The Holocaust

A timeline of events leading to systematic genocide

1933

January: Adolf appointed chancellor of Germany

February: Germany govt. takes away freedom of speech, assembly, press, and freedom from invasion of privacy

March: First concentration camp is established in Nazi Germany; first prisoners are political opponents

April: Nation-wide boycott of Jewish businesses and Jews are barred from government service

Boycotting of Jewish Businesses

1933

May: Books by Jews and Nazi opponents are burned publicly

July: Laws passed permitting forced sterilization of Gypsies, mentally and physically disabled, African-Germans and others considered “inferior” and “unfit”

October: It is taught in all Germany schools that “non-Aryans” are racially inferior.

Book Burning

1934

August: Adolph declares himself president and chancellor of the Third Reich

October: First wave of arrests of homosexuals throughout Germany

1935

April: Jehovah’s Witnesses are banned from all civil service jobs and are arrested

May: “No Jews” signs and notices are posted through towns

September: the Nuremberg Laws deprive Jews of their citizenship

Banner Reads: Jews not wanted here!

1936

July: First German Gypsies are arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp

October: Govt. prohibits teaching by “non-Aryans” in public schools and bans private instruction by Jewish teachers

1937

July: Buchenwald concentration camp opens

November: Jews can obtain passports to travel outside of Germany only in special cases

Buchenwald Prisoners at Liberation April 16,

1945

1938

July: Representatives from 32 countries meet in France to discuss refugee policies. Most countries refuse to let in more Jewish refugees

November: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) Nazis burn hundreds of synagogues, loot and destroy Jewish homes, schools, stores, and community offices. 30,000 Jewish men are arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. Jews forced to pay reparations for the damages of Kristallnacht

Pogrom: organized persecution of an ethnic

group

1938

November: All Jewish children are expelled from German schools

December: Jews banned from public streets on certain days; Jews are forbidden drivers’ licenses and car registrations

December: Jews must sell their businesses and real estate and had over securities and jewelry to the govt. at low prices

December: Jews may no longer attend universities as teachers or students

1939

September: Germany invades Poland and WWII officially begins

September: Jews forced to turn in radios, cameras, and other electric objects to the police. Jews receive more restrictive ration coupons – do not receive coupons for meat, milk, etc. Receive less clothing rations as well

October: Hitler allows doctors to kill institutionalized mentally and physically disabled persons

November: Jews in Poland are forced to wear Star of David on their chests or or a blue and white Star of David armband

Star of David

1940

May: 164,000 Polish Hews are concentrated and imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto which is sealed off from the outside world. Auschwitz is established

October: Anti-Jewish laws are passed by France’s Vichy Government

November: the Warsaw ghetto is closed off with approximately 500,000 inhabitants

Warsaw Ghetto

1941

March: Gypsy and African-German children are expelled from public schools

May: Romania passes law condemning adult Jews to forced labor

June: the Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads, begin mass murders of Jews, Gypsies, and Communist leaders

September: Soviet prisoners of war and Polish prisoners are killed in Nazi test of gas chambers at Auschwitz

Einsatzgruppen

1941

October: Construction of the Birkenau camp, including a killing center, begins

October: First group of German and Austrian Jews are deported to ghettos in eastern Europe

December: The Chelmno death camp opens near Lodz, Poland and the first gassing of victims in mobile gas vans occurs

Birkenau:Gate Reads “Work Makes You

Free”

Birkenau Camps and Gas Chambers

1942

January: Nazi and government leaders meet to decide the “final solution to the Jewish question”

September: Jews in the Lodz ghetto are deported to the Chelmno killing center. Mostly children under 10 and people over 65, but also those too sick to work

October: All Jews in concentration camps in Germany are sent to death camp at Auschwitz

1943

March: All Gypsies in Germany and occupied countries are arrested and deported to Auschwitz

Fall: Danish citizens smuggle most of the nation’s Jews to neutral Sweden

1944

May: The Nazis begin deportation of Hungarian Jews; Over 430,000 Jews are sent to Auschwitz and are gassed

October: The prisoners at Auschwitz rebel and blow up one crematorium

Auschwitz

1945

January: Nazis empty Auschwitz and start prisoners on “death marches” to Germany

January: Soviet army liberates Auschwitz

April: U.S. Troops liberate survivors from Buchenwald and Dachau

May 7: Germany surrenders and war in Europe has ended