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1933
January 30 - February 1 Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany.
March 5 Reichstag elections: The Nazis gain 44 percent of the vote.
October 14 - 19 Germany quits the League of Nations and disarmament talks.
November 2 The Nazi Party gets 92 percent of the vote in one-party elections. -
1934
January 26 The German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
June 30 “Night of the Long Knives”: Hitler orders the elimination of the main figures in the SA to prevent rivalry between the SA and the SS and the German army. -
1935
January 13 Germany reclaims the Saar region (an area of Germany that was administered by France under League of Nations supervision following World War I in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles.
March 16 Military conscription in Germany begins, violating the Treaty of Versailles.
May 31 The German army becomes “all-Aryan,” meaning Jews are not allowed to serve. -
1936
March 7 The German army enters the Rhineland (region along the Rhine River in western Germany), violating the Treaty of Versailles.
September 9 The Four-Year Plan (the economic plan to prepare Germany for war) is unveiled.
October 25 The Rome-Berlin Axis Agreement is signed between Italy and Germany based on political interests.
November 25 Germany and Japan sign a military pact. -
1937
March 21 Pope Pius XI issues a statement against racism.
July 19 Buchenwald (Germany) concentration camp is established.
November 5 The German army is ordered to prepare for war. -
1938
March 13 Anschluss: Germany annexes Austria.
March 23 Recognition of Jewish organizations in Germany is revoked.
June 14 Jewish businesses have to register as such.
June 15 “Operation June”: Mass arrests of Jews in the Reich and banishment to concentration camps begin.
July 6 Anti-Jewish economic policies restrict Jews’ access to many fields of activity. -
March 15 1939
March 15 Germans occupy Bohemia and Moravia, thus liquidating the Czechoslovak Republic.
March 28 The civil war in Spain ends. -
September 1939
September 1 Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II.
September 3 Great Britain, France, India, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
September 17 The Soviets invade Poland.
September 21 Reinhard Heydrich (head of security police) orders the establishment of Jewish councils (Judenrate) and the concentration of Jews in the larger cities of Poland.
September 28 Poland is partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
october 1939
October 26 Civil administration (Generalgouvernement) is established in Poland; Polish elite are persecuted and murdered; slave labor is imposed on Jews between the ages of 14–60.
November 23 Jews in Poland are required to wear the Jewish Badge (Star of David).
November 30 The Soviets invade Finland.
December 2 The Nazis initiate use of gas vans to eliminate patients with mental disabilities. -
january to march 1940
January 24 Jewish property in Generalgouvernement is registered.
March The Katyn Massacre: The Soviets execute thousands of Polish officers in the Soviet-occupied part of Poland. -
April to may 1940
April 9 Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
April 30 The Lodz (Poland) ghetto is sealed.
May 10 Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands; Neville Chamberlain resigns; Winston Churchill becomes the prime minister of England.
May 26 The Allies evacuate forces to England at Dunkirk. -
September to November 1940
September 7 The German “Blitz” on England reaches a climax with massive air raids on British cities.
October 3 The French government sets fierce anti-Jewish legislation.
October 22 Jewish businesses in occupied Netherlands are registered.
October 28 Jewish property in Belgium is registered.
November 15 The Warsaw ghetto is sealed. -
March to April
March 20 The Krakow (Poland) ghetto is sealed.
April 6 Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
April 9 Germany occupies Salonika, the largest Jewish community in Greece.
April 24 The Lublin (Poland) ghetto is sealed. -
June to August
June 14 Germany occupies Paris; the first deportation of Polish political prisoners to Auschwitz (Poland) concentration camp begins.
June 18 Hitler presents Mussolini with the Madagascar Plan, a plan to deport all Jews to the island near the shores of Eastern Africa.
July 10 The Vichy France government is formed.
August 8 The Battle of Britain begins. -
June 30 1941
June 6 “Commissar Order”: Prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht high command authorizes its soldiers to murder any “suspect” of opposition, mainly Jews and Communists, thereby making the German army involved in war crimes in the occupied territories.
June 22 “Operation Barbarossa”: The German invasion of the Soviet Union marks the beginning of the “Final Solution.”
June 23 The Einsatzgruppen begin mass killings in the Soviet Union.
June 28 The Romanian “Iron Guard” kill -
Jan to Feb 1945
January 16 The Soviets liberate half of Budapest.
January 17 The Soviets liberate Warsaw; few Jews remain.
January 18 Auschwitz-Birkenau is abandoned; the death march of prisoners begins.
January 19 The Soviets liberate the Lodz ghetto.
January 27 The Soviets liberate Auschwitz-Birkenau.
February 1 40,000 prisoners are marched out of Gross-Rosen (Poland) concentration camp.
February 13 - 14 Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Air Force (USAF) air raids devastate Dresden (Germany).
