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Nazi Party Elections
The Nazi Party wasn't even close to winning in the Reichstag elections. They had a 2.6% of the total vote. -
Great Depression
The Great Depression began in 1929 and brought worldwide economic, social, and psychological consequences. -
Second Nazi Party Elections
The Nazi Party won an important victory, capturing 18.3% of the vote to make it the second largest party in the Reichstag. -
Hitler Comes To Power
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi party takes control of Germany's government. The first permanent concentration camp, Dachau, is established -
SA and SS
40,000 SA and SS men are sworn in as auxiliary police. -
First Concentration Camp
The first official Nazi concentration camp opens in Dachau, a small village located near Munich. -
Law for the Restoration
The German government issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which excludes Jews and political opponents from all civil service positions. -
Night of the long knives
Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Bad Wiessee where he personally placed Ernst Röhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. Over the next 48 hours, 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiessee -
Hilter escalates his power
Hitler proclaims himself Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Reich Chancellor). Armed forces must now swear allegiance to him. -
Nuremberg Laws
Hitler announced the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. These laws stripped Jews of their civil rights as German citizens and separated them from Germans legally, socially, and politically. -
More concentration camps
The SS establishes the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Oranienburg, located to the north of Berlin, Germany. By September, German authorities have imprisoned about 1,000 people in the camp. -
Kristallnacht
"The Night of the Broken Glass" 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were sacked and looted, and tens of thousands of Jews were removed to concentration camps. -
Start of WWII
Hitler invaded Poland, officially starting World War II. -
Labeling Jews
General Governor Hans Frank issued an ordinance that Jews ten years of age and older living in the General Government had to wear the Star of David on armbands or pinned to the chest or back. This made the identification of Jews easier when the Nazis began issuing orders establishing ghettos. -
Gassing People
In September 1941, the Nazis began using gassing vans--trucks loaded with groups of people who were locked in and asphyxiated by carbon monoxide. These vans were used until the completion of the first death camp, -
The Nacht und Nebel
The Nacht und Nebel (Night and Fog) order was issued to deter resistance by allowing military courts to swiftly sentence resisters to death. Those arrested under this order were said to have disappeared into the "night and fog." -
Hitler declares war on U.S.
Hitler declares war on the United States. President Roosevelt then asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany saying, "Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization." The U.S.A. then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90 percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler. -
Bermuda Conference
The Bermuda Conference occurs as representatives from the United States and Britain discuss the problem of refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but results in inaction concerning the plight of the Jews. -
Russian troops liberate Auschwitz
By this time, an estimated 2,000,000 persons, including 1,500,000 Jews, have been murdered there. -
U.S. helps people
Americans free 33,000 inmates from concentration camps.