| August
3 |
Adolf
Hitler declares himself President and Chancellor of
the Third Reich after the death of Paul von Hindenburg |
| October |
First
major wave of arrests of homosexuals occurs throughout Germany,
continuing into November |
| |
|
1935 |
|
| January
13 |
The
Saar region is annexed by Germany |
| March
16 |
Hitler
violates the Versailles Treaty by renewing the compulsory military
draft. |
| April |
Jehovah's
Witnesses are banned from all civil service jobs and are arrested
throughout Germany |
| May |
"No
Jews" signs and notices are posted outside German towns and villages,
and outside shops and restaurants |
| May
21 |
Jews
are prohibited from serving in the German armed forces |
| September
15 |
The
Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of their citizenship |
| |
|
1936 |
|
| March
3 |
Jewish
doctors are no longer permitted to practice in government institutions
in Germany |
| March
7 |
Hitler's
army invades the Rhineland |
| July
12 |
The
first German Gypsies are arrested and deported to Dachau concentration
camp. |
| August
1-16 |
The
Olympic Games take place in Berlin. Anti-Jewish signs are removed
until the Games are completed. |
| October
15 |
The
Ministry of Science and Education prohibits teaching by "non-Aryans"
in public schools and bans private instruction by Jewish teachers |
| |
| |
1937 |
|
| July
2 |
Further
restrictions are imposed on the number of Jewish students attending
German schools |
| July
16 |
Buchenwald
concentation camp opens |
| November
16 |
Jews
can obtain passports for travel outside of Germany only in special
cases. |
| |
|
1938 |
|
| March
13 |
Austria
is annexed by Germany |
| May
13 |
The
German government passes a decree requiring the registration
of all Gypsies without a fixed address living in Austria.
By June 1938, all Gypsy children above the age of 14
have to be fingerprinted. This is a central part of
the growing racial definition of Gypsies as "criminally
asocial". |
| July
6-15 |
Representatives
from thirty-two countries meet at Evian, France, to discuss refugee
policies. Most of the countries refuse to let in more Jewish refugees. |
| July
23 |
The
German government announces Jews must carry identification cards.
|
| November
7 |
An
attempt is made by Herschel Grynzpan to assassinate a German diplomat
in Paris |
| November
9-10 |
Kristallnacht
("Night of Broken Glass"): Nazi organized nation-wide pogroms result
in the burning of hundreds of synagogues; the looting and destruction
of many Jewish homes, schools, and community offices; vandalism;
and the looting of 7,500 Jewish stores. Many Jews are beaten, and
more than 90 are killed. Thirty-thousand Jewish men are arrested
and imprisoned in concentration camps. Several thousand Jewish women
are arrested and sent to local jails. This is followed by a punitive
fine to be paid by the Jewish community for the damages done to
their businesses and the accelerated "Aryanization" of Jewish businesses. |
| November
12 |
German
Jews are ordered to pay one billion Reichsmark in reparations for
damages of Kristallnacht |
| November
15 |
All
Jewish children are expelled from German schools and can attend
only separate Jewish schools. |
| December
2-3 |
Decrees
ban Jews from public streets on certain days. Jews are forbidden
driver's licenses and car registration |
| December
3 |
Jews
must sell their businesses and real estate and hand
over their securities and jewelry to the government
at artificially low prices |
| December
8 |
Jews
may no longer attend universities as teachers or students |
| |
1939 |
|
| March
15 |
Germany
invades and occupies Czechoslovakia. |
| June |
Cuba
and the United States refuse to accept Jewish refugees
aboard the ship S.S. St. Louis, which is forced to return
to Europe |
| June
5 |
Two-thousand
Gypsy males above the age of 16 are arrested in Burgenland province
(formerly Austria) and sent to Dachau and Buchenwald concentration
camps. 1,000 Gypsy girls and women above the age of 15 are arrested
and sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. |
| August
23 |
Soviet-German
Non -aggression Pact signed. |
| |
|
September
1, 1939 World War II begins |
| |
|
| September
1 |
The
German army invades Poland and World War II begins |
| September
23 |
Jews
are forced to turn in radios, cameras, and other electric objects
to the police. Jews receive more restrictive ration coupons than
other Germans. They do not receive coupons for meat, milk, etc.
