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Camps
Between 1933 and 1945, concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the Nazi regime. The number of prisoners incarcerated in Dachau during these years exceeded 188,000. The number of prisoners who died in the camp and its subcamps between January 1940 and May 1945 was at least 28,000, -
Anti-Jewish Boycott
The boycott was presented to the German people as both a reprisal and an act of revenge for the bad international press against Germany since the appointment of Hitler’s government in January, 1933. The Nazis claimed that German and foreign Jews were spreading “atrocity stories” to damage Germany's reputation. -
Holocaust
the Nazi state (also referred to as the Third Reich) quickly became a regime in which citizens had no guaranteed basic rights. -
Röhm Affair
Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). -
Ban on Jehovah’s Witness Organizations
The German government bans Jehovah’s Witness organizations. The ban is due to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ refusal to swear allegiance to the state; their religious convictions forbid an oath of allegiance to or service in the armed forces of any temporal power. From 1935 onward, Jehovah’s Witnesses faced a Nazi campaign of persecution. -
Olympic games in Berlin
The Olympic Games were a propaganda success for the Nazi government, as German officials made every effort to portray Germany as a respectable member of the international community. They removed anti-Jewish signs from public display and restrained anti-Jewish activities. In response to pressure from foreign Olympic delegations, Germany also included one part-Jew, the fencer Helene Mayer, on its Olympic team. -
Buchenwald Concentration Camp Opens
SS authorities open the Buchenwald concentration camp for male prisoners in east-central Germany. -
Helen Baker Diary Entry
Americans living in Vienna when Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, Helen and Ross Baker documented what they saw through letters, a diary, and film. Ross was studying at the University of Vienna. In her diary for March 14, Helen describes what she witnessed as Hitler entered the city. -
St. Louis Sets Sail
On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sets sail from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. On board are over 900 passengers, almost all of them Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany. -
Auschwitz Camp Established
The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps, all of which deployed incarcerated prisoners at forced labor. -
Krakow Ghetto Established
From March 3–20, 1941, German authorities announce, establish, and seal a ghetto in Krakow, Poland. -
Deportations from Lodz to Chelmno
German authorities begin the deportation of Jews from the Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno killing center. -
Letter Asking for Help to Hide Daughter
A letter from Selek and Eda Kuenstler to Sophia Zendler beseeches Zendler to save the child from "annihilation." Salek and Eda Kuenstler married in Krakow on August 30, 1939. Anita was born on November 18, 1942, in the Krakow ghetto. -
Creation of War Refugee Board
US president Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9417, creating the War Refugee Board (WRB). The board is tasked with the “immediate rescue and relief of the Jews of Europe and other victims of enemy persecution.” -
Soviet Forces Liberate Auschwitz
The Soviet army enters Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz and liberates around 7,000 prisoners, most of whom are ill and dying. In mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its subcamps. SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west from the Auschwitz camp system.