-
On this day in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany.
-
Opened in a small village located near Munich (note: some "wild camps" already existed before 1933: Papenburg, Esterwegen, Börgermoor etc...). The first commandant of Dachau is Theodor Eicke.
-
After the Nazis came to power in Germany on January 30, 1933, the Nazi leadership decided to stage an economic boycott against the Jews of Germany. In 1933, about 600,000 Jews lived in Germany, less than one percent of the total population. Most Jews in Germany were proud to be Germans, citizens of a country that had produced many great poets, writers, musicians, and artists. More than 100,000 German Jews had served in the German army during World War I, and many were decorated for bravery.
-
This law barred Jews from holding civil service, university, and state positions
-
Gestapo, (German: “Secret State Police”), the political police of Nazi Germany. The Gestapo eliminated opposition to the Nazis within Germany and its occupied territories and, in partnership with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD: “Security Service”), was responsible for the roundup of Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps.
-
On the night of May 10, 1933, an event unseen in Europe since the Middle Ages occurred as German students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with "unGerman" ideas. The purpose, to create a glorious German future
-
Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews represented a central tenet of Nazi ideology. In their 25-point Party Program, published in 1920, Nazi party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from "Aryan" society and to abrogate Jews' political, legal, and civil rights.
This law is an example to stop Jews from escaping through the grips of the Nazis in Middle and Eastern Europe -
Succeeding Von Hindenburg was Adolf Hitler. Not as president, but as the Fuhrer of Germany, the Supreme Leader. Shortly, he announced that all people in Germany must swear an oath, not to the nation, but Adolf Hitler.
-
Jews were forbidden from serving in the army, due to suspicion of "backstabbing" the nation within the lines. This is ironic as during WWI, many of the Jews fought with the Germans.
-
The first complete official racial law excluding the Jews from German citizen rights.
First anti-Jewish racial laws enacted; Jews no longer considered German citizens; Jews could not marry Aryans; nor could they fly the German flag. -
Defining Jews in order to separate, and enact law against them.
-
All services run by Jews are coming to a close in Germany. Doctors are targeted as a priority due to their medical abilities.
-
Breaking the treaty, marching into Rhineland
-
Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was the Reich Leader of the SS of the Nazi party from 1929 until 1945. Himmler presided over a vast ideological empire that defined him for many as the second most powerful man in Germany during World War II. Given overall responsibility for the security of the Nazi empire, Himmler was the senior Nazi official responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Final Solution, the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe.
-
Located within Germany
-
Rome-Berlin Axis, Coalition formed in 1936 between Italy and Germany. An agreement formulated by Italy’s foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano informally linking the two fascist countries was reached on October 25, 1936. It was formalized by the Pact of Steel in 1939. The term Axis Powers came to include Japan as well.
-
Located within current day Germany. Functioned as one of the major concentration camps during the war.
-
All antisemitic decrees immediately applied in Austria
-
Used to confiscate property from the Jews legally. Supplied economic functions of the German government.
-
Located within current day Germany
-
In the summer of 1938, delegates from thirty-two countries met at the French resort of Evian. Roosevelt sent Myron C. Taylor, a businessman and close friend of Roosevelt's to represent the US at the conference. During the nine-day meeting, delegates rose to express sympathy for the refugees. But most countries, including the United States and Britain, offered excuses for not letting in more refugees.
-
Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, on March 19, 1906. Completed his schooling and trained in mechanical engineering. In 1932, at the instigation of an acquaintance, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who would later serve as his superior in the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA), Eichmann entered the Austrian National Socialist (Nazi) Party, and the SS.
-
Italy enacted the anti-semitic laws segregating the Jews.
-
Located in modern day Austria.
-
Jews that were taken away left their businesses vacant. The Aryans took over the business by moving in. Some simply changed hands to avoid violent conflict.
-
In 1938 that all Jewish children were banned from attending German schools. Discrimination and isolation within education, as in all other areas of society, was gradual. In Germany, education was a major tool to promote Nazi policy. German teachers who supported the Nazis or had been converted to Nazism began to develop new daily rituals and routines. Many of the 32 per cent of teachers who became Nazi Party members would wear their uniform to school.
-
Great Britain and France agree to German occupation of the Sudetenland, previously western Czechoslovakia.
-
Germans mark all Jewish passports with a large letter "J" to restrict Jews from immigrating to Switzerland.
-
Poles refused to admit them; 8,000 are stranded in the frontier village of Zbaszyn.
-
Ernst Eduard vom Rath was a German diplomat, remembered for his assassination in Paris in 1938 by a Polish Jewish teenager, Herschel Grynszpan, which provided a pretext for the Kristallnacht, "The Night of Broken Glass." Exactly what the Nazi needed.
-
anti-Jewish pogrom in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland; 200 synagogues destroyed; 7,500 Jewish shops looted; 30,000 male Jews sent to concentration camps (Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen).
-
Something very hard for the Jews to pay, this weakened the German Jewish economic influence as well as limiting their power in the country in general.
