In 1914, German pharmaceutical manufacturer Ernst Malier purchased a plot of land at the lake Großer Wannsee and commissioned the architect Paul O. A. Baumgarten to build a stately villa on it. In 1941, the villa was sold to the Nordhav Foundation, which had been established by Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office. From 1941 to 1945, it was used as a guest and recreation centre for SS members. High-ranking SS officers, leaders of Einsatzkommandos (English: special operations units) and heads of friendly foreign intelligence services stayed here.

At the invitation of Reinhard Heydrich, a meeting was held at the villa on 20 January 1942, attended by representatives of the SS, the NSDAP (National Socialist Party) and several Reich ministries. The topic was the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. Heydrich’s aim was to secure recognition of his leadership role in the deportations and to involve key ministries and party offices in the preparations for the murder of European Jews.

The conference is of great significance in the history of the Holocaust, as it provided the coordination necessary for the genocide against the Jews to be extended to almost all of Europe. Adolf Eichmann, an expert on deportations at the Reich Security Main Office, drew up the minutes, which were found in the German Foreign Office’s records in 1947.

In 1946, the property came into the possession of the Greater Berlin Municipal Government, which leased it to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in December 1946. Five social-democratic publishers established the “August Bebel Institute” there in 1947, named after August Bebel, a leading figure in the German labor movement and co-founder of the SPD.

In 1990, the nonprofit association “Erinnern für die Zukunft - Trägerverein des Hauses der Wannsee-Konferenz e.V.” (English: “Remembering for the Future – Supporting Association of the House of the Wannsee Conference” e.V.) was founded. The “House of the Wannsee Conference” memorial and educational center was officially opened on January 19, 1992. It offers a permanent and alternating temporary exhibitions, as well as guided tours, seminars and workshops.