Dates for Chalkboard
1933
 January 30, President Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor (Prime Minister) of Germany
 March 23, First concentration camp, Dachau, is established
 April 1-December 1
o April 1: Nazis proclaim a boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses
o April 7: Jews dismissed from civil service and denied admission to the bar
o April 26: Formation of the Gestapo
o May 2: Dissolution of free-trade unions
o May 10: Burning of books written by Jews and opponents of Nazism
o December 1: Hitler declares unity of the German State and Nazi Party
1934
 August2, Death of Hindenburg; Hitler becomes Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the army
1935
 September 15, Reichstag passes “Nuremberg Laws
1938
 March 13, Annexation of Austria to the Third Reich; Nazis apply anti-Semitic laws
 November 9 &10, Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), anti-Semitic riots in Germany and Austria
 December 13, “Aryanization” (compulsory expropriation of Jewish industries, businesses & shops) enacted
1939
 November 23, Wearing of Judenstern (Jewish six-pointed Star of David) is made compulsory throughout
occupied Poland
1941
 December 8, United States enter the war
1943
 April 19-May16, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
1945
 Liberation of Death Camps; End of the War
January 30, 1933
President Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor (Prime Minister) of Germany
On the night of January 30, 1933, the Nazis organized a massive torchlight parade in Berlin to
celebrate the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
March 23, __________
 First concentration camp, Dachau, is established
 Dachau concentration camp was the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany,
located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau,
about 16 km (9.9 mi) northwest of Munich in the state ofBavaria, which is located in southern
Germany. Opened 22 March 1933 (51 days after Hitler took power), It was the first
regular concentration campestablished by the coalition government of the National Socialist
Party (Nazi Party) and the German Nationalist People's Party. Heinrich Himmler, then Chief of
Police of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political
prisoners.
 “Enabling Law” passed by Reichstag which suspended civil liberties
 On March 23, ____, the newly elected members of the German Parliament (the Reichstag) met in
the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's Enabling Act. It was officially called the
'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich.' If passed, it would effectively mean
the end of democracy in Germany and establish the legal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.
 The 'distress' had been secretly caused by the Nazis themselves in order to create a crisis
atmosphere that would make the law seem necessary to restore order. On February 27, 1933,
they had burned the Reichstag building, seat of the German government, causing panic and
outrage. The Nazis successfully blamed the fire on the Communists and claimed it marked the
beginning of a widespread uprising.
 On the day of the vote, Nazi storm troopers gathered in a show of force around the opera house
chanting, "Full powers - or else! We want the bill - or fire and murder!!" They also stood inside in the
hallways, and even lined the aisles where the vote would take place, glaring menacingly at
anyone who might oppose Hitler's will.
 Just before the vote, Hitler made a speech to the Reichstag in which he pledged to use restraint.
 "The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out
vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having
recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one." - Hitler told the Reichstag.
 He also promised an end to unemployment and pledged to promote peace with France, Great
Britain and the Soviet Union. But in order to do all this, Hitler said, he first needed the Enabling Act.
 A two thirds majority was needed, since the law would actually alter the German constitution.
Hitler needed 31 non-Nazi votes to pass it. He got those votes from the Center Party after making
a false promise to restore some basic rights already taken away by decree.
 However, one man arose amid the overwhelming might. Otto Wells, leader of the Social
Democrats stood up and spoke quietly to Hitler.
 "We German Social Democrats pledge ourselves solemnly in this historic hour to the principles of
humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No enabling act can give you power to destroy
ideas which are eternal and indestructible."
 This enraged Hitler and he jumped up to respond.
 "You are no longer needed! - The star of Germany will rise and yours will sink! Your death knell has
sounded!"
 The vote was taken - 441 for, only 84, the Social Democrats, against. The Nazis leapt to their feet
clapping, stamping and shouting, then broke into the Nazi anthem, the Hörst Wessel song.
 They achieved what Hitler had wanted for years - to tear down the German Democratic
Republic legally and end democracy, thus paving the way for a complete Nazi takeover of
Germany.
 From this day on, the Reichstag would be just a sounding board, a cheering section for Hitler's
pronouncements.
