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Schutzstaffel Organized
The SS (Schutzstaffel, or Protection Squads) was originally established as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit. It would later become both the elite guard of the Nazi Reich and Hitler's executive force prepared to carry out all security-related duties, without regard for legal restraint. -
St. Louis Ship (with Jews)
The St. Louis ship was a German ocean liner which carried more than 900 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany intending to escape anti-Semitic persecution. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg, leader of the Nazi Party, named Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. -
Hitler Claims Emergency Powers
When Hitler claimed emergency powers it nullified key civil liberties of German citizens. This was used to imprison anyone considered to be an opponent of the Nazis. -
Boycott of Jewish Businesses
Boycotting was an act of revenge by the Nazis to not buy Jewish goods. Supposedly there was bad international press against Germany since Hitler's appointment; Germans claimed that Jews were spreading "atrocity stories" to hurt Germany's reputation. Therefore, thousands of doors were painted with the Star of David and signs that read: "Don't buy from Jews" and "The Jew Are Our Misfortune" -
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases
Law for the This was a law that said that anyone suffering from a hereditary disease has to be sterilized by a surgical operation, if there’s a high risk that their kids will have the same disease.This included Gypsies and Afro-Germans. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws in Nazi Germany. They were enacted by the Reichstag on September 15, 1935, at a special meeting convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. -
Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals
This law allowed courts to order the imprisonment of “Habitual Criminals” if they decide the person to be dangerous to society. -
Nazi’s Occupy Rhineland
Adolf Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Reichszentrale is created
This was the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion. It was a German police institution. -
Kristallnacht/The Night of Broken Glass
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November Pogrom, was a massacre on Jews carried out by the Sturmabteilung military. -
Einsatzgruppen, starts
The term Einsatzgruppen, refers to Nazi operational groups. These were mobile killing units used by the Germans during the invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union. The point of Einsatzgruppen was to kill enemies of the German state. -
Yellow Star for German Jews
A badge of shame that the German Jews were forced to wear in public.This was made to identify them and make them feel like outsiders. -
The invasion of Poland
This invasion was Hitler's way of trying to regain lost territory and rule Poland. This sparked his "Blitzkrieg" strategy and ultimately was the start of World War ll. -
Madagascar Plan presented
Franz Rademacher, head of the German Foreign Office, presented the Madagascar Plan. This was a plan to get rid of millions of European Jews by sending them to Madagascar. -
Auschwitz Opens
Auschwitz opened in 1940. It was by far the most notorious of all the Nazi death camps and exterminated a large population of people. It is estimated that Nazis sent 1.3 million people to the death camps; about 1.1 million of these people were executed. -
Lodz Ghetto Opens
In early February 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in the Northeastern section of Lodz. About 160,000 Jews, more than a third of the city's population, were forced into a small area. -
The Commisair Order
The Commissar Order was an order issued by the German High Command. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars -
The last gassing at Auschwitz
In December 1942 the last 300-400 inmates of Auschwitz were forced to dig up and burn the of the camp’s mass graves thought to hold at least 100,000 corpses. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior Nazi government officials and SS leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. The purpose of the conference, was to ensure the ending of the mass killings on Jews. -
Creation of the Zigeunerlager
The creation of the Zigeunerlager was the creation of a gypsy camp. This camp consisted of the sinti and roma gypsies. They were targeted by the Ger.mans because nomadic and were outsiders to the Germans; much like the Jews. "They were often accused of every conceivable crime and stereotyped as 'anti-social' and 'work-shy'. -
Himmler Orders Liquidation of ghettos
The systematic deportation of jews to extermination camps was known as operation Reinhard. Over the course of 52 days 300,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to Triblanka. On June 21, 1943 Himmler ordered the liquidation of all ghettos, and issued that they were all to be relocated into the concentration camps -
Babi Yar
Babi Yar was a very tragic event in history where 34,000 Jewish men, women, and children were killed. There they were forced to strip naked and were shot with machine guns into a ravine. Then, they were covered with dirt and rock like it never happened. -
Himmler Orders Destruction of Auschwitz
Himmler ordered the destruction of all evidence of mass killings. For example, buildings were torn down and documents were burnt. Himmler ordered this because the SS was approaching looking for evidence of mass killings. -
Dr Joseph Mengele arrives in Auschwitz
Joseph Mengele (otherwise known as the "angel of death") was a physician that experimented on prisoners in Auschwitz. He was very inhumane in his research and often caused sufficient harm or death to prisoners. Under Wirth's jurisdiction the beginning to his career started at the Gypsy camp; he was the medical officer. Not too long after he then moved to Auschwitz and was one of the physicians that performed selections in order to determine who would work and who would go to the gas chambers. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
The liberation of Auschwitz refers to the time when the red army (Soviet Union) attempted to help the survivors; and they witnessed the scale of Nazi crimes. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
There are many different theories as to how Hitler passed but the most common theory is that he shot himself and took a cyanide pill. This ended his dream of the 1,000 year reign. -
International Military Tribunal
The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, begins a trial of 21 (of 24 indicted) major Nazi German leaders on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit each of these crimes -
Adolf Eichmann Captured
Adolf was captured because he was guilty of committing war crimes. These crimes were against Jews, Poles, Slovenes, and Gypsies. He then was executed by hanging in 1962. -
Dr Josef Mengele Dies
Joseph Mengele died while swimming because of a stroke in Brazil. His death, however, wasn't verified until 1985.