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Following inconclusive elections, President Hindenburg invited Hitler to become chancellor of Germany. -
Germany and Poland signed a 10-year non-aggression pact. -
The German government issued a ban on all organisations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. -
The German army reoccupied the Rhineland. This action directly broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. -
The German Army invaded and annexed Austria. This became known as Anschluss. -
The ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibition opened in Munich. It presented paintings, sculptures and books from Germany’s public galleries that were considered to be ‘un-German’ and therefore unacceptable -
The Battle of Monte Cassino took place from the 17 January 1944 to the 18 May 1944. It was a series of four offensives carried out by Allied troops in central Italy (who was a key ally of Germany) in an attempt to breakthrough the Winter Line and occupy Rome. On the 18 May, Polish troops captured the Abbey at the top of Monte Cassino. The Battle for Monte Cassino was over. -
Nazi troops invaded Czechoslovakia and occupied Prague, breaking the Munich agreement which was agreed just six months prior. -
The German army invaded France. After six weeks of battle, the French surrendered and signed an armistice with the Nazis. -
The construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the second camp of Auschwitz, began. It soon became the most brutal and overcrowded of the camps at Auschwitz. -
Fifteen members of the German Civil Service and Nazi Party met at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin. They discssed and agreed the measures needed to implement the ‘Final Solution’ – the complete annihilation of the European Jews. Image courtesy of David Allthorpe. -
The German Army surrendered to Soviet forces at Stalingrad, Russia, after 90.000 German soldiers had been encircled for several months. This was a key turning point in World War Two. -
Due to the approaching Soviet Army, 58,000 prisoners of Auschwitz were forced on marches to the concentration and labour camps in central Germany. These marches became known as death marches. Image courtesy of USHMM.