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1925-Mein Kampf-book written by Hitler in prison in which he blamed the Jews for WWI; said all nonAryans must be exterminated to create “master race”
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1930-Nazi party-National Socialist Party in Reichstag in Germany
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1933-Hitler elected Chancellor
• Storm Trooper (SS) established
• Builds concentration camps
• Posts signs “Germans defend yourselves! Do not buy from Jews.” -
1934- Henrich Himmler-chief of SS commands concentration camps
• “Black Shirts” police Germany
• Hitler both president and chancellor of Germany est. 3
rd Reich -
1935-Swastika adopted as national flag
• Nuremburg Laws-stripped Jews of all rights and property/and forced to wear yellow star of David as a
sign that they were Jewis -
1936-Olympic games in Berlin –Jesse Owens wins 4 golds-Hitler refuses to shake
his hand. -
1937-Buchenwald Concentration camp opened
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1938-Kristallnacht-“crystal night”-night of broken glass
• Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synogogues
• Shop windows broken
• 35,000 Jews arrested-sent to camps
• Nazi blamed the Jews for the destruction
• Curfews placed on Jews -
In February 1939, he was drafted into the Polish army. The army was the first time that he had associated with Poles. In Vilna, the Jews lived on one side of the street and the Poles lived on the other side. Everyone in the Pole army treated the Jews like dogs.
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1939-Sept. 1-Germany invades Poland-WW2 begins
• “Final Solution”-started by Hitler to quickly exterminate Jews and non-Aryan races to death camps
Shep was with the 77th Pulk Piechoty (77th Infantry Regiment).
The strugle took only 16 days. -
Shep was captured near Radom, and was taken to a prisoner of war camp near kielce.
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1940-Germany starts all deportation of German Jews
• Auschwitz is built in Poland along with 6 other camps
• Germany places all Polish Jews in ghetto surrounded by 8 foot wall -
1941-France sends 17, 000 Jews to camps-massive deportation begins
*130, 000 Jews left in Germany -
Shep works at several different places during his time being held prisioner. He even works on the Autobahn in Austria.
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Everywhere that Shep would work, the Jews would be singled out for "special treatment" (not good)
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1942—110,000-Japanese Americans placed in work camps until war is over• All Polish Jews to Bergen-Belsen concentration camps
• All ghettos liquidated to Auschwitz
• Jews committing crimes were arrested-Crimes included:
using public transportation
owning pets
visiting barber shops
having a typewriter or electric appliance
wearing or owning woolen or fur clothin -
1943-SS troops send Jews in Warsaw after revolt to camps-56, 065 out of 60,000 were killed
*Only 15, 000 Jews left in Germany -
1944-Germans plan to breed an Aryan elite race by making unmarried women bear SS troops’ children.
• 46,000 Jews were gassed and burned in 1 DAY at Auschwitz -
Shep was liberated on April 22, 1945. Russian Cavalier were the people who liberated them.
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1945-Warsaw liberated
• Auschwitz freed-only 5,000 people remained
• Buchenwald freed (Anne Frank’s dad)
• April:
FDR dies
Mussolini assassinated
Hitler commits suicide
• Germany and Japan surrender-WW2 ends -
On this date, Shep comes to America by boat. He had an uncle in New Orleans who paid for him to take the trip.
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Shep's part for the last few years has been to lead the singing of the Hymn of the Holocaust Survivors.
