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Eliezer Wiesel
Elie Wiesel is born in Transylvania, Romania. -
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.
Germany is a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000. -
Creating Crisis.
Nazis burn Reichstag building to create crisis atmosphere. Reichstag Fire -
Opening of First Camps.
Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to be followed by Buchenwald near Weimar in central Germany, Sachsenhausen near Berlin in northern Germany, and Ravensbrück for women. -
Nazi Party & Citizenship.
Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrants from Poland of their German citizenship. -
Hindenburg
German President von Hindenburg dies. Hitler becomes Führer. -
Forced abortions
Nazis pass law allowing forced abortions on women to prevent them from passing on hereditary diseases. -
Olympics in Berlin.
Olympic games begin in Berlin. Hitler and top Nazis seek to gain legitimacy through favorable public opinion from foreign visitors and thus temporarily refrain from actions against Jews. -
Destroying, bannging, & emigrating.
Nazis carry out Kristallnacht, which destroys 7500 Jewish-owned stores and synagogues. Jewish children are banned from German schools. Many Jews emigrate. -
Invasion
Nazis invade Poland (Jewish pop. 3.35 million, the largest in Europe). Beginning of SS activity in Poland. -
Sealed Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto, containing over 400,000 Jews, is sealed off. -
SS B Report
SS Einsatzgruppe B reports a tally of 45,476 Jews killed. -
The Beadle
Elie meets Moshe for the first time. -
Departing
All Sighet Jews are forced from their homes and told to line up in the street at 8 A.M. At 1 P.M., the first group departs by train. -
Little Ghetto
Elie's family marches to the "little ghetto." -
A-7713
The convoy reaches Birkenau, and Elie and Chlomo spend their first night in camp. Summer Guards send Elie and Chlomo to Auschwitz. There, they meet Stein of Antwerp. Elie and Chlomo march to Buna. Elie is tattooed A-7713 on his left arm. -
Surgery
Elie undergoes surgery on his foot in the Auschwitz infirmary. Chlomo and Elie run with evacuees to Gleiwitz, where they and others board open cattle cars for a ten-day ride to Buchenwald in central Germany. -
Evacuation.
Nazis evacuate 66,000 from Auschwitz. -
Red Army
The red army liberates Auschwit. -
Death of Father
Elie's father dies in his bunk at Burchenwald. -
Free!
Elie falls ill with food poisoning. Elie is liberated with the arrival of U.S. troops. -
Hitler's End.
Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker. -
SS leaders have trial.
Twenty one former SS-Einsatz leaders go on trial before a U.S. Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Fourteen are sentenced to death, with only 4 (the group commanders) actually being executed - the other death sentences having been commuted.