The term “Final
Solution” (Die
Endlösung) was a euphemism. Himmler was
fully prepared to talk about killing to
his immediate subordinates, but much of
the Nazi killing
machine was shrouded in bureaucratic euphemism.
The doctors and administrators charged
with murdering ‘incurables’ were
the ‘Public Ambulance Service Ltd’ (Gemeinnützige
Krankentransport GmbH); the motorized
death squads which first went into action
in Poland in 1939 were ‘task forces’ (Einsatzgruppen); the
massacre of nearly 34,000 Jews in the ravine
of Babi-Yar after the capture of Kiev in
September 1941 was a ‘major operation’ (Gross-Aktiori).
People identified for extermination in
official Nazi documents were listed as
those to be given ‘special treatment’ (Sonderbehandlung),
sometimes abbreviated to ‘SB’,
and from roughly mid-1943 the term ‘special
lodging’ (Sonderunterbringung) was
also used.