Jews. It was the last stage of the Holocaust and took place from 1941 to 1945. Though many Jews were killed before the "Final Solution" began, the vast majority of Jewish victims were murdered during this period. It is not known when the leaders of Nazi Germany definitively decided to implement the "Final Solution." What is clear, however, is that the “Final Solution” was the culmination of a decade of increasingly severe discriminatory, anti-Jewish measures implemented by the Nazis. Today, the "Final Solution" is used as a synonym for the genocide of Europe’s Jews.