-
If war erupts it will mean the Vernichtung (extermination) of European Jews
-
The German occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) began with the German annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, formerly being part of German-Austria known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Adolf Hitler's pretext for this action was the alleged privations suffered by the ethnic German population living in those regions. New and extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications were also located in the same area.
-
Located in modern day Northern Germany. This camp was specifically built for mostly women.
-
Non-aggression pact between Soviet Union and Germany. However this pact failed as Germany later on invaded the Soviet Union.
-
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.
This day is regarded as the official beginning of the second world war by most people. -
Method to keep foreign Jews in one dense location in order to swiftly move them onto the labor camps all over German occupied areas.
-
By rounding up Jews and sending them to the massive ghettos, this later on provided an easy way to carry out the Final Solution by the Nazis.
-
First massive holding place of Jews
-
To differentiate Jews and non-Jews, the Germans came up with the method of making Jews wear the star of David. Many Jews tried to flee, or rather to hide within inner Germany, but failed due to Jew restricting laws.
-
Denmark surrendered quickly to minimize as much damage as possible. However, its citizens continued to passively resist by shipping out Jews, particularly through the use of fishing boats.
-
When sealed, it approximately held 165,000 people in 1.6 square miles.
-
The German army's tactics was to quickly take out Europe's major forces before it could effectively mobilize or before the big guns join.
-
Auschwitz at this point was used for many purposes, but it did not only hold Jews. It held prisoners of war, Soviets, homosexuals, and more. Later, Auschwitz II would be built specifically for Jews for industrial killing.
-
Located in modern day Germany. It now serves as an memorial.
-
Also known as the Fall of France. France surrendered to the German forces even with Great Britain's Winston Churchill warning the French forces not to quit.
-
With France no longer fighting with the British, the British forces fought alone. It secured the air with strong air force and kept the city of London safe from the Germans. Main reason was because even before the war, Winston Churchill sensed growing power in Germany and ordered mobilization pre-hand..
-
Located in modern day Belgium.
-
In Berlin, Germany, officials from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan sign the ten-year Tripartite Pact (the Three-Power Agreement), a military alliance. The pact sealed cooperation among the three nations (Axis powers) in waging World War II.
-
When sealed, it had ultimately contained 500,000 people.
-
Heydrich outlines plan to murder Europe's Jews.
-
A spread of antisemitism in Romania as racial discrimination becomes public and widespread.
-
10,000 Jews died by starvation in the ghetto between January and June 1941.
-
On this ay, he was appointed head of the department for Jewish affairs of the Reich Security Main Office, Section IV B 4 .
-
As Greece and Yugoslavia falls, occupation of these countries follow shortly after.
-
Located in modern day France
-
Breaking the Soviet-German pact, Germany invades the Soviet Union because the Soviet raised suspicions to the Germans to join the war with the Allies.
-
Statistics:
5,200 Jews murdered in Byalistok
2,000 Jews murdered in Minsk
5,000 Jews murdered in Vilna
5,000 Jews murdered in Brest-Litovsk
5,000 Jews murdered in Tarnopol
3,500 Jews murdered in Zloczow
11,000 Jews murdered in Pinsk
14,000 Jews murdered in Kamenets Podolsk
12,287 Jews murdered in Kishinev -
Himmler oversaw the process of the Final Solution and the death camps were given the orders to operate the gas chambers as full speed.
-
Opened in modern day Poland. This was a key part of the final solution, wiping the entire Jewish race clean from Europe.
-
This was one of the largest mass murders at an individual location during World War II. According to reports by the Einsatzgruppe to headquarters, 33,771 Jews were massacred in two days. In the months following the massacre, German authorities stationed at Kiev killed thousands more Jews at Babi Yar, as well as non-Jews including Roma (Gypsies), Communists, and Soviet prisoners of war. It is estimated that some 100,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar.
-
Establishment of a second Auschwitz camp built specifically for extermination of Jews. Survival rates were lower than three months as conditions for Jews were even worse than back in the main camp.
-
Japan attacks US Pearl Harbor, killing thousands of Americans and leaving nearly 1500 wounded. This was one of the main reason the US chose to join the second world war.
-
Opened in modern day Poland
Statistics: 340,000 Jews, 20,000 Poles and Czechs murdered by April 1943. -
America joins the Second World War in the side of the Allies. This is also marked as the changing point of the War.
-
By end of 1942 600,000 Jews murdered.
-
By October 1943, 250,000 Jews murdered.
-
Some Jews who managed to escape from ghettos and camps formed their own fighting units. These fighters, or partisans, were concentrated in densely wooded areas. A large group of partisans in occupied Soviet territory hid in a forest near the Lithuanian capital of Vilna. They were able to derail hundreds of trains and kill over 3,000 German soldiers.
-
From Summer Deportation of Jews to killing centers from Belgium, Croatia, France, the Netherlands, and Poland; armed resistance by Jews in ghettos of Kletzk, Kremenets, Lachva, Mir, and Tuchin.
-
Particularly from Germany, Greece and Norway to killing centers; Jewish partisan movement organized in forests near Lublin.
-
The first major German defeat. Turning point of the war as a major German army surrenders.
