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The Nazi party gained 37.4% of the vote in the Reichstag elections to become the largest party.
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Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg.
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Hitler defined the Nazi party foreign policy. The prime goal was to secure lebensraum (living space) for the German master race.
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A fire which broke out at the Reichstag building was blamed on the Communist Party (KPD). As a result, the KPD, which was the second largest party in Germany, was banned. The banning of the Communist party gave the Nazis a clear majority in government.
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With the Communist party banned Hitler ordered a new election at which the Nazi party gained 44% of the General election vote.
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The first concentration camp was opened at Dachau in Germany.
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Germans were told not to buy from Jewish shops or businesses.
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The Gestapo, Nazi secret police, were formed.
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All political parties except the Nazis were banned.
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Nine months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the German government announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. The ostensible reason was the refusal of the Western powers to acquiesce in Germany's demands for military parity.
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Homeless, alcoholic and unemployed people were sent to concentration camps.
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150 leaders of the Stormtroopers SA were executed. Many members of the SA were committed socialists and demanded that Nazi policy embrace socialist aims. This was not a direction the Nazis wished to follow so the SA were eliminated.
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Hitler combined the post of President and Chancellor and called himself Fuhrer.
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The Nuremberg Laws were introduced. These laws were designed to take away Jewish rights of citizenship and included orders that:
Jews are no longer allowed to be German citizens.
Jews cannot marry non-Jews.
Jews cannot have sexual relations with non-Jews. -
In contravention of the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler sent German troops to re-occupy the Rhineland.
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Jewish shops and synagogues were destroyed. Approximately 100 Jews were murdered, 20,000 German and Austrian Jews arrested and sent to camps, hundreds of synagogues burned, and the windows of Jewish shops all over Germany and Austria smashed. Following the event, the Jewish population was fined for the destruction.
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In response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. They would begin bombing German ships on September 4, suffering significant losses.
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Jews in Poland were forced to sew a yellow star onto their clothes so that they could be easily identified.
