1933
January 30, 1933 - AdolfHitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany a nation with a Jewish populationof 566,000.
February 22, 1933 - 40,000 SA and SS men aresworn in as auxiliary police.
February 27, 1933-Nazis burn
Reichstagbuilding to create crisis atmosphere.
February 28, 1933 - Emergency powersgranted to Hitler as a result of the Reichstag fire.
March 22, 1933 -Nazis open
Dachau concentration campnear Munich, to be followed by
Buchenwaldnear Weimar in central Germany,
Sachsenhausennear Berlin in northern Germany, and
Ravensbrückfor women.
March 24, 1933 - German ParliamentpassesEnabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
See also
: TheHistory Place - Rise of Hitler
April 1, 1933- Nazis stage boycott of Jewish shops and businesses.
April 11, 1933 -Nazis issue a Decree defining a non-Aryanas "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents orgrandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan...especiallyif one parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith."
April 26, 1933 -The Gestapo is born, created by
Hermann Göringin the German state of Prussia.
May 10, 1933- Burning of books in Berlin and throughoutGermany.
July 14, 1933 - Nazi Party is declaredthe only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrantsfrom Poland of their German citizenship.
In July- Nazis pass lawallowing for forced sterilization of those found by a Hereditary HealthCourt to have genetic defects.
In September - Nazis establish ReichChamber of Culture, then exclude Jews from the Arts.
September 29, 1933- Nazis prohibitJews from owning land.
October 4, 1933- Jews are prohibitedfrom being newspaper editors.
November 24, 1933- Nazis passa Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, thehomeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.
1934
January 24, 1934- Jews are bannedfrom the German Labor Front.
May 17, 1934- Jews not allowednational health insurance.
June 30, 1934- The
Night of Long Knives occurs as Hitler,Göring and Himmler conduct a purge of the SA (storm trooper) leadership.
July 20, 1934 - The SS (Schutzstaffel)is made an independent organization from the SA.
July 22, 1934- Jews areprohibited from getting legal qualifications.
August 2, 1934 -German President von Hindenburg dies.
Hitlerbecomes Führer.
August 19, 1934 - Hitler receives a90 percent 'Yes' vote from German voters approving his new powers.
1935
May 21, 1935- Nazis banJews from serving in the military.
June 26, 1935- Nazis passlaw allowing forced abortions on women to prevent them from passing onhereditary diseases.
August 6, 1935- Nazis forceJewish performers/artists to join Jewish Cultural Unions.
September 15, 1935 - NurembergRace Laws against Jews decreed.
1936
February 10, 1936 -The German Gestapo is placed above the law.
In March -SS Deathshead division is established to guard concentration camps.
March 7, 1936- Nazis occupy the Rhineland.
June 17, 1936 -Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of theGerman Police.
August 1, 1936 -Olympicgames begin in Berlin. Hitler and top Nazis seek to gain legitimacythrough favorable public opinion from foreign visitors and thus temporarilyrefrain from actions against Jews.
In August - Nazis set up an Officefor Combating Homosexuality and Abortions (by healthy women).
1937
In January -Jews are banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans,and from being accountants or dentists. They are also denied tax reductionsand child allowances.
November 8, 1937-'EternalJew' travelling exhibition opens in Munich.
1938 Return to Top of Page
March 12/13, 1938 - Nazi troopsenter Austria, which has a population of 200,000 Jews, mainly living inVienna.
Hitler announces Anschluss (union) withAustria.
In March - After the Anschluss,the SS is placed in charge of Jewish affairs in Austria with Adolf Eichmannestablishing an Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. Himmler then establishes
Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz.
April 22, 1938 - Nazis prohibitAryan 'front-ownership' of Jewish businesses.
April 26, 1938 - Nazis order Jewsto register wealth and property.
June 14, 1938 - Nazis order Jewish-owned businesses to register.
In July -At Evian, France, the U.S. convenes a League of Nations conference withdelegates from 32 countries to consider helping Jews fleeing Hitler, butresults in inaction as no country will accept them.
