Nobody knows when Hitler formally decided on mass murder. The Führer had always pledged to exterminate the Jews, but until now no solution had emerged. The mass shooting used to kill Soviet Jews had proved inefficient and bad for army morale. On the other hand, gas had worked well in the ‘euthanasia’ programme, which proved that mass murder of innocent civilians was technically feasible and that German officials and German bureaucracy were ready to adapt to get it done.
