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Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Almost immediately he began secretly building up Germany's army and weapons. In 1934 he increased the size of the army, began building warships and created a German airforce. Compulsory military service was also introduced. -
Hitler creates alliances
Hitler also made two important alliances during 1936. The first was called the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact and allied Hitler's Germany with Mussolini's Italy. The second was called the Anti-Comitern Pact and allied Germany with Japan. -
Start of World War II
Germany invades Poland, starting World War II. Britain and France declare war on Germany. -
Germany invades Norway and Denmark.
On this day in 1940, German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. At the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen, among other Danish cities. -
Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands.
As Germany invades Holland and Belgium, Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain -
Germany begins bombing Britain.
On this day in 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union.
Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. The U.S. declares war on Japan.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized. A total of twelve ships sank or were beached in the attack and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than 160 aircraft were destroyed and more than 150 others damaged. -
Elie gets to know Moshe
Moshe is wise, and Elie learns about his faith from him. Elie begins to study Jewish text very often, and starts to profoundly believe. -
The foreign Jews are expelled from Sighet
Moshe the Beadle is a foreigner, so he is expelled. The deportees are soon forgotten. -
Japan captures Singapore.
The fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army on February 15th 1942 is considered one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Army and probably Britain’s worst defeat in World War Two. The fall of Singapore in 1942 clearly illustrated the way Japan was to fight in the Far East – a combination of speed and savagery that only ended with the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. -
Japan captures the Philippines and Burma.
The Japanese conquest of Burma was the opening chapter of the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. The Philippines Campaign (Filipino:Labanan sa Pilipinas) or the Battle of the Philippines was the invasion of the Philippines by Japan in 1941–1942 and the defense of the islands by Filipino and United States forces. -
The tide turns — the Allies defeat Japan in the Battle of Midway.
The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II.[6][7][8] Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy (USN), under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). -
Moshe is forced into harsh labor
At the concentration camp, Moshe is forced to dig huge trenches. When the prisoners were done, the men from the Gestapo began to shoot them. Moshe was wounded and left behind. Moshe was wounded in the leg and taken for dead, so he could escape. -
Moshe comes back
Moshe comes back from being in a concentration camp and tries to tell everyone about the horrible treatment, but no one believes him. -
German troops surrender in Stalingrad, USSR.
On this day, the last of the German forces fighting at Stalingrad surrender, despite Hitler's earlier declaration that "Surrender is out of the question. The troops will defend themselves to the last!" -
Axis troops in northern Africa surrender.
On May 13 1943, German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa.On the 12th and 13th of May after 3 long exhaustive years of fighting, the Afrika Axis Korps surrendered. In Tunisia alone Jerry lost 40,000 men and gave up 275,000 POW's, Italians included. Tommy had 35,000 casualties, the French 16,000 and the US Forces 14,000. -
Italy surrenders.
On this day in 1943, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche. -
U.S. forces invade Tarawa.
In the Battle of Tarawa (November 20-23, 1943) during World War II (1939-45), the U.S. began its Central Pacific Campaign against Japan by seizing the heavily fortified, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. -
Living Conditions
The strongest were selected for forced labor, which usually extended their life expectancy by a few months. Certain concentration camps were death factories, built as extermination camps where the victims were selected for extermination upon arrival. -
Living Conditions
Millions of Jews were murdered in these concentration camps, mostly in gas chambers, but many died of starvation, disease, brutal treatment, exposure, executions and “medical” experiments. -
Living Conditions
Germans definitely made living conditions different depending on the type of inmates imprisoned there. German political prisoners were treated better than Polish who were treated better than Jews. -
The Germans come to Sighet
Although the German armies appear in the streets of Sighet, the family decides to stay. They get news that German troops have penetrated Hungarian territory, -
All the Jews in SIghet are banished to a ghetto
Elie and his family are forced to go to a ghetto. It was blocked off from the rest of the community. -
Deportation is announced
Elie and his family are packed into a cattle car and sent to Birkenau (next to Aushwitz). -
Elie says bye to mother and sister.
Elie is forced to say goodbye to his mother and sister at the concentration camp. -
Elie loses faith
After watching death all around him, Eliezer loses his faith in God's justice -
Elie lies to cousin
Eliezer lies to his cousin, Stein, saying that his wife, Reizel and children are all right. -
Elie and his father moved
Elie and his father are moved to Buma, where they work in a workhouse. -
D-day: Allied troops land in France and begin invasion.