July 6,1938- Nazis prohibited Jews from trading and providing a variety of specifiedcommercial services.
July 23, 1938 -Nazis order Jews over age 15 to apply for identity cards from the police,to be shown on demand to any police officer.
July 25, 1938 - Jewish doctors prohibitedby law from practicing medicine.
August 11, 1938 - Nazis destroy thesynagogue in Nuremberg.
August17, 1938- Nazis require Jewish women to add Sarah and men to add Israel totheir names on all legal documents including passports.
September 27, 1938 - Jews are prohibitedfrom all legal practices.
October 5, 1938 - Law requires Jewishpassports to be stamped with a large red "J."
October 15, 1938 - Nazi troops occupythe Sudetenland.
October 28, 1938 - Nazis arrest 17,000Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany, then expel them back to Polandwhich refuses them entry, leaving them in 'No-Man's Land' near the Polishborder for several months.
November 7, 1938 - Ernst vom Rath, thirdsecretary in the German Embassy in Paris, is shot and mortally woundedby Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of one of the deported PolishJews. Rath dies on November 9, precipitating Kristallnacht.
November 9/10 - Kristallnacht- The Night of Broken Glass.
November 12, 1938 - Nazis fine Jews onebillion marks for damages related to Kristallnacht.
November 15, 1938 - Jewish pupils areexpelled from all non-Jewish German schools.
December 3,1938- Law for compulsory Aryanization of all Jewish businesses.
December 14, 1938 - Hermann Göringtakes charge of resolving the "Jewish Question."
1939 Return to Top of Page
January 24, 1939- SS leader
Reinhard Heydrich is ordered by Göringto speed up the emigration of Jews.
January 30, 1939 - Hitlerthreatens Jews during Reichstag speech.
February 21, 1939 -Nazis force Jews to hand over all gold and silver items.
March 15/16 - Nazi troops seizeCzechoslovakia (Jewish pop. 350,000).
April 19, 1939 - Slovakia passesits own version of the Nuremberg Laws.
April 30, 1939 - Jews lose rightsas tenants and are relocated into Jewish houses.
In May - The
St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees,is turned away by Cuba, the United States and other countries and returnsto Europe.
July 4, 1939 - German Jews deniedthe right to hold government jobs.
July 21, 1939 - Adolf Eichmann isappointed director of the Prague Office of Jewish Emigration.
September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland(Jewish pop. 3.35 million, the largest in Europe). Beginning of SS activityin Poland.
See also:
The History Place - WorldWar II in Europe Timeline
September 1, 1939 - Jews in Germany areforbidden to be outdoors after 8 p.m. in winter and 9 p.m. in summer.
September 3, 1939 - Great Britain and Francedeclare war on Germany.
September 4, 1939 - Warsaw is cut offby the German Army.
September 17, 1939 - Soviet troops invadeeastern Poland.
September 21, 1939 - Heydrich issuesinstructions to SS Einsatzgruppen (special action squads) in Poland regardingtreatment of Jews, stating they are to be gathered into ghettos near railroadsfor the future "final goal." He also orders a census and theestablishment of Jewish administrative councils within the ghettos to implementNazi policies and decrees.
September 23, 1939 - German Jews areforbidden to own wireless (radio) sets.
September 27, 1939 -Warsaw surrenders; Heydrich becomes leader of
RSHA.
September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Sovietsdivide up Poland. Over two million Jews reside in Nazi controlled areas,leaving 1.3 million in the Soviet area.
In September - Quotefrom Nazi newspaper,
Der Stürmer, publishedby Julius Streicher - "The Jewish people ought to be exterminatedroot and branch. Then the plague of pests would have disappeared in Polandat one stroke."
In October - Nazisbegin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.
October 6, 1939 - Proclamation by Hitleron the isolation of Jews.
October 12, 1939 - Evacuation of Jewsfrom Vienna.
October 12, 1939 -Hans Frank appointed Nazi Gauleiter (governor)of Poland.