April 1 – December 1, _____
 Nazis proclaim a boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses
 Jews dismissed from civil service and denied admission to the bar
 In March ____ the Nazis won a large number of seats in the German parliament. Following
the victory there was widespread violence and hooliganism directed at Jewish businesses
and individuals. Jewish lawyers and judges were physically prevented from reaching the
courts. In some cases the SA created improvised concentration camps for prominent
Jewish anti-Nazis.
 There was widespread international horror at the persecution of the Jews. At the same
time, a long-term Jewish boycott of German goods started in March ____, prompting the
UK newspaper Daily Express to go so far as to put as headline "Judea Declares War on
Germany". The Nazis used this to justify a one day national boycott against Jewish
Germans. On 1 April ____, the Nazis carried out their first nationwide, planned action
against Jews: a boycott targeting Jewish businesses and professionals.
 On the day of the boycott, the SA stood menacingly in front of Jewish-owned department
stores and retail establishments, and the offices of professionals such as doctors and
lawyers. The Star of David was painted in yellow and black across thousands of doors and
windows, with accompanying anti-Semitic slogans. Signs were posted saying "Don't Buy
from Jews", "The Jews Are Our Misfortune." and "Go to Palestine". Throughout Germany,
rare acts of violence against individual Jews and Jewish property occurred.
 The boycott was ignored by many individual Germans who continued to shop in Jewishowned stores during the day.
 The Geheime Staatspolizei (German for Secret State Police, abbreviated “Gestapo”) was
formally organized after the Nazis seized power in ____. Hermann Göring, the Prussian
minister of the interior, detached the espionage and political units of the Prussian police.
And staffed them with thousands of Nazis. Göring became the commander of this new
force on April 26, ____. At the same time that Goring was organzing the Gestapo, Heinrich
Himmler was directing the SS (Schutzstaffel, German for “Protective Echelon”), Hitler's elite
paramilitary corps. In April ____, he was given command of the Gestapo as well,
integrating all of Germany's police units under Himmler.
 The army units within the Gestapo were taught many torture techniques, and were also
taught many of the practices that German doctors in Dachau tested on the inmates of
concentration camps. The Gestapo, during its tenure, operated without any restrictions by
civil authority, meaning that its members could not be tried for any of their police
practices. This unconditional authority added an elitist element to the Gestapo; its
members knew that whatever actions they took, no consequences would arise.
 Dissolution of free-trade unions
 Burning of books written by Jews and opponents of Nazism
 Hitler declares unity of the German State and Nazi Party
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August 2, ________
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Hitler becomes Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
By the summer of ____, the elderly German President, Paul von Hindenburg, lay close to death at his
country estate in East Prussia. He had been in failing health for several months, thus giving Adolf Hitler and
the Nazis ample opportunity to make plans to capitalize on his demise.
Reich Chancellor Hitler planned to use President Hindenburg's death as an opportunity to seize total
power in Germany by elevating himself to the position of Führer, or absolute leader, of the German
nation and its people.
On August 2, ____, at 9 a.m., the long awaited death of 87 year old Hindenburg finally occurred. Within
hours, Hitler and the Nazis announced the following law:
"The Reich Government has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated:
o Section 1. The office of Reich President will be combined with that of Reich Chancellor. The existing
authority of the Reich President will consequently be transferred to the Führer and Reich
Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. He will select his deputy.
o Section 2. This law is effective as of the time of the death of Reich President von Hindenburg."
Following the announcement of this (technically illegal) law, the German Officers' Corps and every
individual in the German Army swore a personal oath of allegiance to Hitler.
A nationwide vote (plebiscite) was then scheduled to give the German people a chance to express their
approval of Hitler's unprecedented new powers.
Meanwhile, Hindenburg's last will and testament surfaced. Contrary to Hitler's intentions, Hindenburg's last
wishes included a desire for a return to a constitutional (Hohenzollern) monarchy. These last wishes were
contained in the form of a personal letter from Hindenburg to Hitler.
Hitler ignored this and likely destroyed the letter, as it was not published and has never been found.
However, the Nazis did publish Hindenburg's alleged political testament giving an account of his years of
service with complimentary references to Hitler. Although it was likely a forgery, it was used as part of the
Nazi campaign to get a large "Yes" vote for Hitler in the coming plebiscite.\
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On August 19, about 95 percent of registered voters in Germany went to the polls and gave Hitler 38
million votes of approval (90 percent of the vote). Thus Adolf Hitler could claim he was Führer of the
German nation by direct will of the people. Hitler now wielded absolute power in Germany, beyond that
of any previous traditional head of state. He had become, in effect, the law unto himself.
