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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. -
Reichstag Fire Decree
Though the origins of the fire are still unclear, in a propaganda maneuver, the coalition government (made up of Nazis and the Nationalists) blamed the Communists. -
Establishment of Dachau Camp
Outside the town of Dachau, Germany, the SS (Schutzstaffel, Protection Squads) establishes its first concentration camp to incarcerate political opponents. -
Hitler Abolishes the Office of President
Hitler abolishes the office of President and declares himself Führer of the German Reich, Hitler now becomes the absolute dictator of Germany; there are no legal or constitutional limits to his authority. -
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. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
The 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. These laws institutionalized many of the racial theories underpinning Nazi ideology and provided the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany. -
Euthanasia Killings
Up to this date, German health care professionals murdered approximately 70,000 people at “euthanasia” facilities. The killing operations continued, however, involving both adults and children with physical and intellectual disabilities. -
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. -
April–May 1943, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
German forces intended to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto beginning on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover. When SS and police units entered the ghetto that morning, the streets were deserted. Nearly all of the residents of the ghetto had gone into hiding, as the renewal of deportations of Jews to death camps triggered an armed uprising within the ghetto. Though vastly outnumbered and outgunned, individuals and small groups of Jews hid or fought the Germans for almost a month. -
D-Day
Allied forces finally broke out of the Normandy beachhead near the town of St. Lo in late July and began the liberation of northern France. By mid-August, Allied troops had encircled and destroyed much of the German army in Normandy (Falaise pocket) and by late August, Free French forces liberated Paris. -
Surrender of German and Hungarian Units
Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last German and Hungarian units fighting in the encircled city of Budapest, Hungary. Soviet troops will drive the last German units and their Arrow Cross collaborators out of western Hungary in early April 1945. -
German Surrender
After heavy fighting, Soviet forces neared Adolf Hitler’s command bunker in central Berlin. On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Within days, Berlin fell to the Soviets. German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the west on May 7 and in the east on May 9, 1945. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) was proclaimed on May 8, 1945
