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Terror Begins
A stormtrooper (SA) guards newly arrested members of the German Communist Party in a basement jail of the SA barracks in Berlin. -
night of broken glass
Within 48 hours, synagogues were vandalized and burned, 7,500 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, 96 Jews were killed, and nearly 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. -
Enemies of the state
Within the concentration camp system, colored, tri-angular badges identified various prisoner categories, as seen in this image of a roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Although Jews were their primary targets, the Nazis also persecuted Roma (Gypsies), persons with mental and physical disabilities, and Poles for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. -
Hitler Comes to Power
Hitler addressed the first session of the German Parliament (Reichstag) following his appointment as chancellor. -
From citizens to outcasts
A woman reads a boycott sign posted on the window of a Jewish-owned department store. Nazis initiated a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses on April 1, 1933, across Germany. -
Nazi Race Laws
An instructional chart distinguishes individuals with pure “German blood” (left column), “Mixed blood” (second and third columns), and Jews (right two columns), as defined in the Nuremberg Laws.
Among other things, the laws issued in September
1935 restricted future German citizenship to those
of “German or kindred blood,” and excluded those
deemed to be “racially” Jewish or Roma (Gypsy). -
the science of race
Members of the Hitler Youth receive instruction in racial hygiene at a Hitler Youth training facility. The Nazis divided the world’s population into superior and inferior “races.” -
Final Solution - War begins
Sections of Warsaw lay in ruins following the invasion
and conquest of Poland by the German military begun in September 1939 that propelled Europe into World War II.