On this day in 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France. -
Elie's tooth
He manages to save his gold-capped tooth by pretending to be sick every time the dentist wants to extract it. -
French girl
Once, when the Kapo (Idek) beats him up, a young French girl says some kind words to him. Later, after the war, he learns that she is Jewish and managed to hide her identity during those years. -
Extracted gold crown
Franek the foreman wants Eliezer’s gold crown and tortures his father until Eliezer agrees to give it up. A "dentist" from Warsaw pulls it out with a rusty spoon in the bathroom. -
25 lashes
Eliezer observes Idek having sex with a Polish girl. Eliezer is punished with 25 lashes on the whip. -
Loses faith
On Rosh Hashanah, Eliezer decides man is stronger than God after witnessing two hangings - one of a man who stole soup and the other of a young boy -
Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur, Eliezer decides not to perform the traditional fast – both to shake his fist in God’s face and to prevent himself from starving to death. -
Japan's navy is defeated near the Philippines.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf raged from October 23 through 25, 1944. It was the largest naval battle ever fought — ending in the eclipse of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and its last sortie in force. -
Knife and Spoon
Eliezer passes "selection" (for the crematoria) and Eliezer’s father mistakenly thinks he’s passed as well. When Eliezer’s dad realizes that he hasn’t passed and needs to go through a second round of selection. Eliezer’s father thinks he might die and gives Eliezer the inheritance—a knife and a spoon. Eliezer tries to refuse it but at last he takes it. When his father is not killed, Eliezer returns the knife and spoon to his father. -
Germans fight back in Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944 – 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves. -
Foot
Eliezer’s foot swells until he needs surgery. -
Eliezer and his father decide to evacuate
While he’s recovering from surgery, the camp is evacuated because the Russians are on the way. Afraid that those who remain behind at the hospital will be executed, Eliezer leaves with those being evacuated, even though his foot is still healing. -
Death March
January 17: Evacuation of Auschwitz; beginning of death march
January 25: Beginning of death march for inmates of Stutthof
April 6-10: Death march of inmates of Buchenwald -
Father and Son
When Eliezer realizes that Rabbi Eliahu’s son had deliberately left his father behind, to rid himself of the burden, he prays to the God for the strength not to do that to his own father. -
Keeping Dad Alive
As his father gets sicker and weaker, Eliezer’s strength and will are tested. He keeps his father alive until they arrive at the next camp, Buchenwald. Even there, he keeps him alive for several days. -
Father is Dying
When his father is dying – from the combination of dysentery and a blow to the head given by an SS officer – he is calling Eliezer’s name. -
Dad is Dead
When Eliezer awakens in the morning, his father’s body is gone. Eliezer feels guilty – but he also feels relieved that his father is dead, and free, at last. -
Allied troops capture Iwo Jima.
By March 16th, the island was declared secure and all resistance had ceased by March 26th.The tiny island had taken America over one month to take. The Marines lost 6,891 men killed and 18,070 wounded. Out of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 212 were taken prisoners. What the battle did show the Americans was how far the Japanese would go to defend their country – a decision that was to influence the use of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Liberations
April 8: Liberation of Buchenwald.
April 15: Liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
April 22: Liberation of Sachsenhausen.
April 23: Liberation of Flossenburg.
April 29: Liberation of Dachau.
April 30: Liberation of Ravensbruck.
May 7: Liberation of Mauthausen. -
Hitler
Hitler commits suicide -
Germany surrenders, ending World War II in Europe.
On May 7, 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Reims, France, to take effect the following day, ending the European conflict of World War II. -
Outcomes of the War
V-E Day: Germany surrenders; end of Third Rei -
Free at Last!
A few months later, the camp is liberated. -
Eating Like Crazy
His first act as a free man is to eat like crazy. After his feasting, he gets food poisoning and goes to the hospital, where he almost dies. -
How He's Changed
When he is at last released from the hospital, Eliezer looks in the mirror and sees a corpse. He says he has never forgotten the look in his eyes that day. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
Japan signs surrender agreement, ending war.
Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II. -
Elie Wiesel
Wiesel found asylum in France, where he learned for the first time that his two older sisters had survived the war. He became a professional journalist, writing for newspapers in both France and Israel. Since 1976, Elie Wiesel has been Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Boston University. Wiesel has spoken out on behalf of the victims of genocide and oppression all over the world.
