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Nazi party comes into power
German president Paul Von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party leader, as Chancellor due to his growing popularity in the German States. Following this event, the Nazis and their allies would turn Germany from a multi-party republic into a one-party dictatorship. -
Anti-Jewish Boycott
Nazi leaders claimed that German and foreign jews were spreading lies that made Germany look bad, so the other Germans had to retaliate. To this, they called for a national boycott. The boycott lasted only a day, and only a few Germans actually participated. While it was very short, it marked the beginning of the Nazi party's campaign against jews. -
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
The government issues a law that excludes the use of civil services for Jews and other political enemies of the Nazis and a law for that mandates for non-"Aryan" lawyers to be fired by September 30 1933 unless they were practicing law since August 1, 1914, or Jewish lawyers who are German veterans of World War I. -
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. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
These laws institutionalized many of the racial theories underpinning Nazi ideology and provided the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany. The Nuremberg Race Laws identified a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents. Many Germans who had not practiced Judaism or who had not done so for many years found themselves still subject to legal persecution under these laws. -
German Jews' Passports Declared Invalid
On October 5, 1938, the Reich Ministry of the Interior invalidates all German passports held by Jews. Jews must surrender their old passports, which will become valid only after the letter “J” has been stamped on them, for people to identify their Jewish heritage. -
Kristallnacht "The Night of Broken Glass"
Nazi Party officials, members of the SA and the Hitler Youth carry out a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms throughout Greater Germany. The rioters destroyed hundreds of synagogues, many of them burned in full view of firefighters and the German public and looted more than 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses and other commercial establishments. Jewish cemeteries were a particular object of desecration in many regions. -
Exclusion of Jews from German Economic Life
On November 12, 1938, the German government issues the Decree on the Elimination of the Jews from Economic Life. The decree bars Jews from operating retail stores, sales agencies, and from carrying on a trade. The law also forbids Jews from selling goods or services at an establishment of any kind. -
Reichstag Speech
Amid rising international tensions Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler tells the German public and the world that the outbreak of war would mean the end of European Jewry—the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." -
Auschwitz Camp Established
SS authorities establish the Auschwitz camp. The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps, all of which deployed incarcerated prisoners at forced labor, with one serving as a killing center for a while. -
Krakow Ghetto Established
From March 3–20, 1941, German authorities announce, establish, and seal a ghetto in Krakow, Poland. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews are forced to live within the ghetto boundaries, which are enclosed by barbed-wire fences and, in places, by a stone wall. -
Allied Nations Issue Statement on Mass Murder
The Allied nations, including the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, issue a declaration stating explicitly that the German authorities were engaging in mass murder of the European Jews, and that those responsible for this “bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination” would “not escape retribution.” -
Death March from Auschwitz
As Soviet troops approach, SS units begin the final evacuation of prisoners from the Auschwitz camp complex, marching them on foot toward the interior of the German Reich. These forced evacuations come to be called “death marches.” -
Soviet Forces Liberate Auschwitz
The Soviet army enters Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz and liberates around 7,000 prisoners, most of whom are ill and dying. Prior to that in mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its subcamps. SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west from the Auschwitz camp system. Thousands had been killed in the camps in the days before these death marches began. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
As Soviet forces near his command bunker in central Berlin on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler commits suicide. Berlin falls to the Soviets within days. -
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 central Germany (Torgau). 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. -
Film at the Nuremberg Trial
On November 29, 1945, only a week into the trial, the International Military Tribunal prosecution introduced an hour-long film titled “The Nazi Concentration Camps.” When the lights came up in the Palace of Justice all assembled sat in silence. The human impact of this visual evidence was a turning point in the Nuremberg trial. It brought the Holocaust into the courtroom. -
New Directive on Immigrant Visas to the US
US President Truman issues a directive giving preference to displaced persons for immigrant visas under existing US immigration quota restrictions. About 22,950 DPs, of whom two-thirds were Jewish, entered the United States between December 22, 1945, and 1947 under provisions of the Truman Directive.