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Kristal Nacht
Nazi officials went on a rampage in highly-Jewish areas during the night on November 9, 1938. These rampages included breaking store windows, burning down synagogues, and beating many Jews harshly. This caused over 90 deaths and was the event that triggered Hitler to begin his "Final Solution" to eradicate all Jewish people. -
Holocaust begins
In 1941, Hitler began his "final solution" for geting rid of Jews and starting taking thousands of Jews, homosexuals, and others to concentration and execution camps to be killed. They were crammed into small train cars meant to carry only a few people. Hundreds died before arriving to the concentration camp and many more died shortly after arriving, whether by gas chambers or firing squad. Women and children were most commonly killed on arrival after being separated from the men. -
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The Holocaust
This was the time period in which the Holocaust took place. During the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews were killed, along with Homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, and others. -
Gas chambers become main source of execution in camps
In the prime of the Holocaust, main source of execution in concentration camps were gas chambers. They would tell prisoners to strip and wait outside the "showers." What those prisoners didn't know was that nobody who went in those "showers" came out. Upon their entrance of the shower, the doors would shut and poisonous gas would be released, thus suffocating and killing them. Their bodies would then be taken to crematory ovens, where their bodies were incinerated. -
Word gets out
In June of 1942, people all over the world found out about the horrifying, cruel activities of the Nazis. Newspapers all over the world reported what was happening, and it became a race against time to save the Jews still trapped in Concentration camps. -
Anne Frank goes into hiding
When Nazis started to increase their search parties in persecution of the Jews, Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in secret rooms of the building where her father worked. -
Elie Wiesel taken to Auschwitz
In May of 1944 at the age of 15, Elie Wiesel and his family were captured by Nazi German officials and taken to Auschwitz, where his mother and youngest sister were killed, and where his father would later die as well. -
Anne Frank writes her final diary entry
Just three days before she was captured and eventually killed, Anne Frank wrote her final diary entry, which states, "As I’ve told you many times, I’m split in two. One side contains my exuberant cheerfulness, my flippancy, my joy in life and, above all, my ability to appreciate the lighter side of things." -
Anne Frank captured
On August 4 of 1944, Nazis found Anne Frank and her family, who were taken to Auschwitz, where most of her family died, and the remaining later transported to Bergen-Belsen, where all except her father died. -
Anne Frank Dies
After her long battle in the concentration camps, Anne Frank passed in February of 1945 and soon became one of the most well-known Holocaust victims in the world with her diary entries that her father, Otto Frank, turned into a book that is now a bestseller everywhere. -
Auschwitz Liberated
On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops freed Auschwitz and let all the remaining prisoners free. This day became known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. -
Elie Wiesel liberated
After a long year in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Elie Wiesel was released. He went on to become a journalist and an author. He wrote his bestseller "Night," in 1960 and in 1969 married Marion Esther Rose, also a Holocaust survivor and journalist, who helped him translate and edit many of his other books. They had a son, Shlomo Elisha, in 1972, and Elie and his wife went on to establish the Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity. He died on July 2, 2016, at the age of 88. -
Holocaust officially declared over
The last of the concentration camps to be operational, Stutthof, was liberated May 9, 1945. This day marked the official end of the Holocaust.