The next day, August 20, mandatory loyalty oaths were introduced throughout the Reich...
Oath of loyalty for Public Officials:
"I swear: I shall be loyal and obedient to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich and people, respect
the laws, and fulfill my official duties conscientiously, so help me God."
Oath of loyalty for Soldiers of the Armed Forces:
'I swear by God this sacred oath: I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the
German Reich and people, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and will be ready as a brave
soldier to risk my life at any time for this oath.'
These oaths were pledged to Hitler personally, not the German state or constitution. And they were taken
very seriously by members of the German Officers' Corps with their traditional minded codes of honor,
which now elevated obedience to Hitler as a sacred duty and effectively placed the German armed
forces in the position of being the personal instrument of Hitler.
(Years later, following the German defeat in World War Two, many German officers unsuccessfully
attempted to use the oath as a defense against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.)
In September, ____, at the annual Nuremberg Nazi Party rallies, a euphoric Hitler proclaimed, "The
German form of life is definitely determined for the next thousand years. The Age of Nerves of the
nineteenth century has found its close with us. There will be no revolution in Germany for the next
thousand years."
September 15, ____
 “Juden Verboten” signs (meaning, no Jews) were posted outside towns, restaurants, stores
 Reichstag passes the “Nuremberg Laws”
 At the annual party rally held in Nuremberg in ____, the Nazis announced new laws which
institutionalized many of the racial theories prevalent in Nazi ideology. The laws excluded
German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual
relations with persons of "German or related blood." Ancillary ordinances to the laws
disenfranchised Jews and deprived them of most political rights.
 The Nuremberg Lawsa, did not define a "Jew" as someone with particular religious beliefs.
Instead, anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents was defined as a Jew,
regardless of whether that individual identified himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to
the Jewish religious community. Many Germans who had not practiced Judaism for years
found themselves caught in the grip of Nazi terror. Even people with Jewish grandparents
who had converted to Christianity were defined as Jews.
 For a brief period after Nuremberg, in the weeks before and during the ____Olympic
Games held in Berlin, the Nazi regime actually moderated its anti-Jewish attacks and even
removed some of the signs saying "Jews Unwelcome" from public places. Hitler did not
want international criticism of his government to result in the transfer of the Games to
another country. Such a loss would have been a serious blow to German prestige.
 After the Olympic Games (in which the Nazis did not allow German Jewish athletes to
participate), the Nazis again stepped up the persecution of German Jews. In 1937 and
____,
 The government set out to impoverish Jews by requiring them to register their property
and then by "Aryanizing" Jewish businesses. This meant that Jewish workers and managers
were dismissed, and the ownership of most Jewish businesses was taken over by nonJewish Germans who bought them at bargain prices fixed by Nazis. Jewish doctors were
forbidden to treat non-Jews, and Jewish lawyers were not permitted to practice law.
 At their annual party rally, the Nazis announce new laws that revoke Reich citizenship for
Jews and prohibit Jews from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German
or related blood." "Racial infamy," as this becomes known, is made a criminal offense. The
Nuremberg Laws define a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents.
Consequently, the Nazis classify as Jews thousands of people who had converted from
Judaism to another religion, among them even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and
Protestant ministers whose grandparents were Jewish.
 The Nuremberg Laws were intended to bring about a clear separation of races and, in
particular, to do away with the notion of persons of mixed blood in the future, as the term
of half Jew or quarter Jew led to continuous distinctions and confusion as far as their
position was concerned. Here I wish to emphasize that I personally had frequent
discussions with the Fuehrer regarding persons of mixed blood and that I pointed out to
the Fuehrer that, once German Jews were clearly separated, it was impossible to have still
another category between the two which constituted a not well clarified section of the
German people, which did not stand on the same level as the other Germans. I
suggested to him that, as a generous act, he should do away with the concept of the
person of mixed blood and place such people on the same footing as the other
Germans. The Fuehrer took up this idea with great interest and was all for adopting my
point of view, in fact, he gave certain preparatory orders.
