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Bela Weichherz Diary Entry
As the persecution of Jews in their native Slovakia worsened, Bela’s proud inscriptions of his daughter’s accomplishments gave way to the heartbreaking expressions of a father’s fear for his family. Bela last wrote in his diary shortly before they were all deported to a Nazi killing center—the words he left behind are the only direct record of Kitty’s short life -
Hitler Campaign Speech
In July 1932 the Nazi Party wins 230 seats in German parliamentary elections, becoming the largest party represented. 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 (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), 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 (Deutschnationale Volkspartei; DNVP) are members of the coalition. -
Röhm Affair
Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). -
Ban on Jehovah’s Witness Organizations
The German government bans Jehovah’s Witness organizations. The ban is due to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ refusal to swear allegiance to the state; their religious convictions forbid an oath of allegiance to or service in the armed forces of any temporal power. -
Olympic Games Open in Berlin
The Summer Olympic Games open in Berlin, attended by athletes and spectators from countries around the world. The Olympic Games were a propaganda success for the Nazi government, as German officials made every effort to portray Germany as a respectable member of the international community -
Buchenwald Concentration Camp Opens
Together with its many satellite camps, Buchenwald was one of the largest concentration camps established within German borders. Women were not part of the Buchenwald camp system until late 1943 or early 1944. An electrified barbed-wire fence, watchtowers, and a chain of sentries outfitted with automatic machine guns, surrounded the main camp. The SS often shot prisoners in the camp stables and hanged other prisoners in the crematorium area -
German Annexation of Austria
A wave of street violence against Jewish persons and property followed in Vienna and other cities throughout the so-called Greater German Reich during the spring, summer, and autumn of 1938, culminating in the Kristallnacht riots and violence of November 9-10. -
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.
