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Sighetu is the birthplace of the author, Elie Wiesel. In 1928, there are approximately 15,000 Jews in the area. Presently, there are only a handful left.
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Adolf Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi Party, or the Third Reich, takes power and as a result, he is essentially the dictator of Germany.
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Adolf Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi Party, or the Third Reich, takes power and as a result, he is essentially the dictator of Germany.
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Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Dachau, a death camp, opens.
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Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy form the Rome-Berlin Axis treaty.
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Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. This was a pact against communism and Russia.
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Buchenwald concentration camp opens.
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Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference.
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Hitler annexes the country of Austria into Germany. This is also called the Anschluss.
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Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.
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France and Great Britain declare war on Germany.
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Britain and France declare war on Germany
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Germany captures Norway and Denmark. Auschwitz concentration camp opens.
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Germany, captures Norway and Denmark, Auschwitz concentration camp opens.
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April 9, 1940-June 9, 1940 Germany invades and takes control of Denmark and Norway.
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May 10-June 22, 1940 Germany uses quick strikes called blitzkrieg, meaning lightning war, to take over much of western Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France.
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Winston Churchill becomes leader of the British government.
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Italy enters the war as a member of the Axis powers.
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Germany launches an air attack on Great Britain. These attacks last until the end of October and are known as the Battle of Britain.
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Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact creating the Axis Alliance.
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Elie Wiesel meets Moishe the Beadle. "Physically, he was awkward as a clown. His waiflike shyness made people smile. As for me, I liked his wide, dreamy eyes, gazing off into the distance" (Wiesel 3). He was almost thirteen when he met him. "By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple."
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Germany and the Axis Powers attack Russia with a huge force of over four million troops.
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The Japanese attack the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. The next day the US enters World War II on the side of the Allies.
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A WVHA decree of March 31, 1942 established a minimum working day of eleven hours in all concentration camps.
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The US Navy defeats the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway.
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The Allies invade and take the island of Sicily.
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Italy surrenders to the Allies, however Germany helps Mussolini to escape and set up a government in Northern Italy.
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Jewish people are hopeful that the war will end
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The Jews including Weisel and his family are forced to relocate to ghettos in their cities.
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Jews are forced to travel in cattle cars. They are unaware that they are being relocated to concentration camps they believe they are being moved away from the war and dangers of the war. When they leave hungary they soon realize they cannot trust the Germans and they know you the real enemy is.
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Wiesel family arrives at Birkenall, Poland
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D-day and the Normandy invasion. Allied forces invade France and push back the Germans.
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Elie and his father were sent to Auschwitz
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Paris is liberated from German control.
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The Germans launch a large attack in the Battle of the Bulge. They lose to the Allies sealing the fate of the German army.
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Russian forces liberated Auschwitz
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US Marines invade the island of Iwo Jima. After a fierce battle they capture the island.
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American troops free inmates at Dachau and Buchenwald
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US President Franklin Roosevelt dies. He is succeeded by President Harry Truman.
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The US Third Army under General Patton crosses the Rhine River.
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide as he knows Germany has lost the war.
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Germany surrenders to the Allies.
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The United States drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The city is devastated. 3 days later, another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
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Japan surrenders to US General Douglass MacArthur and the Allies.
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The United Nations is born.
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Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.