March 13, __________
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Annexation of Austria to the Third Reich
Nazis apply anti-Semitic laws
January 5: Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names forbids Jews from changing their names.
February 5: Law on the Profession of Auctioneer excludes Jews from this occupation.
March 18: The Gun Law excludes Jewish gun merchants.
April 22: Decree against the Camouflage of Jewish Firms forbids changing the names of Jewish-owned
businesses.
April 26: Order for the Disclosure of Jewish Assets requires Jews to report all property in excess of 5,000
reichsmarks.
July 11 : Reich Ministry of the Interior bans Jews from health spas.
August 17 : Executive Order on the Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names requires Jews to
adopt an additional name: "Sara” for women and “Israel” for men.
October 3 : Decree on the Confiscation of Jewish Property regulates the transfer of assets from Jews to
non-Jewish Germans.
October 5 : The Reich Interior Ministry invalidates all German passports held by Jews. Jews must surrender
their old passports, which will become valid only after the letter “J” had been stamped on them.
November 12 : Decree on the Exclusion of Jews from German Economic Life closes all Jewish-owned
businesses.
November 15 : Reich Ministry of Education expels all Jewish children from public schools.
November 28 : Reich Ministry of Interior restricts the freedom of movement of Jews.
November 29: The Reich Interior Ministry forbids Jews to keep carrier pigeons. \
December 14 : An Executive Order on the Law on the Organization of National Work cancels all state
contracts held with Jewish-owned firms.
December 21: Law on Midwives bans all Jews from the occupation.
November 9 & 10, ____
 Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), antisemetic riots in Germany and AustriaSynagogues
are destroyed, shops were looted
 On November 9–10, ____, the Nazis staged vicious pogroms—state sanctioned, anti-Jewish
riots—against the Jewish community of Germany. These came to be known
as Kristallnacht (now commonly translated as “Night of Broken Glass”), a reference to the
untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community
centers, and homes plundered and destroyed during the pogroms. Encouraged by the
Nazi regime, the rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500
Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish
cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside.
Kristallnacht was a turning point in history. The pogroms marked an intensification of Nazi
anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust—the systematic, state-sponsored
murder of Jews.
December 13, 1938
 Decree on “Aryanization” (compulsory expropriation of Jewish industries, business and shops)
enacted.
 Aryanization (German: Arisierung) is a term coined during Nazism referring to the forced expulsion
of so-called "non-Aryans", mainly Jews, from business life in Nazi Germany and the territories it
controlled. It entailed the transfer of Jewish property into "Aryan" hands in order to "de-Jew the
economy".
 Literally, 'aryanization' means "to make Aryan". Fundamentally, the concept was based on the
ideology of the "Aryan master race".
 Through the Aryan paragraph and the Nuremberg Laws, Jews were early on largely excluded
from public life. Reserved areas in the economy had been left to them, which Aryanization was
to remove. By January 1, ____, German Jews were prohibited from operating businesses and
trades, and from offering goods and services. On 26 April ____, Jews were ordered to report all
wealth over 5,000 Reichsmarks, and their access to bank accounts was restricted. On 14 June
____, the Interior Ministry ordered the registration of all Jewish businesses. The state set the sales
value of Jewish firms at a fraction of their market worth, and used various pressure tactics to
ensure sales only to desired persons. Among the largest "Aryanization profiteers" were the IG
Farben Combine, the Flick family, and large banks. The proceeds from "Aryanized" firms had to
be deposited in savings accounts, and were made available to their Jewish depositors only in
limited amounts, so that in the final analysis Aryanization amounted to almost compensation-free
confiscation.
 In the Autumn of ____, only 40,000 of the formerly 100,000 Jewish businesses were still in the hands
of their original owners. Aryanisation was completed with the enactment of a regulation, the
Verordnung zur Ausschaltung der Juden aus dem deutschen Wirtschaftsleben of November 12,
____, through which the remaining businesses were transferred to non-Jewish owners and the
proceeds taken by the state. Jewelry, stocks, real property and other valuables had to be sold.
Either by direct force, by government interventions such as sudden tax claims, or by the weight
of the circumstances, Jewish property changed hands mostly below fair market value. Jewish
employees were fired, and self-employed people were prohibited from working in their
respective professions.