October 26, 1939 - Forced labor decreeissued for Polish Jews aged 14 to 60.
November 23, 1939 - Yellow stars requiredto be worn by Polish Jews over age 10.
In December -Adolf Eichmann takes over section IV
B4of the Gestapo dealing solely with Jewish affairs and evacuations.
1940 Return to Top of Page
January 25, 1940 -Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow asthe site of a new concentration camp.
In January- Quote from Nazinewspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "Thetime is near when a machine will go into motion which is going to preparea grave for the world's criminal - Judah - from which there will be noresurrection."
February 12, 1940 - First deportationof German Jews into occupied Poland.
April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark(Jewish pop. 8,000) and Norway (Jewish pop. 2,000).
April 30, 1940 - The Lodz Ghettoin occupied Poland is sealed off from the outside world with 230,000 Jewslocked inside.
May 1, 1940 - Rudolf Höss ischosen to be kommandant of Auschwitz.
May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France(Jewish pop. 350,000), Belgium (Jewish pop. 65,000), Holland (Jewish pop.140,000), and Luxembourg (Jewish pop. 3,500).
June 14, 1940 - Paris is occupiedby the Nazis.
June 22, 1940 - France signs anarmistice with Hitler.
In July - Eichmann's MadagascarPlan is presented, proposing to deport all European Jews to the island ofMadagascar, off the coast of east Africa.
July 17, 1940 - The first anti-Jewishmeasures are taken in Vichy France.
August 8, 1940 - Romania introducesanti-Jewish measures restricting education and employment, then later begins"Romanianization" of Jewish businesses.
September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis)Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
October 3, 1940 - Vichy France passesits own version of the Nuremberg Laws.
October 7, 1940 - Nazis invade Romania(Jewish pop. 34,000).
October 22, 1940 - Deportation of 29,000German Jews from Baden, the Saar, and Alsace-Lorraine into Vichy France.
In November - Hungary, Romania, and Slovakiabecome Nazi Allies.
In November -TheKrakow Ghetto is sealed off containing 70,000 Jews.
November 15, 1940 - TheWarsawGhetto, containing over 400,000 Jews, is sealed off.
1941 Return to Top of Page
In 1941 -Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states, "Iask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear."
In January - Quote from Nazi newspaper,Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "Now judgment hasbegun and it will reach its conclusion only when knowledge of the Jewshas been erased from the earth."
In January -A pogrom in Romania results in over 2,000 Jews killed.
February 22, 1941 - 430 Jewish hostagesare deported from Amsterdam after a Dutch Nazi is killed by Jews.
In March -Hitler's
Commissar Order authorizes executionof anyone suspected of being a Communist official in territories aboutto be seized from Soviet Russia.
March 1, 1941 - Himmler makes hisfirst visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders Kommandant Höss tobegin massive expansion, including a new compound to be built at nearbyBirkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners.
March 2, 1941 - Nazis occupy Bulgaria(Jewish pop. 50,000).
March 7, 1941 - German Jews orderedinto forced labor.
March 26, 1941 -The German Army High Command gives approval to RSHA and Heydrich onthe
tasks of SS murder squads (Einsatzgruppen)in occupied Poland.
March 29, 1941 - A 'Commissariat'for Jewish Affairs is set up in Vichy France.
April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Yugoslavia(Jewish pop. 75,000) and Greece (Jewish pop. 77,000).
May 14, 1941 - 3,600 Jews arrestedin Paris.
May 16, 1941 - French Marshal Petainissues a radio broadcast approving collaboration with Hitler.
June 22, 1941 - Nazis invade Russia (Jewish pop. 3 million).
June 29/30 - Romanian troops conducta pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000.
Summer -Himmler summons Auschwitz Kommandant Hössto Berlin and tells him, "The Führerhas ordered the Final Solution of the Jewish question. We, the SS, haveto carry out this order...I have therefore chosen Auschwitz for this purpose."
In July- As the German Army advances,
SSEinsatzgruppen follow along and conduct mass murder of Jews in seizedlands.
