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Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
It took the political and economic instability to worsen, and the support of the conservative elite, to convince president Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as the chancellor of Germany.
The Nazis were now in power and Hitler starts dismantling Germany's Democratic system.
He would become dictator of Germany under the title of Fuhrer on 2 August 1934.
Image: Hitler receives an ovation on his inauguration as Chancellor
Short explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROcNi6I7Qvw -
Sources (Hitler becomes Chancellor)
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. January 30, 1933
- https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-nazi-rise-to-power/the-nazi-rise-to-power/hitler-becomes-chancellor/
- https://prezi.com/zxliiii948w2/holocaust-timeline-of-events/
- Image of Hitler: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/adolf-hitler-becomes-german-chancellor
- Image of kids in concentration camps (title): https://eeradicalization.com/remembering-the-holocaust-75-years-after-the-liberation-of-the-camps/ -
Period: to
The Holocaust
The Holocaust is the systematic killing of people by the German Nazi regime under the rule of Adolf Hitler that took place between 1933 and 1945. As a result of the Holocaust, 11 million people were killed, Of that 11 million, around 6 million were of Jewish descent. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
These were 2 race-based measures depriving Jews of rights, designed by Adolf Hitler and approved by the Nazi Party at a convention in Nuremberg.
- Reich Citizenship Law. It deprived Jews of German citizenship, designating them “subjects of the state.”
- Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. It forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and “citizens of German or kindred blood.”
People with 3 or more grandparents born into the Jewish community were Jews by law. -
Sources (Nuremberg laws) & link to video
Nuremberg race laws. September 15, 1935
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nurnberg-Laws
- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nuremberg-laws
- Image. Nuremberg Race Laws chart: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws
- Video. Nuremberg Laws proclaimed. A special session of the Reichstag enacted the laws, intesifying Nazi measures against Jews: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/nuremberg-laws-proclaimed?parent=en%2F11475 -
Sources (Kristallnacht) & link to video
Night of November 9, 1938.
- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-night-of-broken-glass
- https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/DEFN/kristall.htm
- Image. A man surveys the damage to the Liechtenstein leather goods store after the Kristallnacht pogrom: https://www.history.com/news/kristallnacht-photos-pogrom-1938-hitler#&gid=ci023761df70002414&pid=kristallnacht-ushmm-73909
- Interviews to a survivor that remembers Kristallnacht:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z01WmCcpZ0Q -
Kristallnacht/The night of broken glass
On this night, November 9, 1938, almost 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were sacked and looted, and tens of thousands of Jews were removed to concentration camps. Riots took place throughout Germany and Austria on that night.
The pogroms became known as Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," for the shattered glass from the store windows that littered the streets.
German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other Nazis carefully organized the pogroms. -
Wannsee conference (Berlin). The “Final Solution”
Nazi officials discussed the details about the “Final Solution” to the government officials. The “Final Solution” was their plan to kill all European Jews in order to create the Aryan race.
Heydrich brought representatives of all relevant institutions to one table to discuss the coordination of the planned deportations and mass murders, and to put all of the participating authorities under his leadership.
By that time, 500,000 Jews had already met their deaths, mostly by firing squad. -
Sources & link to the Protocol of the Wannsee Conference
-https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution
-https://www.dw.com/en/wannsee-conference-screenplay-for-the-holocaust/a-37197330
-https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/major-events-of-the-holocaust
-Image. Villa in Wannsee that housed the conference: https://www.britannica.com/event/Wannsee-Conference
-Protocol: https://www.yadvashem.org/docs/wannsee-conference-protocol.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8eJ4-Hq6QIVZbR3Ch0a1A8aEAAYASABEgIBavD_BwE -
Warsaw ghetto revolt begins
The German forces wanted to start the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto on April 19, 1943. The renewal of deportations was the signal for an armed uprising within the ghetto.
Residents hid or fought the Germans for nearly 1 month. The Germans razed the ghetto buildings.
By May 16, the ghetto was under Nazi control and, in a symbolic act, the Germans blew up Warsaw’s Great Synagogue.
At the end, 7,000 Jews died, and 50,000 others who survived were sent to extermination or labor camps. -
Sources (Warsaw ghetto revolt) & link to animated map
Warsaw ghetto revolt. April 19, 1943
- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw-ghetto-uprising
- https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising
- Image. Jewish resistance fighters raise their hands following capture by Nazi soldiers on Nowolipie Street: https://allthatsinteresting.com/warsaw-ghetto-uprising#5
- Animated map: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/animated-map/the-warsaw-ghetto?parent=en%2F3636 -
Death March from Auschwitz
Due to the approaching Soviet Army, 58,000 prisoners of Auschwitz were forced on marches to the concentration and labour camps in central Germany. SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue. Prisoners also suffered from the cold weather, starvation, and exposure on these marches. These marches became known as death marches.
About 15,000 prisoners died during the evacuation marches from Auschwitz and the subcamps. -
Sources (Auschwitz death march) & link to interview to Holocaust survivor about the death march from Auschwitz
Death march from Auschwitz. January 18, 1945
- https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/events-in-the-history-of-the-holocaust-1933-to-1939/
- https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/death-march-from-auschwitz
- Image: https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/end-of-war-aftermath/last-months.html
- Video. Holocaust survivor, death march from Auschwitz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCQH-AsR5rE&t=43s -
Liberation of Ohrdruf camp
The Ohrdruf camp was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and the first Nazi camp liberated by US troops.
The US Army liberated Ohrdruf on April 4, 1945. After visiting Ohrdruf a week later, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered careful documentation of the atrocities perpetrated in the Nazi concentration camps, so that no one in the future could deny that they had committed these atrocities. This opened the eyes of many US soldiers to the horrors committed by the Nazis. -
Sources (Ohrdruf camp liberation) & link to Ohrdruf gallery pictures
Liberation of Ohrdruf camp. April 4, 1945
- https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/liberation-of-ohrdruf#:~:text=April%204%2C%201945,Ohrdruf%20on%20April%204%2C%201945.
- Image. US soldiers view the bodies of prisoners in Ohrdruf: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/us-soldiers-view-the-bodies-of-prisoners-in-ohrdruf?parent=en%2F7757
- Link to Ohrdruf camp pictures: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/ohrdruf-photographs -
Victory in Europe Day
WW2 in Europe had come to an end, following Germany's surrender to the Allies the day before.
Victory in Europe Day marks the day towards the end of WW2 in Europe, when fighting against Nazi Germany in Europe came to an end.
Sources:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48201749
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48201749 (Image)
