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Hitler given emergency powers as a result of Reichstag Fire
Gave Hitler plenary power. -
Dachau, Ravensbrük, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.
Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Buchenwald near Weimar, Sachsenhausen near Berlin, and Ravensbrük for women -
Enabling Act passed
Hitler's Act
-was limited to four years, not several months-alloweded government not only to create decrees, but even laws and treaties with other countries-these laws could deviate from the constitution-there were no thematic limits-neither any house committee nor the Reichsrat had the right to control, or to abolish these laws -
Nazis passed a law against Habitual/Dangerous Criminals
Allowed beggars, alcoholics, the homeless, and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps as “undesirables”. -
Night of the Long Knives
Nazi regime carried out a series of murders against members/leaders of the SA, and of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party. -
Hitler assumes powers of both President and Chancellor.
Cornerstone on his way to dictatorship. -
Nuremberg Laws passed
Nuremberg Laws were a series of anti-semitic laws passed by the Nazi Party. These laws deprived Jews of German citizenship, among other things. -
Decree states that Gypsies are “inveterate criminals”
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Hershel Grynszpan assassinates Ernst vom Rath
Grynszpan entered the German embassy where vom Rath was working, and shot him twice in the chest. This event was used as a reason for the Kristallnacht. -
Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)
Nazis smashed the windows of and raided thousands of Jewish-owned shops, department stores, and homes. They also smashed the windows of thousands of synagogues, burnt them down, and held mass book-burnings. -
Hitler announces that he is going to invade Poland.
This comes into conflict with the ten-year non-aggression pact between Germany and Poland. -
France and Britain order Hitler to leave Poland or they’ll declare war/Stutthoff concentration camp established
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France and Britain declare war on Germany
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German authorities seize Jewish property in Poland
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Lodz Ghetto established
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Himmler orders creation of Auschwitz.
Auschwitz is the most infamous concentration/death camp from the Holocaust - it also had the highest death count. -
Lodz ghetto sealed.
Jews weren't allowed out of the ghetto from this point onwards. -
Breendonck camp in Belgium gets first prisoners
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Warsaw ghetto established.
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Warsaw ghetto sealed.
(see Lodz ghetto sealed) -
Germany invades Soviet Union
Germany had also signed a non-aggression pact against the Soviet Union.
Oops. -
Einsatzgruppen shoots Jews at Babi Yar
Approx. 34k killed. -
Einsatzgruppen round up ~34,000 Jews from Minsk ghetto and kill them in Tuchinka.
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First killing operations start at Chelmno in occupied Poland
Chelmno was an extermination camp in Poland, where at least 152k people were killed. -
Germans begin mass deportation of 65k+ Jews from Drancy to the east; primarily to Auschwitz
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Germans start mass deportation of 65k+ Jews from Lodz to Chelmno killing centre
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Germans begin mass deportation of ~100k Jews from the Netherlands to the east/Auschwitz
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Germans begin mass deportation of 300k+ Jews from Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka was another extermination camp located in Nazi-occupied Poland. -
Germans complete mass deportation of ~265k Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka
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Warsaw ghetto uprising begins
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a Jewish resistance act in the Warsaw Ghetto, which opposed Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the ghetto population to Treblinka. It was the single largest revolt by Jews in WWII. However, the Germans were victorious. -
Germans begin mass deportation of Jews from Hungary
Approx. 440k Jews were deported, -
Liberation of Paris
Began with the uprising of the French Resistance against the German garrison. They gathered reinforcements, and fought until the Germans surrendered. -
Death march of prisoners from Auschwitz camp system
About 60k prisoners were forced to march from Auschwitz to other camps inside Germany. -
Death march of nearly 50k prisoners from Stutthof camp system
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Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz
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American forces liberate Dachau camp
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide
Hitler committed suicide by gunshot in his Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva Braun committed suicide alongside him by ingesting cyanide. -
Germany surrenders to Western Allies
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Germany surrenders to Soviets
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Nuremberg Trials
A series of trials held by the Allied Forces. Prominent members of the military, political, and economic leaders of Nazi Germany were tried for war crimes.