In July- Ghettos established at
Kovno,Minsk, Vitebsk and Zhitomer. Also in July, the government of Vichy Franceseizes Jewish owned property.
July 17, 1941 - Nazi racial 'philosopher'
Alfred Rosenberg is appointed Reich Ministerfor the Eastern Occupied Territories to administer territories seized fromthe Soviet Union.
July 21, 1941- In occupied Polandnear Lublin,
Majdanekconcentration camp becomes operational.
July 25/26 - 3,800 Jews killed duringa pogrom by Lithuanians in Kovno.
July 31, 1941 -Göring instructsHeydrich to prepare for Final Solution.
In August -Jews in Romania forced into Transnistria. By December, 70,000 perish.
In August -Ghettos established at Bialystok and Lvov.
August 26, 1941 -The Hungarian Army rounds up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk.
September 3, 1941 - The first test useof Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz.
September 1, 1941 - GermanJews ordered to wear yellow stars.
September 6, 1941 - The Vilna Ghettois established containing 40,000 Jews.
September 17, 1941 -Beginning of general deportation of German Jews.
September 19, 1941- Nazis takeKiev.
September 27/28 - 23,000 Jews killedat Kamenets-Podolsk, in the Ukraine.
September 29/30 -SS Einsatzgruppen murder 33,771 Jews at Babi Yarnear Kiev.
In October - 35,000 Jews from Odessashot.
October 2, 1941 - Beginning of the GermanArmy drive on Moscow.
October 23, 1941 - Nazis forbid emigrationof Jews from the Reich.
In November - SS Einsatzgruppe B reportsa tally of 45,476 Jews killed.
November 24, 1941 -Theresienstadt Ghetto is established nearPrague, Czechoslovakia. The Nazis will use it as a model ghetto for propagandapurposes.
November 30, 1941 - Near Riga, a massshooting of Latvian and German Jews.
December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack UnitedStates at Pearl Harbor. The next day the U.S. and Great Britain declare war onJapan.
December 8, 1941 -In occupied Poland, near Lodz,
Chelmno exterminationcamp becomes operational. Jews taken there are placed in mobile gas vansand driven to a burial place while carbon monoxide from the engine exhaustis fed into the sealed rear compartment, killing them. The first gassingvictims include 5,000 Gypsies who had been deported from the Reich to Lodz.
December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares waron the United States. President Roosevelt then asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany saying, "Neverbefore has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization."The U.S.A. then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler.
December 12, 1941 - The ship "Struma"leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permissionby British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In February 1942,it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Russian submarineand sunk as an "enemy target."
December 16, 1941 - During a cabinetmeeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states - "Gentlemen, I mustask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate theJews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible in order to maintainthere the structure of the Reich as a whole..."
1942 Return to Top of Page
In January - Mass killings of Jews using
Zyklon-B begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau in BunkerI (the red farmhouse) in Birkenau with the bodies being buried in massgraves in a nearby meadow.
January 20, 1942 -Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "FinalSolution."
January 31, 1942 - SS EinsatzgruppeA reports a tally of 229,052 Jews killed.
In March -In occupied Poland,
Belzec exterminationcamp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with permanent gaschambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines placed outside thechamber, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.
March 17, 1942 - The deportationof Jews from Lublin to Belzec.
March 24, 1942 - The start of deportationof Slovak Jews to Auschwitz.
March 27, 1942 - The start of deportationof French Jews to Auschwitz.
March 28, 1942 - Fritz Sauckel namedChief of Manpower to expedite recruitment of slave labor.
March 30, 1942 - First trainloadsof Jews from Paris arrive at Auschwitz.
In April - First transports of Jewsarrive at Majdanek.
April 20, 1942 - GermanJewsare banned from using public transportation.
In May - In occupied Poland, Sobiborextermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with three gaschambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but will later substituteZyklon-B.
May 18, 1942 -The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine-gunned over 100,000 Jewsin the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland and twice as many in western Russia.
