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HItler becomes Chancellor of Germany
This day is thought of by many as the beggining of the holocaust.
On this day, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, was elected chancellor of Germany by it's president Paul von Hindenburg after the Nazi party won a large percentage of elections in 1932. -
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Holocaust Dates
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SS opens the Dachau concentration camp
Dachau concentration camp was the first regular concentration camp established by the National Socialist (Nazi) government. Heinrich Himmler, in his capacity as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners." -
Enabling Act Passed
On March 23, the Enabling Act was passed. It sanctioned Hitler’s dictatorial efforts and legally enabled him to pursue them further. The Nazis marshaled their formidable propaganda machine to silence their critics. They also developed a sophisticated police and military force. -
Nuremburg Laws Enacted
Hitler began to restrict the Jews with legislation and terror, which entailed burning books written by Jews, removing Jews from their professions and public schools, confiscating their businesses and property and excluding them from public events. The most infamous of the anti-Jewish legislation were the Nuremberg Laws, enacted on September 15, 1935. They formed the legal basis for the Jews' exclusion from German society and the progressively restrictive Jewish policies of the Germans. -
The Attacks on Jews Became More Violent
Hershel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Jewish boy distraught at the deportation of his family, shot Ernst vom Rath, the third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris, who died on November 9. Nazi hooligans used this assassination as the pretext for instigating a night of destruction that is now known as Kristallnacht. They looted and destroyed Jewish homes and businesses and burned synagogues. Many Jews were beaten and killed; 30,000 Jewwere arrested and sent to concentration camps. -
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Agreement
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a ten-year nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939, in which each signatory promised not to attack the other. -
Nazi Germany declares war on the United States
The German representatives handed to Mr. Atherton a copy of a note that is being delivered this morning, December 11, to the American Charg d'Affaires in Berlin. Dr. Thomsen said that Germany considers herself in a state of war with the United States. -
Nazi party organizes a system to mass murder the Jews
On January 20, 1942, several top officials of the German government met to officially coordinate the military and civilian administrative branches of the Nazi system to organize a system of mass murder of the Jews. This meeting, called the Wannsee Conference, "marked the beinning of the full-scale, comprehensive extermination operation [of the Jews] and laid the foundations for its organization, which started immediately after the conference ended". -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
As Soviet troops fought their way towards the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. News quickly spread about the death of Adolf Hitler and the guns fell silent. Winston Churchill the then prime minister announced Victory in Europe. It is considered by some to be the end of the holocaust. -
World War II Ends
To many people this day marks the end of the holocaust. Germany had surrendered soon after Adolf Hitler's suicide, though Japan continued to fight. After Japan dropped two bombs,Japans Imperial government consulted with Emperor to try and convince him to surrender, the emperor Hirohito agreed with the Imperial goverment. Hirohito then made a personal radio address announcing the decision.
