In 1944, Himmler proposed to exchange one million Jews (children, women, old people) for "10,000 trucks, a thousand tons of coffee, and a bit of soap."

Joel Brand conducted the negotiations for the Jewish side. He first went to Istanbul and from there to Cairo. However, the Allies raised obstacles against it. Joel Brand was interned by the British authorities without having had the possibility of accomplishing his mission; and the State Department forbade Dr. Schwarz, the director of the American Jewish Joint Committee, to deal with enemy subjects.

Joel Brand succeeded in transmitting the German proposal to Lord Moyne, then British Minister of State for the Middle East, who answered him:

"And what am I supposed to do with a million Jews? Where shall I put them?".

• G. Reitlinger, La Soluzione finale (The Final Solution), op. cit., p. 544.

• L. Poliakov, Bréviaire ... , op. cit., p. 296.