Jews also receive fewer and more limited clothing ration cards than
Germans do. |
| October |
Hitler
extends powers to doctors to kill institutionalized mentally and
physically disabled persons in the "euthanasia" program. |
| November
23 |
Germans
force Jews in Poland to wear a yellow Star of David on their chests
or a blue-and-white Star of David Armband. |
| November |
The
first Polish ghetto is established |
| |
1940 |
|
| Spring |
The
German army invades and defeats Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, and France |
| May
1-7 |
Approximately
164,000 Polish Jews are concentrated and imprisoned
in the Lodz Ghetto which is established and sealed off
from the outside world. |
| May
20 |
A
concentration camp is established at Auschwitz, Poland |
| October
3 |
Anti-Jewish
laws are passed by France's Vichy Government |
| November
15 |
The
Warsaw Ghetto is closed off with approximately 500,000
inhabitants |
| November
20 |
Hungary,
Rumania, and Slovakia join the Axis powers |
| |
|
1941 |
|
| March
22 |
Gypsy
and African-German children are expelled from public schools. |
| March
24 |
The
German army invades North Africa |
| April
6 |
The
German army invades Yugoslavia and Greece. |
| May
15 |
Romania
passes law condemning adult Jews to forced labor. |
| June |
The
French Vichy government revokes civil rights of French Jews in North
Africa. |
| June
22 |
The
German army invades the Soviet Union. The Einsatzgruppen, mobile
killing squads, begin the mass murders of Jews, Gypsies, and Communist
leaders |
| September
1 |
German
Jews above the age of six are forced to wear a yellow Star of David
sewed on the left side of their clothes with the word "Jude"
printed in black |
| September
23 |
Soviet
prisoners of war and Polish prisoners are killed in
Nazi test of gas chambers at Auschwitz in occupied Poland. |
| September
28-29 |
Nearly
34,000 Jews are murdered by mobile killing squads at Babi Yar, near
Kiev in the Ukraine. |
| October |
Construction
begins on Birkenau, an addition to the Auschwitz camp. Birkenau
includes a killing center which begins operations in early 1942.
|
| October-November |
First
group of German and Austrian Jews are deported from
ghettos in Austria to the Lodz ghetto in Poland. |
| November
5-9 |
Five
thousand Gypsies are deported from labor and internment camps in
Austria to the Lodz ghetto in Poland. |
| December
7 |
Japan
attacks Pearl Harbor |
| December
8 |
The
Chelmno death camp opens near Lodz, Poland and the first
gassing of victims in mobile gas vans occurs. |
| December
11 |
Germany
declares war on the United States. |
| December-January |
Five
thousand Austrian Gypsies from the Lodz Ghetto are deported to the
killing center at Chelmno where they are all killed in mobile gas
vans. |
| |
1942 |
|
| 1942 |
Nazi
"extermination" camps located in occupied Poland at Auschwitz, Birkenau,
Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, and Majdanek-Lublin begin mass murder
of Jews in gas chambers. |
| January
16 |
Jews
in the Lodz Ghetto are deported to the killing center
at Chelmno. |
| January
20 |
Fifteen
Nazi and government leaders meet at Wannsee, a section of Berlin,
to dicuss the "final solution to the Jewish question". |
| May
4-12 |
Approximately
ten thousand Jews, who had arrived in the Lodz Ghetto some six months
earlier from Germany, Luxembourg, Vienna, and Prague, are deported
to Chelmno. Their baggage is confiscated before they board the train. |
| June |
The
German government closes all Jewish schools |
| June
1 |
Treblinka
death camp opens. |
| June
1 |
Jews
in France and the Netherlands are required to wear identifying Stars
of David |
| July
28 |
Jewish
fighting organizations established in the Warsaw Ghetto. |
| September
5-12 |
Approximately
fifteen thousand Jews in the Lodz Ghetto are deported to Chelmno,
mostly children under ten and individuals over sixty-five, but also
others who are too weak or ill to work. By September 16, approximately
fifty-five thousand Jews have been deported to the killing center
at Chelmno. |
| October
4 |
All
Jews in concentration camps in Germany are sent to death camp at
Auschwitz |
| December
1 |
A
special internment camp for non-Jewish Polish youth is opened in
Lodz. |
| |
1943 |
|
| April
19 - May 16 |
Jews
in the Warsaw Ghetto initiate resistance to deportation by the Germans
to the death camps. |
| March
|
All
Gypsies in Germany and Nazi occupied countries, with few exceptions,
are arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau |
| June |
The
Nazis destroyed all of the ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union
|
| August
2 |
The
inmates at Treblinka rebel |
| Fall |
The
Danish citizens smuggle most of the nation's Jews to neutral Sweden.
|
| October
14 |
The
inmates at Sobibor initiate an armed rebellion |
| |
|
1944 |
|
| January |
The
War Refugee Board is established by President Franklin Roosevelt.
|
| March |
The
German army invades Hungary. |
| May
15 |
The
Nazis begin deportation of Hungarian Jews. Over 430,000 Jews are
sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where most are gassed |
| June
6 |
The
Allied Powers invade Normandy |
| June
23 - July 14 |
Seven
thousand one hundred ninety-six Jews are deported from the Lodz
Ghetto to Chelmno where they are killed. |
| July
20 |
German
officers fail and are caught in an attempt to assassinate Hitler
|
| July
24 |
The
Soviet Army liberates the Majdanek death camp |
| October
7 |
The
prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau rebel and blow up one crematorium
|
| |
1945 |
|
| January
17 |
Nazis
empty Auschwitz and start prisoners on "death marches" to Germany |
| January
27 |
The
Soviet army liberates Auschwitz |
| April |
Troops
from the United States liberate survivors from the Buchenwald and
Dachau concentration camps. |
| April
30 |
Adolf
Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin rather than be caught
by the advancing Soviet army |
| May
5 |
Troops
from the United States liberate Mauthausen concentration camp |
| May
7 |
Germany
surrenders and the war in Europe is ended |
| November
|
The
war crimes tribunal is convened at Nuremberg, Germany |
| |
| |
