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holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945 -
first concentration camp
the first concentration camp, near Munich. The first group of prisoners, opponents of the Nazi regime, consists mostly of Communists and Social Democrats. Ultimately Jews, members of the Sinti-Roma people, and homosexuals will be prisoners of the camp, which operates until the end of the war. Theodore Eicke is appointed commandant of the camp. He develops a violent institution that creates fear among the population and becomes an efficient tool to silence opponents of the regime. -
numberg laws
Two anti-Jewish laws are enacted by the Reichstag. The laws, the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, are adopted during a special meeting convened at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party, and are therefore referred to as the “Nuremberg Laws.” Most notably, this antisemitic legislation strips Jews of German citizenship and bans marriages between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans. -
Jewish businesses have to identify as Jewish
If an owner or partner in a business is defined as a Jew under the Nuremberg Laws, the company is considered “Jewish” and must be registered accordingly. This status makes it easier for Jews to be identified and banned from economic life and will spur the process of “Aryanization,” the confiscation of Jewish businesses and property. -
lodz ghetto is sealed
A large, hermetically sealed ghetto is established in the Polish city of Lodz in the spring of 1940. 164,000 Jews are packed into four square kilometers, and eventually, over 200,000 people will pass through the Lodz ghetto. Approximately 20 percent of the ghetto’s population will die due to overcrowding, hunger, cold weather, and poor sanitation. -
The Einsatzgruppen begin mass killings in the Soviet Union
The day after the invasion of the Soviet Union begins, four special killing squads (Einsatzgruppen – A, B, C, and D) begin operating behind the army units that took part in the campaign. -
The first experimental gassings are conducted
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The first experimental gassings are conducted at Auschwitz
The first experimental gassings are conducted on sick prisoners and Russian POWs. Gas chambers in the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex will come to constitute the largest and most efficient extermination method employed by Nazi Germany. Gas chambers are built to look like shower rooms in order to confuse the victims. -
extermination camp begins functioning
After the main installations of the Belzec extermination camp are constructed and tested, the program for mass extermination is launched. In experimental gassings conducted in late February, Jews from Lubycze Kralewska and the Jewish forced laborers who had built the camp for the Germans were murdered. -
The Nuremberg Trials begin
After the end of WWII and the surrender of Nazi Germany, an International Military Tribunal composed of judges from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France put 22 senior Nazis on trial in Nuremberg for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.