The Holocaust: Functionalists Or Intentionalists?

Like the intentionalists, the functionalists did have some stronger arguments. Mommsen refers to the Holocaust as a “political process which eventually led to the conclusion that there was no way out but to kill the Jews in Auschwitz and elsewhere.” He further put forth his belief “this did not come into being before the second half of 1941.” Intentionalists cannot counter this claim easily, “No one has uncovered any SS plans for the relocation of Jews in the Soviet interior,” intentionalist Richard Breitman admitted “in contrast, plans for extermination camps were already being implemented in the early fall of 1941.” Just as damningly Rudolf Hoss’s own testimony indicates his orders regarding the Final Solution came directly from Himmler in the summer of 1941. This points in favor of a non-intentionalist argument, though it does not necessarily strengthen the functionalist idea that this was a bureaucratic process, as Himmler, a high ranking member of the inner circle, gave the order.
Even if Hitler had plans dating to 1933, or even earlier, his bureaucracy and
Certainly Hitler entered the Chancellery with intent to harm the Jews, even if he did not yet know exactly what ultimate form that would take. Functionalists like Raul Hilberg make the point that “the process of destruction unfolded in a definite pattern.” He identified clear steps beginning in 1933 with the defining of what the Nazi Party meant by Jewish, followed by Jewish disenfranchisement, their concentration into ghettos and camps, which were then emptied to enable their murder by either bullets or gas. These steps did not start from the beginning, the Nuremburg Laws did not appear until 1935, though laws designed to exclude Jews from higher callings like