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Schutzstaffel Organized/Founded
This was a major small military organization under Hitler. It was basically a small guard unit, like an elite group of Hitler’s military people. They persecuted Jews and really anyone Hitler told them to. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hitler’s becoming Chancellor marked a crucial turning point for Germany and honestly the world. His plans were embraced by much of the German population. His plan was to make Germany a powerful, one-party country. This affected many people and other countries, as he attacked certain groups of people. With this position of power, he waged war and caused much destruction of cities and lives during his ruling. -
Hitler Claims Emergency Powers
President Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. This decree suspended the democratic aspects of the Weimar Republic and declared a state of emergency. This decree gave the Nazis a legal basis for the persecution and oppression of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. This effected many innocent Jews and other targeted groups. -
Boycott of Jewish Businesses
This was one of the first organized step the government planned against the Jews. They encouraged a boycott against Jewish businesses, as well as many people vandalizing these businesses and offices with Stars of David and Anti-Semitic sayings. This was very harmful to the Jew’s businesses as well as inspiring other boycotts in other countries. -
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases
A law that forced the sterilization (prevention of offspring) of people who suffered from diseases that were considered heredity. This affected any person with a mental illness, physical deformity or basically anyone that the Germans considered ‘abnormal’ in society. -
Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals
Germany passes this law that allows court officials to deem a person dangerous to society and imprison any of those “habitual criminals”. This affected anyone who the judge decided was dangerous; sex offenders, murderers or any suspicious person. -
Nuremberg Laws
These laws were for ‘the protection of German Blood and Honor’. They prohibited marriage and intercourse between Jews and Germans. It also didn’t allow German females who were under 45 to be in Jewish households. This effected both Germans and Jews, as neither were no longer allowed to be around each other. -
Nazi’s Occupy Rhineland
Adolf Hitler sends German military troops into the Rhineland and breaks the Treaty of Versailles laws. This impacted the League of Nations and put them under pressure to do something. -
Reichszentrale is created
The Reich Central Office was for fighting against Homosexuality and Abortion. Germany fought against homosexuality and against abortion. This negatively impacted homosexuals and maybe women who were raped or had an unexpected child and couldn’t get an abortion. -
Kristallnacht/The Night of Broken Glass
Two days filled with Germans burning, destroying and killing Jews. It was named The Night of Broken Glass based off of all the shattered class that filled the streets. The Jews were the ones targeted and over 90 were killed. -
Einsatzgruppen, starts
This was a death squad of Nazis founded by Himmler, who, in 1941, began killing Jews who lived in the Soviet Union in mass shootings. Up to 40% of Jews killed during the holocaust may have been killed in these shootings. -
St. Louis Ship (with Jews) - Sails
The German ship sailed to different countries, carrying 937 passengers, almost all were Jews. The Government of Cuba didn’t even allow the ship to land. The United States and Canada didn’t want the Jews. This impacted the Jews because they had nowhere to escape from the dangers of Germany. -
Germany invades Poland
Off of Hitler’s goal to regain lost Germany territory, he attacks Poland on land and from the air. It was the beginning of WWII. This invasion killed and wounded many Polish people and also many German soldiers were lost in the fight. -
Auschwitz Opens
Auschwitz is one of the most infamous concentration camps, and it is located in southern Poland. Its opening lead to the deaths of some one million Jews and other groups hated by the Nazis and housed Josef Mengele and his experiments. -
Madagascar Plan presented
This plan was presented by the Nazi German government to move the Jewish population out of Europe and to the island of Madagascar. Although this plan failed it eventually leaded to the Final Solution which ended in millions of Jews being killed. -
The Commissar Order
This order instructed the German military leadership to persecute and murder all Soviet political commissars. This was a clear violation of the law, yet it still was instructed and put the Soviet political commissars in danger. -
Yellow Star for German Jews
Jewish badges were badges that the Jews were ordered to wear in public. The badges showed the wearer as a religious outsider or even as a badge of shame. This of course affected the Jews who were forced to wear the badge, as they could be easily identified by people who would want to harm them. -
Babi Yar
The site of massacres of Jewish people in the Ukrainian capital Kiev; it’s a ravine. It was the place of death for 33,771 Jews killed by machine gun, making it one of the largest single massacres during the holocaust. -
Wannsee Conference
The Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at Wannsee in Berlin. They discussed and planned what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." This affected the people they were planning on cleansing from the population, mainly Jews. -
Lodz Ghetto Opens
This was the 2nd largest WWII ghetto established by the Nazi German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma after the invasion of Poland. It impacted Polish Jews and Roma as they were forced to live and work in a specific place. -
Creation of the Zigeunerlager
This is the section of Auschwitz for the Roma people (known as Gypsies). Many Roma were murdered here, but there aren’t definitive numbers. -
Dr. Josef Mengele arrives at Auschwitz
Josef Mengele was a Nazi doctor who stayed at Auschwitz. He did not treat people, but conducted horrid, gruesome medical experiments on Jews and other groups in the camp, specifically upon twins. -
Himmler Orders Liquidation of ghettos
Himmler orders the SS and police authorities to liquidate the Krakow ghetto. The SS kill about 2,000 Jews in the ghetto and transfer another 2,000 Jews. -
Last Gassing at Auschwitz
The last gassing (in Auschwitz; one of the main camps) of a ‘selection’ of Jew prisoners was on October 30th, 1944. Near the end of October, Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp to stop the gassings. This affected the Jews in a bittersweet way because no more of them would be gassed and killed, yet so many had died because of those gassings. -
Himmler Orders Destruction of Auschwitz
As WWII was beginning to see its end, the Auschwitz commandants started destroying all the evidence of the horrible things they had done. Many buildings and records were burnt and destroyed. This a wonderful thing for Jews and many others because gasings were no longer. But it is a bittersweet effect on us currently because it destroyed some of the historical evidence for what happened, the lives lost and such. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
The Soviet Union went to Auschwitz and killed more 7000 of the remaining prisoners, most of which were ill or already dying. So any Jews, or other targeted groups who remained in the camp were killed. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
He killed himself by gunshot in his Führerbunker in Berlin, fearing he would be persecuted for the crimes he committed. This obviously affected himself, as he died, but his death basically lead to the end of WWII, freeing and saving many Jews. -
International Military Tribunal
The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, began a trial for 21 of the major Nazi German leaders. They were put on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, etc. This was obviously bad for those leaders, but good revenge for the people who had been harmed by them. -
Adolf Eichmann captured
Eichmann was the man who organized the assembly of Jews in Hitler’s “final solution.” He was captured in 1946, but escaped to Argentina where he lived until his capture. He was tried as a Nazi war criminal in Israel, which brought some justice to the Jews. -
Dr. Josef Mengele Dies
Like many Nazi war criminals, he hid in South America to avoid imprisonment. He last resided in Brazil by the name of Gerhard, where he had a stroke while swimming. This was found out in 1985, when forensic experts searched for him. His death affected him of course, but also left many people (Jews, twins, people who were experimented on by him) with a lack of a sense of justice.