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1 Hitler gets appointed as chancellor of Germany.
After pressure from Hitler and the Nazi party (who had retained the majority party title in the Reichstag) President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor. This allowed for the consolidation of power and the establishment of Fuhrer (single dictatorial rule). -
8 The Reichstag fire decree
After a fire was set upon the Reichstag parliament, the nazi party blamed the fire as an attack by communists. They then pressured President Hindenburg to suspend individual rights and due process of law. This gave immense power the nazi party and the SS. -
5 First concentration camp is constructed (Dachau)
Housed 188000 prisoners, of which 28000 died. Wasn’t liberated until 1945 -
23 Sterilization law of 1933
A couple months after the nazi party came to power In Germany, a law was put into effect that allowed for mass sterilization of Germans with mental and physical health conditions. This led to increased medical experiments on disabled people and eventually the creation of experimental gas chambers in Auschwitz and Chelmno. -
2 The Nuremberg laws are passed
Enacted in a special meeting held during the annual Nuremburg rallies, it banned interpersonal relationships between Jews and Germans. Declared that only pure Germans or German related blood could hold German citizenship, jews were reclassified as a “state subject.” -
11 Kristallnacht
retaliation for the death of a German diplomat, the SS organized anti-Jewish riots. They looted and burned thousands of Jewish synagogues and businesses and 91 Jewish people died. -
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18 The Einsatzgruppen killings
Were a special division of the SS designed to follow the advancing Germans in eastern Europe. Their tasks included “neutralizing potential German enemies, seizing important sites and cities, preventing sabotage, and recruiting collaborators.” They also worked together with local police units to hunt down and shoot tens of thousands of Jewish people. -
3 Invasion of Poland (start of WW2)
One week after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact the joint invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union commenced. This was followed by a declaration of war on the Germans by the French and British. This is the quintessential start to WW2. -
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9 Creation of the polish ghettos
Starting in October, major ghettos were established across occupied Poland. These ghettos were confined areas where jeans were forced to live in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. Some major ones include Warsaw, Lodz, and Krakow. -
4 The construction of Auschwitz Birkenau
In operational use from May 1940 until its liberation in January 1945, Auschwitz was estimated to hold over 1.3 million total prisoners and was the testing ground for many medical and anatomic research groups. Many of which used inhumane and gruesome techniques. -
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10 Operation Barbarossa
The invasion of the Soviet Union by the axis powers (code named operation Barbarossa). The main goal by the nazi leaders of Germany was the concept of lebensraum. Or living space for the German people. The eventual goal was the extermination of the Slavic peoples, by means of mass deportations, enslavement, and genocide. -
19 The massacre in Babyn Yar
Under the pretexts of sabotage prevention, the Einsatzgruppen ordered the murder of the remaining Jewish population within Kyiv. Over a 2-day period thirty-three thousand jews were murdered by local SS divisions, German police, all under the guidance of einsatzgruppen C. it was the largest mass shooting that happened during the war. -
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12 Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard is the codename for the plan to exterminate the Jewish population now residing in the “general governmental state” or the newly occupied states from the soviets and eastern Poland. The Germans would construct 3 new concentration camps (Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka.) here more than 1.5 million of the estimated 2 million original jews would be exterminated. -
7 First systematic killings using gassing is started at Chelmno
In total an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people were killed at Chelmno. Was the first camp to utilize gassing chambers to mass exterminate Jews and other prisoners. -
6 The Wannsee conference
Held in the suburbs of berlin, was called by Reinhard Heydrich to ensure the cooperation of the German administrative leaders in the plan to deport all European Jews to occupied Poland and Russia to be exterminated. -
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13 Battle of Stalingrad
The battle for Stalingrad was a major battle that proved to be the initial turning point in the war. After long and hard fighting by both the Germans and the soviets, the soviets eventually claimed the city and began to route the German troops back west. -
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22 The Warsaw ghetto uprisings
After finding out the German forces wished to liquidate their ghetto, the Jewish people there surmounted a small insurrection that lasted for nearly a month. according to Nazi reports, they killed 17 Germans and injured over 100 more. a total of 13000 jews were murdered. -
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21 Death marches (1944 – 1945)
As the allied armies continued to advance on all fronts, the Germans embarked on what would eventually be called the “death marches.” Prisoners were forced to march long distances, often in bitter cold with minimal food or water. The nazis would often kill large groups of Jewish prisoners on these marches, leaving their bodies littered on sides of roads or in ditches. -
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15 the deportation of Hungarian Jews
Under the guidance of SS officials around 440,000 Hungarian jews were deported and primarily sent to Auschwitz where they were killed in gas chambers. A few were sent to the Austrian/German border to dig trenches and help the German front line. -
16 D-Day invasions
Codenamed operation Neptune, D-Day is the largest seaborne invasion in history. After establishing a beachhead in Normandy, the join American, British, and Canadian, forces advanced into axis occupied France and started the western liberation of Europe from nazi rule. -
24 the Arrest of Anne Frank
Anne frank is a Jewish girl from Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her diary famously became a firsthand account after the war. Her building was raided by the gestapo and her and her entire family were captured and taken to Auschwitz. Only her father “otto Frank survived and published her diary titled “the diary of a young girl.” -
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17 The battle of the bulge
This was the last major offensive by the Germans, after initially succeeding the German offensive eventually ground to a halt. The offensive did however stop the allied advance on the western front and delayed further liberation of the concentration camps. Killing an untold number of Jews and other prisoners. -
14 liberation of Auschwitz
liberated by the soviet army. Upon liberation only 7650 prisoners remained. Over the time of the war almost a million Jewish people were murdered here. -
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20 Nuremburg trials.
A joint allied trials of 22 major German officials based on the Nuremburg charter. The role of the trial was not only to punish the German leadership, but to provide irrefutable evidence of the German war crimes. -
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25 Adolf Eichmann is captured and held on trial
Adolf Eichmann was a high ranking nazi official who played a central role in the implementation of the final solution. After the war Eichmann escaped to Argentina, where his whereabouts were discovered by the Israeli government. He was secretly extradited and held on trial. He was found guilty and executed.