Many antisemites had long toyed with the idea of deporting European Jewry to Madagascar and, briefly, in the summer of 1940, this scheme was the centerpiece of the NazisΓÇÖ Jewish policy. In the spring of 1940, after the victory over France, Himmler proposed to Hitler that the Jews be banished to some African colony. However, the official who made this plan practical was Franz Rademacher, the expert on Jewish affairs in the German Foreign Office. Hitler disclosed the plan to Mussolini in June 1940 as part of its elaboration. The Madagascar Plan was shelved when, in the autumn of 1940, Germany failed to win its battle with Britain. The French also refused to cooperate with the plan. Essentially the plan was not feasible logistically.