May 27, 1942 - SS leader Heydrichis mortally wounded by Czech Underground agents.
In June - Gas vans used in Riga.
June 1, 1942 - Jews in France, Holland,Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania ordered to wear yellow stars.
June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies ofhis wounds.
June 5, 1942 - SS report 97,000persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans.
June 10, 1942 -Nazis liquidate Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich'sdeath.
June 11, 1942 - Eichmann meets withrepresentatives from France, Belgium and Holland to coordinate deportationplans for Jews.
June 30, 1942 -At Auschwitz, a second gas chamber, Bunker II (the white farmhouse), ismade operational at Birkenau due to the number of Jews arriving.
June 30 and July 2 -The New YorkTimes reports via the
London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews havealready been killed by Nazis.
Summer - Swiss representatives ofthe World Jewish Congress receive information from a German industrialistregarding the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews. They then pass the informationon to London and Washington.
July 2, 1942 - Jews from Berlinsent to Theresienstadt.
July 7, 1942 - Himmler grants permissionfor sterilization experiments at Auschwitz.
July 14, 1942 -Beginning of deportation of
Dutch Jews to Auschwitz.
July 16/17 - 12,887 Jews of Parisare rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp located outside the city.A total of approximately 74,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, will eventuallybe transported from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor.
July 17/18 - Himmler visits Auschwitz-Birkenaufor two days, inspecting all ongoing construction and expansion, then observesthe extermination process from start to finish as two trainloads of Jewsarrive from Holland. Kommandant Höss is then promoted. Constructionincludes four large gas chamber/crematories.
July 19, 1942 - Himmler orders OperationReinhard, mass deportations of Jews in Poland to extermination camps.
July 22, 1942 - Beginning of deportationsfrom the Warsaw Ghetto to the new extermination camp, Treblinka. Also,beginning of the deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz.
July 23, 1942 - Treblinka exterminationcamp opened in occupied Poland, east of Warsaw. The camp is fitted withtwo buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbonmonoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-Bwill later be substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits.
In August - The start of deportationsof Croatian Jews to Auschwitz.
August 23, 1942 - Beginning of GermanArmy attack on Stalingrad in Russia.
August 26-28 - 7,000 Jews arrestedin unoccupied France.
September 9, 1942 - Open pit burningof bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is madeto dig up and burn those already buried, 107,000 corpses, to prevent foulingof ground water.
September 18, 1942 - Reduction of foodrations for Jews in Germany.
September 26, 1942 -SS begins cashing in
possessions and valuablesof Jews from Auschwitz and Majdanek. German banknotes are sent to the ReichsBank. Foreign currency, gold, jewels and other valuables are sent to SSHeadquarters of the Economic Administration. Watches, clocks and pens aredistributed to troops at the front. Clothing is distributed to German families.By February 1943, over 800 boxcars of confiscated goods will have left Auschwitz.
October 5, 1942 - Himmler orders allJews in concentration camps in Germany to be sent to Auschwitz and Majdanek.
October 5, 1942 -A German eyewitness observes SS mass murder.
October 14, 1942 - Masskilling of Jews from Mizocz Ghetto in the Ukraine.
October 22, 1942 -SS put down a revolt at Sachsenhausenby a group of Jews about to be sent to Auschwitz.
October 25, 1942 -Deportations of Jews from Norway to Auschwitz begin.
October 28, 1942 - The first transportfrom Theresienstadt arrives at Auschwitz.
In November - The mass killing of 170,000Jews in the area of Bialystok.
December 10, 1942 -The first transport of Jews from Germany arrives at Auschwitz.
In December - Exterminations at Belzeccease after an estimated 600,000 Jews have been murdered. The camp is thendismantled, plowed over and planted.
December 17, 1942 - British Foreign SecretaryEden tells the British House of Commons the Nazis are "now carryinginto effect Hitler's oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish peopleof Europe." The U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged.
December 28, 1942 - Sterilization experimentson women at Birkenau begin.
