The Holocaust

  • Hitler Takes Power

    Hitler Takes Power
    The Reichstag is burnt down and when rebuilt, Adolf Hitler has the parties pass the "Enabling Act," giving Hitler emergency supreme power over Germany and allowing him to eliminate the other parties, leaving only the Nazis to make decisions.
  • Nazi Boycott

    Nazi Boycott
    Nazis post signs on Jewish-owned stores, boycotting them, telling Germans not to shop there. However, this was rather ineffective because antisemitism in Germany was only beginning to really take off.
  • Restricted Citizenship

    Restricted Citizenship
    German citizenship was restricted among the Jewish and Roma (Gypsies).
  • Refuge Away from Austria

    Refuge Away from Austria
    After the Nazis took over Austria and began humiliating, terrorizing, and confiscating Jews and their property, many Jews began lining up at police stations to leave the country. However, the fines for such a feat were too high for most Jews.
  • Kristallnacht

    Kristallnacht
    Nazis released anti-Semitic violence across Germany, burning synagogues, destroying Jewish businesses, capturing and sending Jews to concentration camps, and even killing Jews.
  • Rejection of the St. Louis

    Rejection of the St. Louis
    The St. Louis, a passenger ship containing 937 Jews left Germany and sailed to Cuba, getting rejected, and then to the United States who also rejected them because of their restrictive policies.
  • Invasion of Poland

    Invasion of Poland
    The Nazis take Poland, beginning World War II and giving them control of much of continental Europe.
  • Ghettos are Closed

    Ghettos are Closed
    Jews are pushed into ghettos, separating them from the rest of Germany. There they suffered hunger, sanitation, shelter, and clothing issues.
  • SS Mobile Killing Squads

    SS Mobile Killing Squads
    After the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, mobile killing squads killed about a quarter of the Jews accounted for in the Holocaust. They also murdered Roma and communist government officials, all in front of the Hitler Youth.
  • Period: to

    Liberation

    The Jews and other prisoners are liberated from the concentration camps as the Allied Powers pushed back the Axis Powers. Allied forces were also ordered to view the concentration camps and the "atrocities" of the Nazis in order to remember the Holocaust and provide proof of its existence.
  • Period: to

    To the Concentration Camps

    Trains carried Jews into the concentration camps where they were often killed upon arrival. On the ride to the camps, many of them died because of extreme conditions inside and out of the train cars.
  • Period: to

    Time Capsules

    Jews stowed important documents, detailing their experiences in the Holocaust, in steel containers such as milk cans in order to preserve their memory and the crimes of the Nazis.
  • Danish Save Jews

    Danish Save Jews
    Danish carried 7,220/90% of Denmark's Jews to neutral Sweden, saving them from the Holocaust.
  • Death Marches

    Death Marches
    As the Allies pushed into Germany, the Nazis forced the Jews and other prisoners of the concentration camps to walk inward toward the German-occupied territory. Many prisoners died on these "Death Marches" as they had poor shoes, were starving, were exhausted, and had to brave the extreme weather conditions. If the prisoners did stop, the guards were ordered to shoot them if they weren't already dead.
  • Justice

    Justice
    After the war, Nazis were put on trial for "charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit such crimes." However, many Nazis escaped the trials and are still being discovered and put in jail today.