Book excerpt: Although Hitler's extermination of the Jews was well underway by the end of 1941, it was at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942 that Reinhard Heydrich officially announced the Nazi's infamous "final solution." This conference was held at a luxurious villa, and both house and conference have a fascinating history. This book traces that history from 1914--the year that saw the foundations laid for both the house and the Holocaust--to the present. Appendices provide a wealth of historical documents.