Mapof Concentration/Death Camps
1943 Return to Top of Page
In 1943 -The number of Jews killed by SS Einsatzgruppen passes one million. Nazisthen use
special units of slave laborers todig up and burn the bodies to remove all traces.
January 18, 1943 - First resistanceby Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
January 29, 1943 - Nazis order all Gypsiesarrested and sent to extermination camps.
January 30, 1943 - Ernst Kaltenbrunnersucceeds Heydrich as head of RSHA.
In February - The Romanian governmentproposes to the Allies the transfer of 70,000 Jews to Palestine, but receivesno response from Britain or the U.S.
In February - Greek Jews are orderedinto ghettos.
February 2, 1943 - Germans surrenderto Russian troops at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.
February 27, 1943 - Jews working in Berlinarmaments industry are sent to Auschwitz.
In March-The start of deportations of Jews from Greece to Auschwitz, lasting untilAugust, totaling 49,900 persons.
March 1, 1943 - In New York, AmericanJews hold a mass rally at Madison Square Garden to pressure the U.S. governmentinto helping the Jews of Europe.
March 14, 1943 -The Krakow Ghetto is liquidated.
March 17, 1943 - Bulgaria statesopposition to deportation of its Jews.
March 22, 1943 - Newly built gaschamber/crematory IV opens at Auschwitz.
March 31, 1943 - Newly built gaschamber/crematory II opens at Auschwitz.
April 4, 1943 - Newly built gaschamber/crematory V opens at Auschwitz.
April9, 1943- Exterminations at Chelmno cease. The camp will be reactivated inthe spring of 1944 to liquidate ghettos. In all, Chelmno will total 300,000deaths.
April 19-30 - The Bermuda Conferenceoccurs as representatives from the United States and Britain discuss the problemof refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but results in inaction concerningthe plight of the Jews.
April 19, 1943-Waffen-SS attacks Jewish Resistance in WarsawGhetto.
In May - SSDr. Josef Mengelearrives at Auschwitz.
May 13, 1943 - German and Italiantroops in North Africa surrender to Allies.
May 19, 1943 - Nazis declare Berlinto be Judenfrei(cleansed of Jews).
June 11, 1943- Himmler ordersliquidation of all Jewish ghettos in occupied Poland.
June 25, 1943 - Newly built gaschamber/crematory III opens at Auschwitz. With its completion, the fournew crematories at Auschwitz have a daily capacity of 4,756 bodies.
July 9/10 - Allied troops land in Sicily.
August 2, 1943 - Two hundred Jews escapefrom Treblinka extermination camp during a revolt. Nazis then hunt themdown one by one.
August 16, 1943 - The Bialystok Ghettois liquidated.
In August - Exterminations cease atTreblinka, after an estimated 870,000 deaths.
In September - The Vilna and Minsk Ghettosare liquidated.
September 11, 1943 - Germans occupy Rome,after occupying northern and central Italy, containing in all about 35,000Jews.
September 11, 1943 - Beginning of Jewishfamily transports from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz.
In October - TheDanish Underground helps transport 7,220 Danish Jews to safety in
Swedenby sea.
October 4 -Himmlertalks openly about the Final Solution at Posen.
October 14, 1943 - Massive escape fromSobibor as Jews and Soviet POWs break out, with 300 making it safely intonearby woods. Of those 300, fifty will
survive.Exterminations then cease at Sobibor, after over 250,000 deaths. All tracesof the death camp are then removed and trees are planted.
October 16, 1943 - Jews in Rome roundedup, with over 1,000 sent to Auschwitz.
In November - The Riga Ghetto is liquidated.
In November - The U.S. Congress holdshearings regarding the U.S. State Department's inaction regarding EuropeanJews, despite mounting reports of mass extermination.
November 3, 1943 - Nazis carry out OperationHarvest Festival in occupied Poland, killing 42,000 Jews.
November4, 1943- Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by JuliusStreicher - "It is actually true that the Jews have, so to speak,disappeared from Europe and that the Jewish 'Reservoir of the East' fromwhich the Jewish pestilence has for centuries beset the peoples of Europehas ceased to exist. But the Führer of the German people at the beginningof the war prophesied what has now come to pass."
