-
Schutzstaffel Organized
The Schutzstaffel, more commonly referred to as the SS, was first established to be a squad of personal bodyguards for Adolf Hitler. Later, the SS was charged for leading the “Final Solution”, which was the murder of European Jews. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor
Hitler was named Chancellor by president Paul Von Hindenburg after the three successive chancellors before him failed to maintain authority. -
Hitler Claims Emergency Powers
The Enabling Act gave Hitler emergency powers in the spring of 1933. It was supposed to last for 4 years, unless renewed by the Reichstag, which happened twice. -
Boycott of Jewish Businesses:
The Nazis began to boycott Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933. It was pretty unsuccessful, as most of the German population continued to use Jewish businesses anyways, but it revealed the Nazis’ intent to undermine German Jews. -
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases
The Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases was created by the German government. This law made it mandatory for anyone with a mental, physical, or hereditary illness to undergo forced sterilization. -
Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals
Under Germany’s Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals, habitual criminals were forcefully sterilized. It was also used to justify the incarceration of “social misfits”. Some of the people this group included were beggars, gypsies, and black people. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were enacted by the Reichstag (the German Parliament) in the fall of 1935. They were a set of racist and anti-semitic rules created by the Nazis. -
Nazis Occupy Rhineland
In March of 1936, the Nazi Germans marched into the demilitarized zone of Rhineland, which was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Reichszentrale is Created
The Reichszentrale translates to the Reich Central Office. The Reich Central Office was the Nazi instrument for campaigning against homosexuality and abortion. -
Kristallnacht/The Night of Broken Glass
Kristallnacht is also known as The Night of Broken Glass. This was when Nazi Germans burned synagogues, vandalized the homes, schools, and businesses of Jews, and also killed about 100 Jewish people. -
Einsatzgruppen Starts
Einsatzgruppen translates to “deployment groups”, but that was not their true purpose. The Einsatzgruppen were a mobile killing squad, with the majority of it being made up by members of the SS. They would kill anyone who were believed to be enemies of Nazi Germany. -
St. Louis Ship (with Jews)
The St. Louis was a ship holding 937 passengers, the majority of them being fleeing Jews. Most of them had paid a large sum of money for permission to enter Cuba, with intentions to come to the U.S. after they got off of the long waiting list. However, upon arriving in Cuba, only 30 passengers were allowed to enter. -
Germany Invades Poland
1.5 million of the German troops' soldiers invaded Poland in 1939. Hitler planned for the “racially superior” Germans to colonize this territory. -
Auschwitz Opens
Auschwitz, AKA Auschwitz-Birkenau, was the largest Nazi concentration/death camp of all. Among its prisoners were Jews, Poles, and Gypsies. It was located in southern Poland, and opened in the spring of 1940. -
Lodz Ghetto Opens
The Lodz Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto established for Polish Jews and Roma. This was following the Nazi invasion of Poland. -
Madagascar Plan Presented
The Madagascar Plan was a proposal made by the Nazi Germans to forcibly relocate all European Jews to the island of Madagascar. This was before they decided to commit the murder of millions of Jews. -
Babi Yar
Babi Yar is the site where the massacres of 34,000 Jewish people, including children, occurred, in Kiev, Ukraine.These massacres began in 1941 and ended in 1943. -
The Commissar Order
The Commissar Order was issued by the German High Command before Operation Barbarossa, which was Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. In this document, Hitler ordered for all Soviet Commissars (officials of the Communist Party) to be shot. -
Yellow Star for German Jews
The German government made it mandatory for all German Jews to wear yellow stars of David, identifying them as Jewish. In the fall of 1941 specifically, the Reich Minister decreed that all Jews over the age of six had to wear the stars on their outer clothing at all times. -
Last Gassing at Auschwitz
The last Jews gassed at Auschwitz had been forced to dig up and burn the camp’s remaining mass graves. After that, they were killed in the gas chambers. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was when Nazi officials met in Berlin to discuss the “Final Solution”, which was the Nazi’s extermination of all European Jews. -
Creation of the Zigeunerlager
Zigeunerlager were forced labor camps for Sinti and Roma, otherwise known as gypsies. These camps were guarded by the SS and usually located on the outskirts of cities. They were also centers for sterilization. -
Himmler Orders Liquidation of Ghettos
Heinrich Himmler ordered the liquidation of all ghettos in June of 1943. All remaining Jews living in the ghettos were to be sent to the concentration camps. -
Dr. Josef Mengele Arrives at Auschwitz
Dr. Josef Mengele arrived at Auschwitz in the spring of 1943. He wanted to further his medical career by publishing “groundbreaking” work. Under the guise of treating people, he performed cruel experiments on live Jewish prisoners -
Himmler Orders Destruction of Auschwitz
Heinrich Himmler, who was head of the SS and an architect of the Holocaust, abruptly ordered the destruction of the Auschwitz death camp in November of 1944. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
On January 27th of 1945, the Soviet Army liberated the 7,000 remaining prisoners of Auschwitz, who were mostly ill and dying. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Hitler committed suicide with his wife by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. -
International Military Tribunal
The International Military Tribunal took place in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945. It began the trial of 21 significant Nazi leaders on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit these crimes. -
Adolf Eichmann Captured
Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi German who played a large role in implementing the “Final Solution” and in the Holocaust overall. He was captured by Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency) in Argentina. He was later hanged by the State of Israel for his part in the Holocaust. -
Dr. Josef Mengele Dies
Mengele died in Brazil of a stroke while swimming. By that time, he had taken on the identity of a man named Gerhard.