-
GERMAN JEWS ASSIGNED CURFEWS
IMAGEJewish people in Germany are given the curfew of 8 o'clock p.m. in the winters, and 9 o'clock p.m. in the summers. They are to stay indoors after these times. Two days later, France and Great Brtain declare war on Germany. -
WORLD WAR II 'BEGINS"
IMAGE
Hitler's Nazi Germany began to invade the country of Poland. This led Britain and France to immediately declare war on the Nazi State, retaliating. Tensions and fighting would escalate when, on December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan for the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the previous day. -
THE FIRST EXTERMINATION CAMP BEGINS OPERATION
IMAGE
Chelmno was the first of six major extermination camps to open. On December 7, 1941, the first group of Jews arrived at the camp. On the following day, the first exterminations occurred. Killings continued until 1942. Throughout its operation, 320,000 Jews died there. The only reason the camp was no longer providing "service" by 1942 was, nearly all of the Jews within the surrounding ghettos had been killed. -
NAZI GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON THE U.S.
IMAGEHitler made the personal decision--without consulting any of his adviors or staff--to declare war on the United States, coming only three days after the U.S. declared war on Japan. His reasoning is almost entirely unknown, and widely speculated. After the declaration, Hitler presented a speech in which he simply explained that he was siding with Japan. Meanwhile, the U.S. was extremely unprepared for war with either Germany or Japan. -
WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING
IMAGE
NOTE: THE UPRISING LASTED UNTIL MAY 16, 1943.
German SS Forces were venturing to the Warsaw Ghetto to deport its prisoners to Treblinka Extermination Camp. When they arrived on April 19th, it looked deserted. Soon, Jews led by commander Mordecai Anielewicz--armed with weaponry of many kinds--began to attack. The first day of fighting resulted in the retreat of the Germanss to outisde the Ghetto borders. The Nazi forces began demolishing each building one by one until Alielewicz was killed. -
SIEGFRIED LEDERER ESCAPES AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU
IMAGE
Accompanied by a Nazi corporal who had fallen in love with a Jewish inmate, Siegfried managed to escape the death camp adorned in a stolen Nazi Uniform. The two managed to inform people in the Czechoslovakian ghettos the truth about what was going on behind the walls of the many death and concentration camps. He also sent a plea for help in the form of a report to the International Red Cross. -
STUTTHOF IS THE LAST CAMP LIBERATED
IMAGEOn this day, the Russian Army successfully liberated Stutthoff, making it the final Nazi Concentraton Camp to be freed of its prisoners. 85,000 people died here from September 2, 1939 to May 10, 1945. Some of these innocents were executed and used as "material" for Rudolph Spanner's production of soaps using the fat from deceased Jewish inmates.
