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Nazification
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Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and begins his propaganda campaign to systematically exterminate the Jews in Europe. -
Dachau concentration camp opens
On March 22, 1933, Dachau opened as the first regular Nazi concentration camp. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich in Bavaria (in southern Germany). Dachau was established initially to incarcerate political prisoners, primarily German Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. During its first year, the camp held about 4,800 prisoners. -
Laws for Reestablishment of the Civil Service
Laws for Reestablishment of the Civil Service barred Jews from holding civil service, university, and state positions -
"Nuremberg Laws"
"Nuremberg Laws": anti-Jewish racial laws enacted; Jews no longer considered German citizens; Jews could not marry Aryans; nor could they fly the German flag -
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WORLD WAR II AND THE MASS KILLING OF JEWS
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Reichstag Speech
Amid rising international tensions Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler tells the German public and the world that the outbreak of war would mean the end of European Jewry—the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." -
Auschwitz Camp Established
The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps, all of which deployed incarcerated prisoners at forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period as a killing center. The camps were located approximately 37 miles west of Krakow, near the prewar German-Polish border in Upper Silesia, an area that Nazi Germany annexed in 1939 after invading and conquering Poland. -
Warsaw Ghetto Sealed
German authorities order the Warsaw ghetto to be sealed. It is the largest ghetto in both area and population, confining more than 350,000 Jews (about 30 percent of the city's population) in an area of about 1.3 square miles, or 2.4 percent of the city's total area. At times, before the deportations of July 1942 began, the actual population in Warsaw ghetto approached 500,000. -
Gassing Operations Begin at Treblinka
SS Special Detachment Treblinka begins gassing operations at the Treblinka killing center. Between July 1942 and November 1943, the SS special detachment at Treblinka murders an estimated 925,000 Jews and an unknown number of Poles, Roma (Gypsies), and Soviet prisoners of war in Treblinka 2. -
Kovno Ghetto Sealed
German authorities seal off the Kovno (Kaunas; Yiddish: Kovne) ghetto, with approximately 30,000 Jewish inhabitants. The ghetto was in an area of small primitive houses and no running water. It had two parts, called the “small” and “large” ghetto, separated by Paneriu Street. Each ghetto was overcrowded, enclosed by barbed wire, and closely guarded. -
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The Final Solution
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Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Established
The Inspectorate of Concentration Camps opens a second camp at Auschwitz, called Auschwitz-Birkenau or Auschwitz II. The first prisoners were 945 Soviet prisoners of war and a few Polish prisoners from Auschwitz I. Auschwitz-Birkenau was originally designated for imprisoning large numbers of Soviet prisoners of war. Although it continued to serve as a concentration camp, it also functioned as a killing center from March 1942 until November 1944. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
German forces intended to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto beginning on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover. When SS and police units entered the ghetto that morning, the streets were deserted. Most of the residents of the ghetto had gone into hiding, as the renewal of deportations of Jews to death camps triggered an armed uprising within the ghetto. -
Auschwitz Report
Between June 18 and 22, 1944, the Auschwitz Report, written by two Slovak Jewish prisoners who escaped from Auschwitz on April 7, 1944, and composed a report in Slovak by the end of April, goes public worldwide through media channels in Switzerland. -
Soviet Forces Liberate Auschwitz
The Soviet army enters Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz and liberates around 7,000 prisoners, most of whom are ill and dying. German Surrender.
It is estimated that the SS and police deported at a minimum 1.3 million people to Auschwitz complex between 1940 and 1945. Of these, the camp authorities murdered 1.1 million. -
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The War in Europe is Over
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German Surrender
German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the west on May 7 and in the east on May 9, 1945. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) was proclaimed on May 8, 1945, amid celebrations in Washington, London, Moscow, and Paris. -
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The Aftermath
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International Military Tribunal
The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, begins a trial of 21 (of 24 indicted) major Nazi German leaders on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit each of these crimes. It is the first time that international tribunals are used as a postwar mechanism for bringing national leaders to justice.