---- The Holocaust: Timeline of Major Events --- November 11th, 1918 – WWII ended, Weimar Republic established
o Was a democracy with a President, Chancellor, and Reichstag (parliament)
o Deep seeded problems – severe inflation, internal disunity, anger over the Treaty
of Versailles
 1919 – Treaty of Versailles
 1919 – Adolf Hitler joined the German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) (Nazi Party)
 1924 – Hitler spent 8 months in prison for his involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch, a
failed Nazi military coup.
o Warning sign of Nazi nature?
o Wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), which described his views on racial
superiority and provided an outline for future hate.
 Scapegoated Jews for Germany’s problems
th
 January 30 , 1933 – Hitler was made the German chancellor.
o He had been a WWI hero, his book was now a bestseller
o Soon after first concentration camps opened – Dachau, Sachsenhausen,
Buchenwald
 February 27th, 1933 – Fire at the Reichstag
o Arson, Hitler claimed it was Communists attempting to take over the government
o President Hindenburg gave him emergency powers
o Sent storm troopers to stop his political opponents from campaigning
 February 28th, 1933 – Enabling Act Passed
o Gave Hitler broader, dictatorial powers
 Civil liberties suspended, laws could be passed without Reichstag consent
 1933-1934 – First Wave of German legislation
o Attempted to keep Jews and others out of public life
 Banned them from jobs, schools, civil service, etc.
o Meanwhile, Hitler focused on indoctrinating Germans, especially youths
 August 2nd, 1934 – Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor after
Hindenburg’s death.
 September 15th, 1935 – Nuremburg Racial Laws
o Defined Jews racially (ex: illustrated charts)
 Not by religious affiliation, but by ancestors
o Denied them citizenship rights, prohibited them from marrying Aryans
 1937-1938 – Second Wave of Legislation
o Economic persecution
o “Aryanization” of businesses
o January 1937 – Many professional occupations are closed to Jews
o April-June 1938 – New laws required Jews to register all their possessions with
the Nazis
 July 1938 – International Conference in Evian, France
o The countries present did not do anything
 1938 – Munich Conference
 November 9-10, 1938 – Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”)
o Nazis endorsed by the German government conducted organized attacks against
Jews (synagogues, businesses, homes)

















o Official reason behind the arracks: a minor German official, Ernst vom Rath, was
killed by a Jew
o After anti-Jewish regulations were increased dramatically
1939 – Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia
August 13rd, 1939 – Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
September 1939 – WWII began
1939 – Nazi euthanasia program began
o Earlier than the Holocaust (mass murdering of Jews)
o 70,000 handicapped people of all ages are killed
o Convinced parents to bring their disabled children to special clinics where they
were actually euthanized
o Secret committee to euthanize patients in institutional settings
1939 – All polish Jews began to be forced into ghettos
o Closed ghettos – (most common type) surrounded by walls or barbed wire,
unsanitary, crowded conditions inside led to deaths and epidemics
o Open ghettos – no walls but restrictions on entering and leaving
o Destruction ghettos – short-lived ghettos that people were crowded into for only a
few weeks before they were shot or deported
September-November 1939 – German Jews, Jewish businesses forced to wear the Star of
David
o When Nazis came to order Jews into concentration camps and ghettos, they were
easier to identify
September 3rd, 1941 – Nazis at Auschwitz used gas for the first time to kill 600 Soviet
POWS and 250 Poles
January 20th, 1942 – Wannsee Conference
o Nazis revealed the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”
o Called for the elimination of all 11 million European Jews, whom they believed
were polluting the Third Reich
th
July 10 , 1942 – Nazis at Auschwitz began the first medical experiments on prisoners in
concentration camps
January 19th, 1943 – Gypsies are arrested and ordered to be sent to the concentration
camps
April, 1943 – Britain and US held the Bermuda Conference discussing the possible
rescue of Jewish refugees, although no concrete action is taken
April 19th, 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
o After over a month of fighting, the rebels were finally crushed
o Led to other uprisings across Nazi territory, including spiritual uprisings
July 20th, – A small group of officers from the German army failed to assassinate Hitler
1944 – US War Refugee Board founded
1945 – Liberations began
o January 18th – 1st liberated camp = Warsaw by the Soviets
o Nazis tried to prevent liberation by forcing inmates on “death marches”
April 30th, 1945 – Hitler committed suicide
November 22nd, 1945 – Nuremburg trials began