All this had brought us quite a way from the Jews. “Ah yes, the Chosen People. Even with all these obstacles, an equitable solution remained possible. For instance, after our victory over France, the SD, in conjunction with the Auswärtiges Amt, began to think seriously about a Madagascar option. Before that, we had envisaged parking all the Jews around Lublin, in a kind of large reservation where they could have lived quietly without posing any risks for Germany; but the Generalgouvernement categorically refused, and Frank, taking advantage of his connections, managed to have the project shelved. But Madagascar was serious. We carried out studies, there was room there for all the Jews within our sphere of control. We went very far in our planning, we even had employees of the Staatspolizei vaccinated against malaria, in preparation for their departure. It was mostly Amt IV that headed the project, but the SD provided information and ideas, and I read all the reports.”—“Why didn’t it come about?”—“Quite simply because the British, very unreasonably, refused to accept our crushing superiority and sign a peace treaty with us! Everything depended on that. First of all because France had to cede Madagascar to us, which would have figured in the treaty, and also because England would have had to contribute its fleet, isn’t that so?”
