Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

1933

January 30

Hitler appointed Reich Chancellor of Germany (Prime Minister)

February 27

Reichstag fire

February 28

Hitler given emergency powers by presidential decree

March 5

Reichstag elections; Nazis win 44% of vote

March 20

Establishment of the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany at Dachau

March 24

"Enabling Law" passed by Reichstag; used to establish dictatorship.

April 1

Nationwide boycott of Jewish owned businesses

April

Jews excluded from government employment; includes teachers and university professors

April 26

Formation of the Gestapo

May 10

Public burning of Jewish books and of books by opponents of Nazism

July 20

Concordat signed in Rome between Vatican and the Third Reich

October 14

German withdrawal from the League of Nations

November 12

Reichstag elections; Nazis "win" 93% of the vote

December 1

Legal unity of German state and Nazi Party declared

1934

January 26

Ten-year nonaggression pact signed with Poland

March 9

Outbreak of rioting against German Jews by members of SA and Stahlhelm

June 30 to July 2

"Night of the Long Knives"; Ernst Roehm, head of the SA, is murdered; SA purged

August 2

Death of President von Hindenburg; Hitler declares himself Fuehrer of the German State; armed forces are required to take a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler

August 20

Boycott of Nazi Germany declared by American Jewish Congress

October - November

First major arrests of homosexuals throughout Germany

1935

January 7

Mussolini and Laval sign French-Italian Agreement in Rome

January 13

Saar region annexed to Germany.

March 16

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, military conscription introduced in Germany

April

Jehovah’s Witnesses banned from civil service jobs; many arrested throughout Germany

September 15

Nuremberg Laws announced; Jews deprived of citizenship

1936

March 7

German army enters Rhineland in violation of Treaty of Versailles

July 12

First arrest of German Gypsies; sent to Dachau

August 1

In anticipation of 1936 Berlin Olympics, anti-Semitic signs removed from most public places

October 25

Rome-Berlin Axis agreement signed

1937

July 16

Establishment of Buchenwald concentration camp

November 25

Political and military pact signed by Germany and Japan

1938

March 13

Anschluss: Austria is annexed by Germany

July 6-15

Evian Conference: thirty-two countries discuss refugee policies; most countries refuse to let in more Jewish refugees

August 17

All Jewish men in Germany will be required to add "Israel" to their names; all Jewish women will be required to add "Sarah."

September 29

Munich Agreement is signed by Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain; Czechoslovakia loses Sudetenland to Germany

October

"Aryanization" of property of German Jews begins

October 28

First deportation of Polish Jews from Germany.

November 9-10

Kristallnacht, a nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria; 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps, 191 synagogues destroyed, 75,000 shops looted

November 15

All Jewish children expelled from public schools

December 2-3

Gypsies in Germany required to register with police.

1939

March 15

Germany invades Czechoslovakia. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia established.

May 15

Ravensbrück concentration camp for women established

June

Jewish refugees aboard the S.S. St. Louis denied entry to the United States and Cuba; forced to return to Europe

August 23

Hitler-Stalin Pact signed

September 1

Germany invades Poland; World War II begins

September 2

Stutthof concentration camp established in Poland

September 3

Britain and France declare war on Germany

September 21

Reinhard Heydrich (SS) orders establishment of Judenrate and concentration of Polish Jews

September 28

Partition of Poland between Germany and USSR

October

Hitler authorizes "euthanasia program" (T-4) in Germany; doctors to kill institutionalized mentally and physically disabled

October 8

First Jewish ghetto established by the German Nazis in Piotrkow Trybunalksi

November 23

Distinctive identifying armband made obligatory for all Jews in Central Poland

1940

February 8

Establishment of Lodz Ghetto

April 27

Heinrich Himmler (SS) orders establishment of Auschwitz concentration camp; first prisoners, mostly Poles, arrive in early June.

April 30

Lodz Ghetto is sealed

Spring

Germany conquers Demark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, and France

September 27

Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis established

October 3

Anti-Jewish laws passed by Vichy government in France

November 15

Warsaw Ghetto is sealed

November 20

Hungary, Rumania, and Slovakia join the Nazis and Italians

1941

March 1

Himmler orders construction of camp at Birkenau (Auschwitz II); construction begins in October 1941 and continues until March 1942

March 3-20

Krakow Ghetto established and sealed

March 24

Germany invades North Africa

April 6

Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece

April 24

Lublin Ghetto is sealed

June 22

Operation "Barbarossa," the Nazi regime’s invasion of the USSR

June 23

Einsatzgruppen begin their mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, and Communist leaders in the USSR

July 20

Minsk Ghetto established

July 21

Hermann Goering gives Reinhard Heydrich the authority to prepare a "total solution" to the "Jewish Question" in Europe

August 1

Bialystok Ghetto established

September 1

"Euthanasia program" (T-4) in Germany ended; between 70,000 and 93,000 people had been murdered in Germany during the course of this program

September 3

The first experimental gassing of Soviet prisoners of war at Auschwitz

September 3- 6

Two ghettos established at Vilna (Lithuania)

September 19

German Jews required to wear yellow badge in public

September 29-30

At Babi Yar, 33,771 Kiev Jews murdered

October - November

First deportation of German and Austrian Jews to ghettos in Eastern Europe

October

Construction of Majdanek-Lublin extermination camp

November 1

Construction of Belzec extermination camp begins

November 24

Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp established

December 7

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

December 8

Gassing operations begin at Chelmno extermination camp

December 11

Germany and Italy declare war on the United States

1942

January 20

Wannsee Conference; plans to coordinate the "Final Solution" are discussed

February 8

First Jews from Salonika, Greece sent to Auschwitz

March 1

Construction of Sobibor extermination camps begins

March 28

First Jews from France sent to Auschwitz

July 22

Treblinka extermination camp completed

July 22-September 12

Mass deportations from Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka

July 28

Jewish fighting organizations set up in Warsaw Ghetto

November 24

Knowledge of extermination of the Jews of Europe publicly announced in U.S. by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise

1943

January 18-22

First Warsaw Ghetto Uprising breaks out

February 2

German army defeated at Battle of Stalingrad

February 26

First transport of Gypsies arrive at Auschwitz; Gypsy camp established

April 19 - May 16

Warsaw Ghetto uprising; Jews resist Nazis’ effort to deport them to death camps

July 21

Himmler orders the liquidation of all ghettos in Poland and USSR

October 2

Nazis attempt round-up of Danish Jews; Danish people use boats to smuggle most of Danish Jews (7,200) to neutral Sweden

1944

March 19

Nazis occupy Hungary

May 2

First transport of Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz; by July 9, over 437,000 Hungarian Jews are sent to Auschwitz; most of them are gassed

June 6

Allied invasion of Normandy

August 2

Gypsy camp at Auschwitz destroyed by Nazis; 3,000 gassed

October 7

Prisoners blow up one of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp

1945

January 17

Nazis evacuate Auschwitz; "death marches" toward Germany

January 27

Soviet army liberates Auschwitz

February 4-11

Yalta Conference

April 11

American army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp

April 15

British army liberates Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

April 29

American army liberates Dachau concentration camp

April 30

Hitler commits suicide in Berlin

May 2

Soviet troops capture Berlin

May 7

Nazi Germany surrenders; end of World War II in Europe

August 14

Japan surrenders; end of World War II

November 20

First major Nuremberg War Crimes Trials begin

1946

October 1

Conclusion of first major Nuremberg Trials; twelve Nazis to be executed, three sentenced to life imprisonment, four receive various prison terms, and three are acquitted

1948

May 14

State of Israel established

October 16

Execution of Nazi war criminals