-
Before 1933
Roosevelt’s main focus in his first term was the Great Depression and its consequences for the United States and the world. In 1933 about 25 percent of the US work force was unemployed; more than 11 million people were without jobs. Putting Americans back to work and reviving the economy became key priorities for the Roosevelt administration. -
Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor
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. -
Hitler Abolishes the Office of President
Hitler abolishes the office of President and declares himself Führer of the German Reich and People, in addition to his position as Chancellor. In this capacity, Hitler’s decisions are not bound by the laws of the state. Hitler now becomes the absolute dictator of Germany; there are no legal or constitutional limits to his authority. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
he Nuremberg Race Laws consisted of two pieces of legislation: the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. A special session of the Nazi-controlled Reichstag passed both laws at the Party’s rally in Nuremberg, Germany. These laws institutionalized many of the racial theories underpinning Nazi ideology and provided the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany. -
Jesse Owens Competes in Olympic Games
Eighteen black athletes represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics. African Americans dominated the popular track and field events. Many American journalists hailed the victories of Jesse Owens and other blacks as a blow to the Nazi myth of “Aryan” supremacy. Goebbels’s press censorship prevented German reporters from expressing their prejudices freely, but one leading Nazi newspaper demeaned the black athletes by referring to them as “auxiliaries.” -
First Kindertransport Arrives in Great Britain
Kindertransport was the informal name of a series of rescue efforts which brought thousands of refugee Jewish children to Great Britain between 1938 and 1940. Parents or guardians could not accompany the children. -
Reichstag Speech
Inspired by Hitler's theories of racial struggle and the supposed "intent" of the Jews to survive and expand at the expense of Germans, the Nazis ordered anti-Jewish boycotts, staged book burnings, and enacted anti-Jewish legislation. But it was the nationwide pogroms in 1938 and the outbreak of war in 1939 that marked the transition in Nazi racial antisemitism toward genocide. -
Killing Operations Begin at Chelmno
SS and police authorities established the Chelmno killing center in order to annihilate the Jewish population of the Wartheland including the inhabitants of the Lodz ghetto. It was the first stationary facility where poison gas was used for mass murder of Jews. The killing center operated from December 1941 until March 1943 and then briefly in June and early July 1944 -
Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Established
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.