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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, is assassinated in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. His murder precipitates the start of the massive armed conflict in Europe now known as the First World War. -
Adolf Hitler Issues Comment on the “Jewish Question”
he defined the Jews as a race and not a religious community, characterized the effect of a Jewish presence as a “race-tuberculosis of the peoples,” and identified the initial goal of a German government to be discriminatory legislation against Jews. -
Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor
(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government. -
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. -
German Invasion of Poland
German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, fled the German advance hoping the Polish army could halt the German advance
They required Jews to identify themselves by wearing white armbands with a blue Star of David and conscripted them for forced-labor. -
Jewish Badge
During the Nazi era, German authorities reintroduced the Jewish badge as a key element of their larger plan to persecute and eventually to annihilate the Jewish population of Europe. They used the badge not only to stigmatize and humiliate Jews but also to segregate them, to watch and control their movements, and to prepare for deportation. -
Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Czech Agents who had trained in Great Britain parachuted into German-occupied Czech territory to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. -
Opening of US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Dedication ceremonies for the Museum took place on April 22, 1993, and included speeches by President Bill Clinton; Chaim Herzog, president of Israel; Harvey Meyerhoff, chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council; and Elie Wiesel, who had been awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Several days later, on April 26, the Museum officially opened to the public—with its first visitor being His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet.