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Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor
Recently appointed as German chancellor, Adolf Hitler greets President Paul von Hindenburg in Potsdam, Germany, on March 21, 1933. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum; US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of B. I. Sanders -
Reichstag Fire Decree
IN BERLIN
The Reichstag (German parliament) building burns in Berlin. Hitler used the event to convince President Hindenburg to declare a state of emergency, suspending important constitutional safeguards. Germany, February 27, 1933 -
Establishment of Dachau Camp
Between 1933 and 1945, concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the Nazi regime. The number of prisoners incarcerated in Dachau during these years exceeded 188,000. The number of prisoners who died in the camp and its subcamps between January 1940 and May 1945 was at least 28,000, to which must be added more who died there between 1933 and the end of 1939, as well as an undetermined number of unregistered prisoners. -
Anti-Jewish Boycott
ess than 3 months after coming to power in Germany, the Nazi leadership stages an economic boycott targeting Jewish-owned businesses and the offices of Jewish professionals. The boycott was presented to the German people as both a reprisal and an act of revenge for the bad international press against Germany since the appointment of Hitler’s government in January, 1933. The Nazis claimed that German and foreign Jews were spreading “atrocity stories” to damage Germany's reputation. -
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
The German government issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums), which excludes Jews and other political opponents of the Nazis from all civil service positions. The law initially exempts those who had worked in the civil service since August 1, 1914, those who were veterans of World War I, or those with a father or son killed in action in World War I. -
Law Limits 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. After Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933, government at every level—national, state, and municipal—began to adopt laws and policies that increasingly restricted the rights of Jews in Germany. -
Book Burning
On May 10, 1933, university students burn upwards of 25,000 “un-German” books in Berlin’s Opera Square. Some 40,000 people gather to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: “No to decadence and moral corruption!” As part of an effort to align German arts and culture with Nazi ideas (Gleichschaltung), university students in college towns across Germany burned thousands of books they considered to be “un-German,” heralding an era of state censorship and cultural control. -
Law for the "Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases"
The German government passes the “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases” (Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses), mandating the forced sterilization of certain individuals with physical and mental disabilities. This new law provides a basis for the involuntary sterilization of people with physical and mental disabilities or mental illness, Roma (Gypsies), “asocial elements,” and Afro-Germans. -
Central Organization of German Jews Formed
German Jewish organizations establish the Reich Representation of German Jews of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden) in an effort to better represent the interests of German Jews through a unified response to escalating Nazi persecution. -
Editors Law
The German Propaganda Ministry (through its Reich Press Chamber) assumed control over the Reich Association of the German Press, the guild which regulated entry into the profession. Under the new Editors Law, the association kept registries of “racially pure” editors and journalists, and excluded Jews and those married to Jews from the profession. Propaganda Ministry officials expected editors and journalists, who had to register with the Reich Press Chamber to work in the field, -
Law against "Dangerous Habitual Criminals"
The German government passes a “Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals.” The new law allows courts to order the indefinite imprisonment of “habitual criminals” if they deem the person dangerous to society. It also provides for the castration of sex offenders. -
Röhm Affair
Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). Pressured by German army commanders, whose support he would need to become President, Hitler directs the SS to murder SA Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm and his top commanders. The SS also murders several conservative critics of the Nazi regime including Hitler’s predecessor as Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher. -
Death of German President von Hindenburg
German President Paul von Hindenburg dies. With the support of the German armed forces, Hitler becomes President of Germany. Later that month Hitler abolishes the office of President and declares himself Führer of the German Reich and People, in addition to his position as Chancellor. In this expanded capacity, Hitler now becomes the absolute dictator of Germany; there are no legal or constitutional limits to his authority. -
Hitler Abolishes the Office of President
Hitler abolishes the office of President and declares himself Führer of the German Reich and People, in addition to his position as Chancellor. In this capacity, Hitler’s decisions are not bound by the laws of the state. Hitler now becomes the absolute dictator of Germany; there are no legal or constitutional limits to his authority. -
Ban on Jehovah's Witness Organizations
The German government bans Jehovah’s Witness organizations. The ban is due to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ refusal to swear allegiance to the state; their religious convictions forbid an oath of allegiance to or service in the armed forces of any temporal power. From 1935 onward, Jehovah’s Witnesses faced a Nazi campaign of persecution. Also in 1935, Germany reintroduced compulsory military service. -
Revision of Paragraph 175
The German Ministry of Justice revises Paragraphs 175 and 175a of the German criminal code with the intent of expanding the range of criminal offenses to encompass any contact between men, either physical or in form of word or gesture, that could be construed as sexual; and strengthening penalties for all violations of the revised law. The revision facilitates the systematic persecution of men accused of homosexuality and provides police with broader means for prosecuting them