November 11, 1943 -Auschwitz Kommandant Höss is promoted to chief inspector of concentrationcamps. The new kommandant, Liebehenschel, then divides up the vast
Auschwitzcomplex of over 30 sub-camps into three main sections.
December 2, 1943 - The first transportof Jews from Vienna arrives at Auschwitz.
December 16, 1943 - The chief surgeonat Auschwitz reports that 106 castration operations have been performed.
1944 Return to Top of Page
January 3, 1944 - Russian troops reachformer Polish border.
January 24, 1944 - In response to politicalpressure to help Jews under Nazi control, President Roosevelt creates the War RefugeeBoard.
January 25, 1944 - Diary entry by HansFrank, Gauleiter of Poland, concerning the fate of 2.5 million Jews originallyunder his jurisdiction - "At the present time we still have in theGeneral Government perhaps 100,000 Jews."
In February - Eichmann visits Auschwitz.
March 19, 1944 - Nazis occupy Hungary(Jewish pop. 725,000). Eichmann arrives with Gestapo "Special SectionCommandos."
March 24, 1944 -President Roosevelt issues a
statementcondemning German and Japanese ongoing "crimes against humanity."
April 5, 1944 - A Jewish inmate,Siegfried Lederer, escapes from Auschwitz-Birkenau and makes it safelyto Czechoslovakia. He then warns the Elders of the Council at Theresienstadtabout Auschwitz.
April 6, 1944 -Nazis raid a French home for Jewish children.
April 7, 1944 - Two Jewish inmatesescape from Auschwitz-Birkenau and make it safely to Czechoslovakia. Oneof them, Rudolf Vrba, submits a report to the Papal Nuncio in Slovakiawhich is forwarded to the Vatican, received there in mid June.
April 14, 1944 - First transportsof Jews from Athens to Auschwitz, totaling 5,200 persons.
In May - Himmler's agents secretlypropose to the Western Allies to trade Jews for trucks, other commoditiesor money.
May 8, 1944 - Rudolf Höss returnsto Auschwitz, ordered by Himmler to oversee the extermination of HungarianJews.
May 15, 1944 - Beginning of the deportationof Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz.
May 16, 1944 - Jews from Hungaryarrive at Auschwitz. Eichmann arrives to personally oversee and speed upthe extermination process. By May 24, an estimated 100,000 have been gassed.Between May 16 and May 31, the SS report collecting 88 pounds of gold andwhite metal from the teeth of those gassed. By the end of June, 381,661persons - half of the Jews in Hungary - arrive at Auschwitz.
In June - A Red Cross delegationvisits Theresienstadt after the Nazis have carefully prepared the campand the Jewish inmates, resulting in a favorable report.
June 6, 1944 - D-Day: Allied landingsin Normandy on the coast of northern France.
June 12, 1944 -Rosenberg orders
Hay Action, the kidnapping of40,000 Polish children aged ten to fourteen for slave labor in the Reich.
Summer - Auschwitz-Birkenau recordsits highest-ever daily number of persons gassed and burned at just over9,000. Six huge pits are used to burn bodies, as the number exceeds thecapacity of the crematories.
In July- Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary,and proceeds to save nearly 33,000 Jews by issuing diplomatic papers andestablishing 'safe houses.'
July 24, 1944- Russian troops liberate the first concentration camp, at
Majdanekwhere over 360,000 had been murdered.
August 4, 1944 - Anne Frank and familyare arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, then sent to Auschwitz. Anne and hersister Margot are later sent to Bergen-Belsen where Anne dies of typhuson March 15, 1945.
August 6, 1944 - Lodz, the last Jewish ghettoin Poland, is liquidated with 60,000 Jews sent to Auschwitz.
October 7, 1944 - A revolt by Sonderkommando(Jewish slave laborers) at Auschwitz-Birkenau results in complete destructionof Crematory IV.
