The persecution of Jews and other groups before the start of WWII (1933-1939)

By Jessica Rivas

  • Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler was named chancellor, the most powerful position in the German government. Hitler was the leader of the right-wing socialist German workers party called "the Nazi party".

  • The Enabling Act

    The Enabling Act
    The Enabling Act was forced through the Reich stag already purged of many political opponents who gave dictatorial powers to Hitler. ("Law to Remedy the Distress of people of Reich") was an amendment to the Welmar Constitution that gave Hitler the power to enact laws without the involvement of the Reich stag. Non-Nazi members were surrounded and threatened. The communists had been repressed and were not allowed to vote nor be present.

  • The Boycott Campaign

    The Boycott Campaign
    The Boycott was presented to the German people as an act of revenge. Although it only lasted one day and was ignored by many Germans, the boycott marked the beginning of a nationwide campaign by the Nazi Party against Jews in Germany.

  • Jews In Public Schools

    Jews In Public Schools
    The German government issues the Law against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities, which dramatically limits the number of Jewish students attending public schools. public schools also played an important role in spreading Nazi ideas to German youth.

  • Nazi Book Burning

    Nazi Book Burning
    Germany burned thousands of books they considered to be “UN-German,” heralding an era of state censorship and cultural control. Students threw books pillaged mostly from public and university libraries onto bonfires with great ceremony, band-playing, and so-called “fire oaths.”

  • Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases

    Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases
    The German government passes the “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases”, mandating the forced sterilization of certain individuals with physical and mental disabilities.

  • Death of President Paul von Hindenburg

    Death of President Paul von Hindenburg
    German President Paul von Hindenburg dies. With the support of the German armed forces, Hitler becomes President of Germany. Hitler now becomes the absolute dictator of Germany; there are no legal or constitutional limits to his authority.

  • Nuremberg Race Laws

    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. The Nuremberg Race Laws did not identify a “Jew” as someone with particular religious convictions but instead as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents.

  • Kristallnacht

    Kristallnacht
    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.

  • The Invasion of Poland

    The Invasion of Poland
    The invasion of Poland known as the September campaign or the 1939 defensive war, was an invasion of Poland by Germany that marked the beginnings of WWII.