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Germany is forced to seek armistice, causing an end to WWI. Germany is left in peril.
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Germany and the Allies of WWI sign a peace treaty. Germany is forced to pay hefty war reparations. Germany is forced to enter military disarmament. Germany also losses a great deal of territory. All of these postwar penalties and the effects of war force Germany into a deep economic depression
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German President, Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler as the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). The charismatic speaker captured the attention and hearts of the German citizens by promising to rebuild war-torn Germany, and delivering on those promises. Jobs were resurfacing, schools were improving, and people were beginning to make money. He also immediately began the rearmament of the German army.
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The first concentration camp is establishes in Dachau Germany, "originally" designed to incarcerate political opponents of the Reich.
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The first of many anti-semitic laws, "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service," is passed in Germany. This law mandates that Jewish and "politically unreliable" civil servants and employees were to be excluded from serving the state. This law also limited the number of Jewish students in German schools and universities, and restricted Jewish activity in the medical and legal fields.
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The SS holds a mass book burning in Berlin's Opera Square. Joseph Goebbles, Minister of Propaganda, delivers his speech "No to Decadence and Moral Corruption." They destroy any books which were deemed unGerman.
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German President von Hindenburg dies, thus making Adolf Hitler President of Germany. He begins by abolishing the German Democracy.
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Hitler abolishes democracy and the office of President. He declares himself Fuhrer of the German Reich and the German People. There are no longer any regulations on his position and he becomes the ultimate dictator of Germany.
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When these laws were put in motion all German Jews lost their Reich citizenship. This of a series of laws that stripped Jews of many rights including, marrying or having sex with German peoples and the right to vote. This law was also key in the systematic destruction of the Jews as it identified a Jew by blood and not religious practices.
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This law was enacted and forced German Jews who had non-Jewish names to add on a Jewish name (Isreal for boys and Sara for girls). This law made it much easier to identify and gather Jewish people.
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Jewish passports were now deemed invalid and had to be marked with the letter "J." This made fleeing across borders that much more difficult.
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Nazis, the SA, and the SS committed waves of violent attacks and Jewish hate crimes. They burned synagogues, looted Jewish businesses, and desecrated Jewish cemeteries. That night almost 100 innocent German Jews lost their lives.
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German forces invade Poland sparking the start of WWII
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Britain and France declare war on Germany as a result of the German invasion of Poland.
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This was the largest camp and killing center of all and was located in Poland. The death toll of this camp by the end of the war is estimated to be around 1.5 million.
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The SS began rounding up the Jews and transporting them and restricting them into ghettos, mostly located in Poland. The ghettos were in deplorable conditions, people were crammed into tight living quarters (multiple families would often share a space equivalent to a one-bedroom apartment), filth was all around, and food rations were lower than starvation.
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The Warsaw ghetto is sealed off from the world. Fences and large walls were built around the area.
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The German police, the SS begin to commit mass shootings and implementing mobile death units in Russia
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The SS sealed off the Kovno ghetto, located in Lithuania.
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Reinhard Heydrich, SA leader and prime developer of the Final Solution, mandates that all Jews over six years of age are required to wear a yellow Star of David patch. The patches had the word "Jew" in the middle and were to be worn on the outside of their clothing. These badges were required anytime a Jew went out in public.
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Gas began to be used for the mass murder of imprisoned Jews at the Chelmno camp. They were the first to utilize the gassing method.
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With the utilization of gas at Chelmno, the camp is now ready to begin it's purpose- the systematic destruction of the European Jewish population. Jews from the Lodz ghetto began to transport Jews to the Chelmno camp.
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Heydrich, chief of Reich security, shares his plans to implement the "Final Solution"- the systematic destruction of the Jews.
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The Auschwitz camp was proving too small and not efficient enough, so the SS built a second camp/killing center called Auschwitz- Birkenau or Auschwitz II.
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The Krakow ghetto was cleared of all Jews. Most of those not killed on site were deported to Auschwitz- Brikenau. Once arrived at the camp most were sent to death in the gas chambers but some were chosen for work.
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On the eve of Passover, a Jewish holiday, residents of the Warsaw ghetto staged a month long uprising and revolt to fight against the Nazis. The revolt was eventually squashed but victims of the fighting came from both sides.
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Prisoners of this camp secretively armed themselves and staged a revolt.
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German military officers in East Prussian headquarters at Rastenburg attempt to assonate Hitler with a briefcase bomb. Obviously the mission failed to reach its target.
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This camp was the first to be liberated. Lublin-Majdanek, near Lublin Poland, was liberated by Soviet soldiers. Less than 500 prisoners were left at liberation. The SS began evacuating camps and implementing more extermination as the Soviet forces advanced closer to the German line. The SS moved the prisoners to other death camps westward of the Soviets in the spring.
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Prisoners working in the crematoria attempted to blow them up by using gunpowder that was slowly smuggled over in small amounts. The revolt failed and many suffered the consequences.
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SS leader, Heinrich Himmler, orders the evidence of the atrocities to be destroyed as Soviet forces approached.
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As Soviets grew closer and closer the SS tries to evacuate the camp's prisoners by marching them on foot in the cold harsh winter. These marches became known as Death Marches as many of the victims died in route to camps further westward.
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Soviets liberate the camp freeing almost 7,000 prisoners that had been left behind after the evacuations.
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Allied leaders of the US, Britain, and Russia meet to discuss postwar Europe.
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US troops liberate this camp. On the same day prisoners took control of the camp as they were expecting liberation and fearing total execution.
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US troops liberate the Dachau concentration camp with approximately 32,000 prisoners left.
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As Soviets closed in on Berlin, he committed suicide. He was in his personal bunker in the city of Berlin.
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German forces surrender unconditionally in the West.
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The end of WWII is made official with the surrender of Japan
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During the International Military Tribunal, major Nazi leaders were tried and convicted of their crimes. The documentary film "Nazi Concentration Camps" was viewed as evidence of the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust.
