A Timeline of the Holocaust

Appointed Chandlor of Germany

Jan 30, 1933

Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Von Hindenburg.

Concentration Camp

Mar 22, 1933

The first official Nazi concentration camp opens in Dachau, a small village located near Munich.

Leader and Chandllor

Aug 2, 1934

Hitler proclaims himself Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Reich Chancellor). Armed forces must now swear allegiance to him.

Nuremberg Laws

Sep 15, 1935

"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

German Police

Jun 17, 1936

Reichführer SS Himmler (chief of the SS units) appointed the Chief of German Police

Hitler

Oct 25, 1936

Hitler and Mussolini form Rome-Berlin Axis.

Concentration Camp

Jul 15, 1937

Buchenwald concentration camp opens

Conference

Jul 6, 1938

Evian Conference held in Evian, France on the problem of Jewish refugees

Conference

Sep 30, 1938

Munich Conference: Great Britain and France agree to German occupation of the Sudetenland, previously western Czechoslovakia.

Kristallnacht

Nov 9, 1938

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass): 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).

German School

Nov 15, 1938

All Jewish pupils expelled from German schools

Kristallnacht

Dec 12, 1938

One billion mark fine levied against German Jews for the destruction of property during Kristallnacht

Germans

Mar 15, 1939

Germans occupy Czechoslovakia

Invasion

May 10, 1940

Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

Concentration Camp

May 20, 1940

Concentration camp established at Auschwitz

France

Jun 22, 1940

France surrenders

Invasion

Jun 22, 1941

Germany invades the Soviet Union.

Jews

Sep 28, 1941

34,000 Jews massacred at Babi Yar outside Kiev.

Attack

Dec 7, 1941

Japanese attack Pearl Harbor

Jews

Apr 19, 1943

Warsaw Ghetto revolt begins as Germans attempt to liquidate 70,000 inhabitants

Hitler

Jul 20, 1944

Group of German officers attempt to assassinate Hitler

Auschwitz

Oct 7, 1944

Revolt by inmates at Auschwitz; one crematorium blown up

Hitler

Apr 30, 1945

Hitler commits suicide

Germany

May 8, 1945

V-E Day: Germany surrenders; end of Third Reich

World War II

Sep 2, 1945

Japan surrenders; end of World War II