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September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland. World War II begins. -
October 12, 1939
Germany begins deportation of Austrian and Czech Jews to Poland. -
November 23, 1939
Jews in German-occupied Poland forced to wear an arm band or yellow star. -
April 9, 1940
Germans occupy Denmark and southern Norway. -
May 20, 1940
Concentration camp established at Auschwitz. -
July 10, 1940
Concentration camp established at Auschwitz. -
September 28-29, 1941
4,000 Jews massacred at Babi Yar outside Kiev -
December 7, 1941
The Japanese attack the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. The next day the US entered World War II on the side of the Allies. -
December 11, 1941
United States declares war on Japan and Germany. -
March 17, 1942
Extermination begins in Belzec; by the end of 1942 600,000 Jews murdered. -
May 1942
Extermination by gas begins in Sobibor killing center; by October 1943, 250,000 Jews murdered. -
April 19, 1943
Warsaw Ghetto revolt begins as Germans attempt to liquidate 70,000 inhabitants; Jewish underground fights Nazis until early June. -
September 3, 1943
Italy surrendered to the Allies, however Germany helped Mussolini to escape and set up a government in Northern Italy. -
October 14, 1943
Armed revolt in Sobibor extermination camp. -
March 19, 1944
Germany occupies Hungary. -
June 6, 1944
D-Day: Allied invasion at Normandy. -
October 7, 1944
Revolt by inmates at Auschwitz; one crematorium blown up. -
November 8, 1944
Beginning of death march of approximately 40,000 Jews from Budapest to Austria. -
December 16, 1944
The Germans launch a large attack in the Battle of the Bulge. They lose to the Allies, sealing the fate of the German army. -
April 12, 1945
US President Franklin Roosevelt dies. He is succeeded by President Harry Truman. -
April 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler commits suicide as he knows Germany has lost the war. -
May 7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Allies. -
August 6, 1945
The United States drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The city is devastated. -
August 9, 1945
Another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. -
September 2, 1945
Japan surrenders to US General Douglass MacArthur and the Allies. World War 2 has ended.