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Weimar democracy founded.
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World War I concludes, the Allies are victorious.
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The German Worker’s Party is founded.
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The League of Nations is founded.
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Treaty of Versailles signed after six months of discussion at the Paris Peace Conference.
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Hitler joined the German Worker’s Party, just one of many disgruntled former soldiers.
Exact day is unknown. -
German Worker’s Party is renamed the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party or NSDAP for short).
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Hitler becomes the leader of the NSDAP.
Month and day are unknown. -
Period: to
Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.
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Hitler was arrested and jailed for high treason, he wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ while imprisoned.
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The Dawes Plan is enacted.
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Hitler, who had been sentenced to 5 years in prison, was released after just one year.
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Paul von Hindenberg is elected President of Germany.
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The infamous SS is founded.
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'Mein Kampf’ is published, later becoming the primary basis for the ideologies of the Nazi party.
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Hitler Youth is founded.
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Germany is accepted into the League of Nations.
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During the Reichstag (parliamentary) elections the Nazi party won only 2.6% of the votes.
Exact day is unknown. -
The Great Depression begins.
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In another election the Nazi party wins 18.3% of the vote – becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag.
Exact day is unknown. -
1/3 German people are unemployed.
Exact date and month are unknown. -
At 84, a reluctant Hindenberg runs for president again, he succeeds in beating Hitler – who had received 37% of the votes.
Exact day and month are unknown. -
40000 SA and SS are sworn in as auxiliary police.
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Hitler is elected Chancellor by Hindenburg in an effort to staunch his influence.
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The Reichstag building is burnt down.
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Hitler is granted emergency powers due to the burning down of the Reichstag building.
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The Dachau Concentration Camp is opened, described by Heinrich Himmler as the “first concentration camp for political prisoners”.
Exact day is unknown. -
The Enabling Act is passed, providing Chancellor Hitler with the ability to pass laws without the involvement of the Reichstag.
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There is a Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.
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Nazi decree defining anyone who is non-Aryan.
The Nazi’s issue a decree defining an individual who is non-Aryan as "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan...especially if one parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith." -
The Gestapo is founded by Hermann Goring.
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Book burnings take place in Berlin and other areas of Germany; prompted by a speech made by Joseph Goebbels.
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The Nazi party passes a law that allows forced sterilizations to be performed on individuals that are found to have genetic defects by a Hereditary Health Court.
Exact day is unknown. -
A law is passed stripping Polish-born Jews in Germany of their citizenship's.
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The Nazi party is declared the only legal party in Germany.
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The Nazi party founds the ‘Reich Chamber of Culture’, excluding Jews from the arts.
Exact day is unknown. -
Jews are prohibited from owning land.
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Jews are prohibited from being newspaper editors.
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Germany leaves the League of Nations.
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Nazi’s pass a law against “habitual and dangerous criminals”, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps
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Jews are banned from the German Labour Front (DAF).
The DAF replaced trade unions. -
Jews are prohibited from having national health insurance.
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Period: to
The “Night of the Long Knives” takes place; Hitler, Goring, and Himmler purge the SA’s leadership.
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The SS is made an independent organisation, separate from the SA.
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Jews aren’t allowed to get legal qualifications.
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Paul von Hindeburg dies and Hitler becomes the Fuhrer – combining the roles of president and chancellor; giving him ultimate power over Germany.
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Hitler disregards the Treaty of Versailles by implementing military conscription.
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Jews are banned from serving in the German military.
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The Nazi party passes a law that allows non-consensual abortions to be performed on women to prevent them from passing hereditary diseases onto their children.
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Jewish artists and performers are forced to join isolated cultural unions.
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The Nuremberg Race Laws are enacted, stripping German Jews of many of their basic rights.
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The Great Depression ends in Germany.
Only year is known. -
The Gestapo is placed above the law.
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Nazi soldiers occupy the Rhineland – which had been demilitarised by the Treaty of Versailles.
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Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the German police.
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The Olympic Games are held in Berlin; causing anti-Semitic activities to be briefly halted (in certain areas of Berlin).
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Hitler reveals his plans to wage war during the Hossbach Memorandum.
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The ‘Eternal Jew’ travelling exhibition opens in Munich, helping to cement anti-Semitic stereotypes.
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The Office for Jewish Emigration is established in Vienna, and soon after the Mauthausen concentration camp is opened near Linz.
Exact day is unknown, occurred over a period of days/weeks. -
Period: to
Germany enters Austria and announces ‘Anschsluss’ with Austria (claiming Austria as part of its territory), soon after Nazi’s began to arrest and publicly humiliate Austrian Jews.
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Jewish people are ordered to register their wealth and property.
Date is uncertain. -
Jewish people are ordered to register their businesses.
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Jews are prohibited from trading and supplying a certain specified commercial services.
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Nazi’s order Jewish people over the age of fifteen to apply for identity cards that are to be shown on demand to any police officer at any time.
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It is illegal for Jewish doctors to practice medicine.
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German military begins final mobilization.
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Jewish women are required to add “Sara” and men “Israel” to their names on all legal documentation.
This was done so that if a Jewish individual did not have a clearly Jewish name they could still be recognised as being a Jew. -
The Nazi’s prohibit Jews from practicing law.
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A law is established wherein all Jewish passports are required to be stamped with a large red “J”.
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The German army occupies Sudetenland and the Czech government resigns.
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17,000 Polish Jews living in Germany are arrested and expelled by the Nazi’s back to Poland – Poland then refuses them entry and leaves them in ‘No-Man’s Land’ near the Polish border for months.
Herschel Grynszpan’s family were among those deported. -
Jewish-Polish refugee Herschel Grynszpan assassinates Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris in retaliation for the deportation his family by Germany.
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Period: to
The Night of Broken Glass (otherwise known as Kristallnacht) takes place, caused by Herschel Grynszpan’s assassination of Ernst vom Rath.
Mob violence broke out – synagogues were burnt down while Jewish people were beaten and at least 91 were killed. -
Nazi’s fine the Jews 1 billion marks for the damages caused by Kristallnacht.
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Jewish students are expelled from all non-Jewish German schools.
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A law is put into place enforcing the Aryanization of all Jewish businesses.
Aryanization is the forced expulsion of Jews from business life and certain territories. -
Hermann Goering is tasked with resolving the “Jewish Question”.
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Hermann Goering orders SS Reinhard Heydrich to speed up Jewish emigration.
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Jews are ordered to hand over all the gold and silver items that they own to the Nazi’s.
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Period: to
The Nazi’s seize Czechoslovakia.
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Period: to
The St. Louis, a ship carrying at least 930 Jewish refugees is turned away from Cuba, the United States, and other countries, and is forced to return to Europe as a result.
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The Nazi’s invade Poland.
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A compulsory curfew is implemented for Jews in Germany.
They are forbidden from going outside after 8pm in Winter and 9pm in Summer. -
Jews are required to wear yellow stars of David.
Exact day unspecified. -
World War II begins as the UK and France declare war on Germany.
