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Elie Wiesel was born
Born in Sighet, Transylvania, then and now part of Romania. -
Cause-Before WWII
The long term causes of the war was anger felt in Weimar Germany that was caused by the treaty of Versailles. -
About Sighet
Sighet, Transylvania is a small, rural village in present-day Romania where Elie Wiesel was born and lived until he was taken away to concentration camps. Sighet is located in Transylvania, near the Transylvanian Alps in central Romania. It is such a small village that it did not even make the maps. Before the war, there were several Jewish temples and synagogues in and near Sighet. In the 1930's, the Jewish population in Romania totaled 500,000 up from 29,000 in 1803. -
Hitler
Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. -
Camps
In Dachau Germany, the first concentration camp was opened. -
Power
Enabling Acts gives Hitler dictatorial power. -
Nazi Boycott
Germans were told to only buy from German shops. Boycott was to stop Jewish banks, stores, offices, and shops. -
Dachau Camp
Nazis open Dachau concentration camp. -
Health Insurance
An order was issued which prohibited Jewish people from having health insurance. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were introduced. These laws were designed to take away Jewish rights of citizenship and included orders that:
Jews are no longer allowed to be German citizens. Jews cannot marry non-Jews. Jews cannot have sexual relations with non-Jews. -
Kristallnacht
Approximately 100 Jews were murdered, 20,000 German and Austrian Jews arrested and sent to camps, Hundreds of synagogues burned, and the Windows of Jewish shops all over Germany and Austria smashed. -
Start of WWII
Germany invades Poland, starting WWII. Britian and France declare war on Germany. -
Fisrt Ghetto
In November, the first ghetto is established in Piotrków, Poland. Jews in parts of occupied Poland are forced to wear armbands bearing the Star of David for identification. -
Yellow star
Jews had to sew a yellow star on their clothing so they could be easily identified. -
Einsatzgruppen
The Einsatzgruppen (killing squads) began rounding up and murdering Jews in Russia. 33,000 Jews are murdered in two days at Babi Yar near Kiev. -
Mass-gassing
Mass-gassing of Jews began at Auschwitz-Birkenau -
Period: to
Warsaw Ghetto
An order was issued to empty the Warsaw Ghetto and deport the inmates to Treblinka. Following the deportation of some Warsaw Jews, news leaked back to those remaining in the Ghetto of mass killings. A group of about 750 mainly young people decided that they had nothing to lose by resisting deportation. Using weapons smuggled into the Ghetto they fired on German troops who tried to round up inmates for deportation. They held out for nearly a month before they were taken by the Nazis and shot or -
Sighet to Auschwitz
Elie Wiesel is fifteen years old when he and his family are deported in May 1944 by the Hungarian gendarmerie and the German SS and police from Sighet to Auschwitz -
Elie goes to camp P1
Germany occupies Hungary in March. Between late April and early July, around 440,000 Hungarian Jews are deported from Hungary, most of them to Auschwitz. On June 6, D-Day, Anglo-American forces establish the first Allied beachhead in western Europe on the Normandy coast of German-occupied France. On June 22, Soviet forces begin a massive offensive in Belarus and advance to the outskirts of Warsaw in six weeks. Anne Frank's family is arrested by the German occupation authorities in Amsterdam..... -
Elie goes to camp P2
...the Netherlands. Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler orders a halt to the "Final Solution" in November 1944 and orders the destruction of the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Elie Wiesel is fifteen years old when he and his family are deported in May 1944 by the Hungarian gendarmerie and the German SS and police from Sighet to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perish. -
Marches
Many remaining camps were closed and evidence of their existence destroyed. Those who had survived the camps so far were taken on forced 'Death Marches'. -
Hitler feels defeated
Adolf Hitler commited suicide due to the defeat. -
Germany surrenders
Germany surrendered and the war in Europe was over -
End of WWII
US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan's surrender ending World War Two. -
Nuremberg war trial
Surviving Nazi leaders were put on trial at Nuremberg -
Defendants
Eighteen of 21 defendants are convicted by the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trial; 12 are sentenced to death. -
Elie After War P1
The State of Israel is created. On May 14, 1948, the last British forces withdraw from Palestine and the State of Israel is established in accordance with the United Nations Partition Plan that proposed the partition of Palestine into two states, an Arab state and a Jewish state. The US Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act, authorizing 200,000 displaced persons to enter the United States. On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust, the United Nations approves the Convention on... -
Elie after P2
...the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes "genocide" as an international crime, which signatory nations "undertake to prevent and punish." Elie Wiesel studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. He becomes interested in journalism. -
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Elie after the war and United Nations Conventions
Elie Wiesel goes to Jerusalem for the first time...
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide enters into force.