October 15, 1944 - Nazis seize controlof the Hungarian puppet government, then resume deporting Jews, which hadtemporarily ceased due to international political pressure to stop Jewishpersecutions.
October 17, 1944 - Eichmann arrivesin Hungary.
October 28, 1944 - The last transportof Jews to be gassed, 2,000 from Theresienstadt, arrives at Auschwitz.
October 30, 1944 - Last use of the gas chambersat Auschwitz.
November 8, 1944 -Nazis force 25,000 Jews to walk over 100 miles in rain and snow from Budapestto the Austrian border, followed by a second forced march of 50,000 persons,ending at Mauthausen.
November 25, 1944 -Himmler orders
destruction of the crematoriesat Auschwitz.
Late 1944 -OskarSchindler saves 1200 Jews by moving them from
Plaszowlabor camp to his hometown of Brunnlitz.
1945 Return to Top of Page
In 1945 - As Allied troops advance,the Nazis conduct
death marches of concentrationcamp inmates away from outlying areas.
January 6, 1945 -Russians liberate Budapest, freeing over 80,000 Jews.
January 14, 1945 - Invasion of easternGermany by Russian troops.
January 17, 1945 - Liberation of Warsawby the Russians.
January 18, 1945 - Nazis evacuate 66,000from Auschwitz.
January 27, 1945- Russian troops liberate Auschwitz. Bythis time, an estimated 2,000,000 persons, including 1,500,000 Jews, havebeen murdered there.
April 4, 1945 -Ohrdruf camp is liberated, later visited by
GeneralEisenhower.
April 10, 1945-Allies liberate Buchenwald.
April 15, 1945 - Approximately 40,000prisoners freed at
Bergen-Belsen by theBritish, who report "both inside and outside the huts was a carpetof dead bodies, human excreta, rags and filth."
April 23, 1945 - Berlin is reachedby Russian troops.
April 29, 1945-U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau.
April 30, 1945 - Hitlercommits suicide in his Berlin bunker.
April 30, 1945 - Americans free33,000 inmates from concentration camps.
May 2, 1945 - Theresienstadt takenover by the Red Cross.
May 5, 1945 -Mauthausen liberated.
May 7, 1945 - Unconditional Germansurrender signed by General Alfred Jodl at Reims.
May 9, 1945 - Hermann Göringcaptured by members of U.S. 7th Army.
May 23, 1945 - SS-ReichsführerHimmler commits suicide while in British custody.
November 20, 1945 - Openingof the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal.
Holocaust Statistics
1946 Return to Top of Page
March 11, 1946 -Former Auschwitz Kommandant Höss, posingas a farm worker, is arrested by the British. He
testifiesat Nuremberg, then is later tried in Warsaw, found guilty and hanged atAuschwitz, April 16, 1947, near Crematory I. "History will mark meas the greatest mass murderer of all time," Hösswrites while in prison, along with his memoirs about Auschwitz.
October 16, 1946 - Göring commitssuicide two hours before the scheduled execution of the first group ofmajor Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. During his imprisonment, a (nowrepentant) Hans Frank states, "A thousand years will pass and theguilt of Germany will not be erased." Frank and the others are hangedand the bodies are brought to Dachau and burned (the final use of the crematoriesthere) with the ashes then scattered into a river.
December 9, 1946 - 23 former SS doctors and scientists go on trial before a U.S. Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.Sixteen are found guilty, with 7 hanged.
1947
September 15, 1947 - Twenty one formerSS-Einsatz leaders go on trial before a U.S. Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.Fourteen are sentenced to death, with only 4 (the group commanders) actuallybeing executed - the other death sentences having been commuted.
1960
May 11, 1960 - Adolf Eichmann iscaptured in Argentina by the Israeli secret service.
1961
April 11 - August 14 - Eichmannon trial in Jerusalem for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes againsthumanity and war crimes. Found guilty and hanged at Ramleh on May 31, 1962.A fellow Nazi reported Eichmann once said "he would leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on hisconscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
