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Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor
President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor on January 30th. He was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party. The Enabling Act allowed the Reich government to issue laws without the consent of Germany's parliament, which gave Hitler more power. -
Krakow Ghetto Established
German authorities establish and seal the Krakow Ghetto in Poland between March 3-20. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews are forced to reside inside the confined ghettos. which are bordered by stone walls and barbed-wire fences. -
Killing Operations Begin at Chelmno
German authorities including ss created the Chelmno killing center to mass murder Jews in Wartheland including the Lodz ghetto. This is pivotal because it was the first to use gas in mass murder. The killing lasted from December 1941 until March 1943 and then for a short time in June and early July. -
Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Established
The german military establishes a second camp at Auschwitz on march 1st, 1942. Also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau or Auschwitz II. It operated as a killing center from March 1942 until November 1944. -
German Troops Occupy Hungary
The Germans installed General Dome Sztojay, a pro-German as prime minister. Sztojay committed Hungary to continue the war effort and the deportation of Hungarian Jews, the last intact Jewish community in occupied Europe. Hungarian were sent into rural regions to round up Jews of all ages and send them to ghettos. -
Deportation from Theresienstadt
German authorities deport 7,003 German, Austrian, and Czech Jews from the camp-ghetto Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau, on May 15–18, 1944. They did this in order to "thin out" the Jewish population. They also did this right before the Red Cross and the Danish Red Cross came to visit and said they were a part of the “Theresienstadt family camp.” -
US Forces Liberate Buchenwald
In early April 1945, as US forces approached, the Germans began to evacuate some 28,000 prisoners from the Buchenwald main camp and several thousand prisoners from the subcamps of Buchenwald. A third of these prisoners died from exhaustion en route or were shot by the SS. -
German Surrender
Soviet forces encircled Berlin, the German capital on April 25, 1945. That same day, Soviet forces linked up with their American counterparts attacking from the west in Germany. After fighting, Soviet forces neared Adolf Hitler’s bunker in Berlin. On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide and within days, Berlin fell to the Soviets. German armed forces surrendered with no conditions in the west.
