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1933 - Jan 30th to Feb 1st
President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Hitler chancellor of Germany by recommendation of his political advisers, who believe they can manipulate Hitler for their purposes. At first, only three of the eleven ministers in Hitler’s government are Nazis. Over the course of the next year and half, Hitler takes over all mechanisms of governance and functions of state. -
1934 - Jan 26 German - Polish Non-Aggression Pact
Germany and Poland sign a 10-year non-aggression pact stating that neither will use force in order to settle disputes. -
1935 - Jan 6th - Germany Reclaims Saar Region
The Saar region was an area of Germany controlled by France following World War I. In an attempt to expand the Reich’s borders, the German government holds an election where the local population votes in favor of living under German rule. This is the first territorial expansion of Nazi Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. -
1936 - Mar 7th - Germans Enter The Rhineland
In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the German army enters the Rhineland, the area along the River Rhine in western Germany, and takes over this region. Despite this act of aggression, European powers refrain from taking meaningful action against Germany. -
1937 - Mar 21st - Pope XI Responds To German Racist Policies
In a written document, Pope Pius criticizes the Nazi government’s hostility towards Catholic religious and cultural activities. Although Pope Pius disapproves of Nazi racial ideology, no reference to the plight of German Jews is made in this document. -
1941 - Mar 2nd - The Krakow Ghetto In Poland Is Sealed
Krakow, a southern Polish city and the capital of the Generalgouvernement, saw its Jewish population grow from 56,000 to 70,000 in the first weeks of the war (in 1939). By the beginning of March 1940, a series of expulsions designed to make Krakow free of Jews leaves only about 12,000 Jews remaining in the city, and the German authorities establish a ghetto in the southern part of Krakow. On March 20, the ghetto is sealed with a wall and a barbed-wire fence. -
1943 - Jan 18th - Jews Launch An Armed Resistance To Deportations From The Warsaw Ghetto
German forces enter the Warsaw ghetto to arrest and deport Jews. To their astonishment, young Jews offer armed resistance and drive the German forces out of the ghetto. Over the next four days, armed resistance continues as the Germans seek to round up Jews. On the fourth day, having only managed to seize between five and six thousand Jews, the Germans withdraw from the ghetto. -
1945 - Nov 20th - The Nuremburg Trials Begin
NOV
20
The Nuremberg Trials begin
After the end of WWII and the surrender of Nazi Germany, an International Military Tribunal composed of judges from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France put 22 senior Nazis on trial in Nuremberg for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Eleven subsequent trials will be held in Nuremberg between 1946 and 1949.
The Nuremberg Trials are the first trials in history meant to administer punishment.
