and administrative organisation are henceforth two separate pillars. Decentralized decisions are considered important, but centralised arrangements take precedence in the strained war situation. As a result, Himmler makes broad criticism of the personal politics of Gauleiters. In the last part of his speech, he goes into the benefits of the Waffen-SS. Himmler closes by discussing how the German national boundary will be pushed 500 km eastwards with 120 million people being relocated, and ends with the appeal: Albert Speer, Reich minister for arms and munition since 1942, was, since 2 September 1943 as Reich minister for armament and wartime economy, responsible for all German armament production. This used Jewish forced labourers who were partly exempted from being deported to their extermination until 1943. After 1945, Speer always maintained that he left the conference before Himmler made his speech and knew nothing of the Holocaust. Historians cite Himmler's direct second person reference to Speer as proof of his presence. Further speeches Statements from five further speeches by Himmler confirm the sentiment he expressed in Posen on the "final solution to the Jewish question". On 16 December 1943, he said to Kriegsmarine commanders: A handwritten memo from Himmler's speech on 26 January 1944 in Posen to Generals of fighting troops reads: On 5 May 1944 Himmler explained to Generals in Sonthofen that perseverance in the bombing war has only been possible because the Jews in Germany have been discarded. Applause can be heard on a recording of another speech given to Generals in Sonthofen on 24 May 1944, when Himmler says: On 21 June 1944 Himmler spoke to Generals educated in the Nazi world view in Sonthofen, mentioning the Jewish question again: Historical reception The destruction of the Jews was to be kept secret from those outside the Nazi regime, but could only be organised and carried out with the participation of all relevant state and party executives. The Posen speeches offer a retrospective look at the mass killings already carried out, and show how these and further killings were ideologically justified by the Party. The extermination of the "internal enemy" (innerer Feind), the Jewish race, had become an objective of the war, and success in this field was to compensate for other defeats accrued in the course of the war. Saul Friedländer highlights Himmler's self-image as an unconditionally obedient executor of Hitler's plans for the Germanic "Lebensraum in the east". Konrad