-
January 30, 1933: The Nazi Party gains control of the German State after President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a government. The Nazis and the German Nationalists are all associated with the group. This is the beginning of Hitlers reign of terror throughout WW2
-
On 22 March 1933, less than three months after Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor, the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime was established in the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich, in Southern Germany. Shows and connects how Hitler is already showing his hatred to Jews not even 3 months after being appointed.
-
Although the national boycott campaign lasted only one day and was ignored by many individual Germans who continued to shop in Jewish-owned stores and seek the services of Jewish professionals, the boycott marked the beginning of a nationwide campaign by the Nazi Party against Jews in Germany that would culminate in the Holocaust. Nazis would begin to make Jew an outcast from the recent power of Hitler
-
Laws for Reestablishment of the Civil Service barred Jews from holding civil service, university, and state positions, excluding Jews and other political opponents of the Nazis from all civil service positions. The law initially exempts those who had worked in the civil service since August 1, 1914, those who were veterans of World War I, or those with a father or son killed in action in World War I.
-
The Gestapo is established by Herman Goering, minister of Prussia. The Gestapo was established prior to the Nazi rise to power, as a secret intelligence agency within the Prussian police department. Ultimately, this meant that if a person was arrested by the Gestapo, they would lose all civil rights and were no longer protected by the law. Legally, the Gestapo had free reign to do whatever it wanted to its victims.
-
Public burnings of books written by Jews, political dissidents, and others not approved by the state. took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship.
-
Hitler proclaims himself Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Reich Chancellor). Armed forces must now swear allegiance to him. The German army took an oath of allegiance to its new commander-in-chief, and the last remnants of Germany’s democratic government were dismantled to make way for Hitler’s Third Reich
-
Jews barred from serving in the German armed forces. The German government issues the Wehrgesetz, which stipulates that only “Aryans” could serve in the armed forces, and that persons serving in the armed forces could only marry “Aryan” spouses.
-
Beginning of World War II: Germany invades Poland. In the following weeks, 16.336 civilians were murdered by the Nazies in 714 localities. At least 5,000 victims were Jews.
-
"Nuremberg Laws": first anti-Jewish racial laws enacted; Jews no longer considered German citizens; Jews could not marry Aryans; nor could they fly the German flag.
-
Germany defines a "Jew": as anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who identifies as a Jew. It defined people who had converted to Christianity from Judaism as Jews. It also defined as Jews people born to parents or grandparents who had converted to Christianity. The law stripped them all of their German citizenship and deprived them of basic rights.
-
Jewish doctors were barred from practicing medicine in German institutions. At the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship, more than 10 percent of all doctors in Germany were of Jewish descent. Directly after taking power, the Nazis made it their goal to oust these doctors from their professions.
-
Buchenwald concentration camp opens. Buchenwald concentration camp for male prisoners in east-central Germany. It became one of the largest concentration camps established within the old German borders of 1937.
-
Mandatory registration of all property held by Jews inside the Reich From furniture and paintings to life insurance and stocks, nothing was immune from the registry. By July 31 of that year, German finance officials had collected paperwork from some 700,000 Jewish citizens
-
Flossenburg concentration camp opens. Opened during the SS reorganization of the entire concentration camp system. In the new system, the purpose of the camps was no longer only to imprison and terrorize political opponents of the Nazi regime.
-
Italy enacts sweeping antisemitic.
- laws definition of Jews
-removal of Jews from government jobs, including teachers in the public schools
-a ban on marriage between Jews and non-Jews
-dismissal of Jews from the armed forces
-incarceration of Jews of foreign nationality; and
-the removal of Jews from positions in the mass media -
Mauthausen concentration camp opens in Austria. The plan was to build a new camp in order to supply slave labor for the Wiener Graben stone quarry. Until 1939, most of the prisoners were put to work building the camp and the living quarters for the SS. Due to the immense number of prisoners that poured into the camp, each field was ringed with wire. Here, Hungarian Jews and Russian soldiers, mostly, were kept in the open, all year around.
-
Ravensbruck concentration camp opens. The only major women's camp established by the Nazis, Ravensbrueck was opened in May 1939. In all, some 132,000 women from all over Europe passed through the camp, including Poles, Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, French, Gypsies, and others. Of that number, 92,000 perished.
-
Beginning of World War II: Germany invades Poland. In the following weeks, 16.336 civilians are murdered by the Nazies in 714 localities. At least 5,000 victims were Jews.
-
Concentration camp established at Auschwitz. The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps, all of which deployed incarcerated prisoners at forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period as a killing center
-
France surrenders. The French delegation signed the Armistice agreement imposed by Germany at the very location of the 1918 Armistice signing. This entailed France's surrender in the Second World War.
-
Germany invades the Soviet Union. Germany began a major attack on the Soviet Union, the communist state that consisted of Russia and a number of neighbouring countries. The attack was code-named 'Operation Barbarossa', and Hitler and the army had been preparing its execution for months. Three million German soldiers crossed the border.
-
The United States declared war on Japan and Germany. Three days after declaring war on Japan, the House approved declarations of war on Germany and Italy; earlier that day Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States.
-
May: Extermination by gas begins in the Sobibor killing center; by October 1943, 250,000 Jews were murdered.
-
German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad. Paulus disobeyed Hitler and agreed to give himself up. Twenty-two generals surrendered with him, and on February 2 the last of 91,000 frozen starving men surrendered to the Soviets.
-
D-Day: Allied invasion at Normandy. Brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France.
-
Evacuation of Auschwitz; beginning of death march. About 56 thousand prisoners of both sexes were led out of Auschwitz and its sub-camps under the escort of heavily armed SS troops from January 17-21, 1945. This tragic evacuation, known as the “Death March,” cost many of them their lives.
-
Hitler commits suicide, liberation of Ravensbruck. Holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler’s dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich
-
August 6 and 9: Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first atomic bomb, named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima from the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, at 8:15 AM on August 6, 1945. The second bomb, named Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki from the Bockscar, also a B-29 bomber, at 11:02 AM on August 9, 1945.
-
Japan surrenders; end of World War II. It was the deployment of a new and terrible weapon, the atomic bomb, which forced the Japanese into a surrender that they had vowed never to accept. Harry Truman would go on to officially name September 2, 1945, V-J Day, the day the Japanese signed the official surrender aboard the USS Missouri.