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Adolf Hitler issues comment on the "Jewish question"
September 16, 1919. In Hitler's comment he defined Jews as a race and not a religious community. He had also identified the initial goal of a German government to be discriminatory legislation against Jews. He said "The ultimate goal must definitely be the removal of the Jews altogether." -
Hitler's campaign speech
Modern propaganda techniques—including strong images and simple messages—helped propel Austrian-born Hitler from a little known extremist to a leading candidate in Germany’s 1932 elections. -
Adolf Hitler appointed chancellor
The National Socialist German Workers' Party more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government. The Nazis and the German Nationalist People's Party are members of the coalition. -
Anti-Jewish boycott
Less than 3 months after coming to power in Germany, the Nazi leadership stages an economic boycott targeting Jewish-owned businesses and the offices of Jewish professionals. The Nazis claimed that German and foreign Jews were spreading “atrocity stories” to damage Germany's reputation. Nazi Storm Troopers stood menacingly in front of Jewish-owned department stores and retail establishments, and outside the offices of Jewish professionals, holding signs and shouting slogans. -
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. -
Theresienstadt Camp-Ghetto Established
The Theresienstadt "camp-ghetto" existed for three and a half years, between November 24, 1941 and May 9, 1945. Neither a ghetto as such nor strictly a concentration camp, Theresienstadt served as a “settlement,” an assembly camp, and a concentration camp, and thus had recognizable features of both ghettos and concentration camps. -
Deportation of Dutch Jews
German authorities begin the deportation of Dutch Jews from the Westerbork, Amersfoort, and Vught camps in the Netherlands to killing centers and concentration camps in Germany and German-occupied Poland. By September 3, 1944, around 100 trains have carried more than 100,000 people to Auschwitz, Sobibor, Theresienstadt, and Bergen-Belsen. -
Round ups of the Norwegian Jews
With the assistance of collaborationist Norwegian officials, the Germans begin rounding up Jews in Norway. The Germans eventually deport approximately 770 Norwegian Jews to killing centers and concentration camps. -
UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide entered into force, after more than 20 countries from around the world ratified it. -
U.S Ratifies Genocide Convention
The Convention had faced strong opponents, who feared it would infringe on US national sovereignty. One of the Convention's strongest advocates, Senator William Proxmire from Wisconsin, delivered over 3,000 speeches advocating the Convention in Congress.