-
Hitler announces "Anschluss"
In direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the Nazi Party annexes Austria. The move was to reconnect the ethnically German population and was widely popular amongst individuals of both countries. The Nazi Party would transform Austria over the course of three days, acquiring the nation without the need to raise arms. Anschluss marked the first territorial expansion of the Nazis Party, as well as sparking foreign aggression against the Jewish race. -
Kristallnacht
Also referred to as "the Night of Broken Glass," Kristallnacht was the result of a growing hatred in Germany against the Jewish population. The violent acts were drawn from the assassination of Ernst von Rath, a German diplomat settled in Paris, who was shot and killed by a Polish Jew. As supported by the Nazi Party, S.S. officials and the German public massacred Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and schools. The night confirmed the rising anti-semitic opinion and was covered by global media. -
Hitler speaks from the Reichstag
"...I will once more be a prophet: If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." Hitler dramatizes the catalyzed violence against the Jewish race, defining himself as a prophet for Germany. Hitler was not speaking of his own fantasized ideas, but of the minds of his people. -
Germany Invades Poland
After years of appeasement regarding German seizure of territory, the Nazi Party invades Poland utilizing a strategy of blitzkrieg. The National Socialists viewed Poland as a space of opportunity that the indigenous people had misused. The invasion further enhances "lebensraum," which describes regions essential for German flourishing. The regional Slavs were victim to ethnic cleansing and forced labor, with Poland housing the future construction of Nazi death camps. -
Hitler authorizes the Euthanasia Program
To cleanse the Aryan race, the Nazi Party view individuals with physical and mental disabilities as ineffective. Hitler begins to murder all institutionalized patients in a systematic manner, laying the groundwork for the Nazi's "Final Solution" plot. Parents with disabled children were encouraged to admit their children into German and Austrian institutions for an almost certain death. The Euthanasia Program was then enhanced with Action T4 to understand an individual's ability to work. -
The Madagascar Plan is Leaked
A tentative plan to relocate the Jewish population was published in Italy in 1940. The Nazis wished to force the Jews into a mass emigration to Madagascar for colonizing efforts. With the Jews on a remote island, the Nazis would continue to expand the Aryan race and eliminate Jewish memory from the region. With the fall of the French government quickly, Vichy would be able to supply Madagascar to Germany. However, the plan was cut later in the year as officials favored the Final Solution -
Nazi Authorities establish the Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto represented an entire city at the hands of the Nazi Party. Since 30% of the city's population was within 2.4% of the city's area, within the ghetto, there was overcrowding, malnutrition, and disease. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp from the ghetto, with equal numbers being murdered inside the ghetto from armed Nazis. The uprising in the Warsaw ghetto during a deportation effort was met with a liquidation of the city. -
The Hunger Plan is Prepared
At the Staatssekretare Conference, the Nazis turn eastward into the Soviet Union and plan to mass starve millions of Eastern Europeans. The plan was a prerequisite for weakening the Soviets and allowing for a swifter invasion. Supported by racial ideologies, the Nazis believed these resources to be necessary for German military success, leading to the consensus that arranging a surplus for the German race was compulsory. The Nazis continue to disregard any non-Aryan individual. -
Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa
The Nazis commence a land invasion of the Soviet Union, completely going against the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Hitler continued to view all of Eastern Europe as part of the German lebensraum, resulting in the necessary seizure of all Soviet resources. Operation Barbarossa is symbolic of imperial colonialism with the intent of the extraction of resources and the displacement of the native population. To the Nazis, the communists were a part of a subhuman category. -
Hitler Presents Generalplan Ost
Following a series of drafts, Hitler presented the groundwork of Generalplan Ost to his top officials. The plan involved the "Germanization" of all Eastern European territories, including the necessary step of removing all groups inferior to the Aryan race. A key component to this removal was non-Aryan educated elites, viewed as a potential threat to Nazi control or resistance. -
The Wannsee Conference
Consisting of 15 of the highest-ranking Nazi officials, the "Final Solution" in exterminating the Jewish race was confirmed at the Wannsee Conference. The officials drafted an estimate of over 10 million Jewish deaths, as well as Axis cooperation throughout Europe. The conference was meant to understand the implementation of the proposed idea, detailing its parameters of annihilating the Jewish population. -
Dr. Josef Mengele is assigned to Auschwitz
Nicknamed "the Angel of Death," Dr. Josef Mengele was a prominent Nazi figure in selecting prisoners for either labor or imminent death. He previously worked as an assistant to Dr. Otmar von Verschuer at the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene. As an assistant, Dr. Mengele was fascinated with eugenics, twins, and biological experimentation. At Auschwitz, Dr. Mengele expanded his research of racial science, using unethical strategies consistently.