-
From March 13–16, 1943, SS and police authorities liquidate the Krakow ghetto.
During the operation the SS kill approximately 2,000 Jews in the ghetto, transferred 2,000 Jews, the members of the Jewish council, Krakow ghetto police force to Plaszow. The SS and Police transport approximately 3,000 more Krakow Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the camp authorities select 499 men and 50 women for forced labor. The rest, approximately 2,450 people, are murdered in the gas chambers. -
Approximately 50,000 people died in the Bergen-Belsen camp complex. Among them was Anne Frank, the most well known child diarist of the Holocaust era.
-
Germans attempt to liquidate 70,000 inhabitants; Jewish underground fights Nazis until early June
-
The final solution needs to be completed before the war ends. The attempt to liquidate of all ghettos greatly accelerated the process.
-
As the German forces slightly weakens, the Jews formed an armed resistance to hold until the Allied forces reached them. However, most of the forces failed to stand up to the German forces for long.
-
Continued process of liquidation, oversaw by Himmler.
-
In Denmark, despite the risks and consequences, the nation itself refused to stand by and watch the Jews be deported into the Nazis hands.The most active of these people had the courage to help by providing hiding places, underground escape routes, false papers, food, clothing, money, and sometimes even weapons. Later on, fisherman shipped these 7200 Jews across a narrow waterway to Sweden, whom remained neutral in the war.
-
Jews resisted against their oppressors. The most bold and daring acts came at the end—on the eve of liquidation of the killing centers.
After the revolt, some joined partisan units; others found shelter among sympathetic Poles. It is estimated that just 50 of the escapees survived the war.
After the uprising, the Germans destroyed all traces of Sobibór. Between March 1942 and October 1943, at least 167,000 people were killed. Virtually all of the victims were Jews -
-
With the end of the war coming near, and Germany starting to slow down, the Nazi forces took Hungary with all speed possible. To move the remaining Jews in Hungary to the camps to complete the Final Solution as Hitler and Himmler promised.
-
By June 27, 380,000 sent to Auschwitz.
A very fast process of deportation. -
One of the biggest turning point in the war. Could be called the reason why the Allies won the war. Forcing the Germans to fight the war on two fronts, both of which has massive forces.
-
-
-
-
Successfully blew up one crematorium, however, most fighters were killed.
-
-
Approximately 40,000 Jews from Budapest to Austria.
-
beginning of death march for inmates
-
In late April 1945, the remaining prisoners were forced into the sea and shot. Over 4,000 were sent by small boat to Germany, some to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, and some to camps along the Baltic coast. Shortly before the German surrender, some prisoners were transferred to Malmo, Sweden, and released to the care of that neutral country. It has been estimated that over 25,000 prisoners, one in two, died during the evacuation from Stutthof and its subcamps.
-
As American forces approach, the Nazis begin a mass evacuation of prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp and its subcamps. Almost 30,000 prisoners are forced on death marches away from the advancing American forces. About a third of these prisoners die during the marches. On April 11, 1945, the surviving prisoners take control of the camp, shortly before American forces enter on the same day.
-
The Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated on April 11, 1945 by four soldiers in the Sixth Armored Division of the US Third Army, commanded by General George S. Patton. Just before the Americans arrived, the camp had already been taken over by the Communist prisoners who had killed some of the guards and forced the rest to flee into the nearby woods.
-
The 11th Armoured Division occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, pursuant to an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully.
-
In the two weeks following the start of the marches, US troops liberated surviving prisoners of the forced evacuations near the town of Schwerin, Germany. Soviet troops liberated surviving prisoners of these marched near Zechlin, Germany. On April 22, units of the First and 47th Polish Armies, operating under overall Soviet command liberated about 3,000 remaining inmates in the camp.
-
Thousands of others escaped, were liberated by advancing US troops, or found themselves free when their SS guards deserted during the night. 3,000 of those who left the main camp arrived in Dachau, where they joined some 3,800 prisoners from the Flossenbürg subcamps. When members of the 358th and 359th US Infantry Regiments (90th US Infantry Division) liberated Flossenbürg on April 23, 1945, just over 1,500 prisoners remained in the camp. As many as 200 of them died after liberation.
-
The 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions and the 20th Armored Division of the US Army liberate approximately 32,000 prisoners at Dachau. Later in early May 1945, American forces liberated the prisoners who had been sent on the death march.
-
Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol, on this day in 1945, as his “1,000-year” Reich collapses above him.
-
US forces liberated the camp in May 1945.
-
On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazis.
-
On August 6, 1945, a mushroom cloud billows into the sky about one hour after an atomic bomb was dropped by American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, detonating above Hiroshima, Japan. Nearly 80,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 60,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950.
-
Nagasaki suffered the same fate as Hiroshima in August 1945. The bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th was the last major act of World War Two and within days the Japanese had surrendered. Two senior American military figures – General Groves and Admiral Purnell – were convinced that two atomic bombs dropped within days of the other would have such an overwhelming impact on the Japanese government that it would surrender.
-
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day. The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, in Tokyo Bay. Several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a close.
-
Official end of World War II.