 After the "Kristallnacht" progroms, the pressure of Aryanization was drastically increased. On 12
November ____, Jews were forbidden to function as business managers, forcing Jewish owners to
install "Aryan" surrogates. These people, who were often promoted by the party, first took over
the office, and soon thereafter usually the whole business. "Compliant Aryans" (Gefälligkeitsarier)
were threatened with punishment according to the Regulation against Complicity with the
Camouflage of Jewish Firms (22 April 1938). Because the Jews were burdened with heavy
payments as "atonement" for the damage done by the SA and antisemitic mobs during
Kristallnacht, the selling off of Jewish property was only a question of time. On 3 December ____,
the value of Jewish landed property was frozen at the lowest level, and valuables and jewels
were permitted to be sold only through state offices. The impoverishment of the Jewish
population caused by Aryanization often stood in the way of its goal — of promoting emigration
through persecution — because those affected lacked the means to emigrate. They became
victims of the Final Solution. Aryanization combined the racial motives of National Socialism with
traditional antisemitic resentments within the middle classes (Mittelstand) and the expansionist
tendencies of big business. The fear of being too late to share in the booty produced a fateful
coalition of greed, so that little opposition to Aryanization arose. After the war, the Federal
Republic of Germany paid restitution for the material losses.
 Many important businesses were sold and re-sold in the course of the process, some of which
(such as the Hertie department store) played an important role during the post-war
Wirtschaftswunder years in West Germany.
 In a broader sense, the term Aryanisation is sometimes used to refer to eviction of Jewish scientists
and people engaged in the cultural sector.
November 23, ____
 Wearing of Judenstern (Jewish six-pointed Star of David) is made compulsory throughout
occupied Poland.
 After the German invasion of Poland in ____ there were initially different local decrees
forcing Jews to wear a distinctive sign, during the General Government. The sign was a
white armband with a blue Star of David on it, in the Warthegau a yellow badge in the
form of a Star of David on the left side of the breast and on the back.
 The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word Jude (German for Jew) inscribed
was then extended to all Jews over the age of six in the Reich and the Protectorate of
Bohemia and Moravia (by a decree issued on September 1, ____, signed by Reinhard
Heydrich[17][18]) and was gradually introduced in other German-occupied areas, where
local words were used (e.g. Juif in French, Jood in Dutch).
 Like everyone in Germany, Jews were required to carry identity cards, but the
government added special identifying marks to theirs: a red "J" stamped on them and
new middle names for all those Jews who did not possess recognizably "Jewish" first names
-- "Israel" for males, "Sara" for females. Such cards allowed the police to identify Jews
easily.
The United States enters World War II
 The United States was a latecomer in the Second World War.
 By the time the United States entered the war Germany had occupied most of
Europe and Japan was also starting to attack countries in Asia.
 Japan bombed U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The attack sank U.S. battle
ships and killed more than two thousand people. Pearl Harbour brought the U.S.
tagging into WWII.
 On the day of the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan. The next day, Japan’s
allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the U.S. President Roosevelt responded
by sending troops to fight in Europe.
 The US decision to enter the World War meant that the entire country turned to
devoting all its human and material resources to defeating the Axis countries.
 What took the United States so long?
The U.S. took an Isolationism position. Isolationism is a political philosophy that
advocates the withdrawal of a nation from international affairs as a strategy to
protect the nation’s interests.
"We will cut off all roads to the evil enemy. He will not escape from this noose!"
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
 The city of Warsaw was a major center of Jewish life and culture in Poland.
 The Germans decreed the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw.
 The population of the ghetto, increased by Jews compelled to move in from nearby towns, was
estimated to be over 400,000 Jews. German authorities forced ghetto residents to live in an area of
1.3 square miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.
 The German authorities deported or murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. In
response to the deportations. Jewish underground organizations created an armed self-defence unit
known as the Jewish Combat Organization (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ZOB)
 Mass deportations of Jews from Warsaw on January 18, 1943 saw a group of Jewish fighters, armed
with pistols, infiltrated a column of Jews being forced to the transfer point and, at a prearranged
signal, broke ranks and fought their German escorts. Most of these Jewish fighters died in the battle,
but the attack sufficiently disoriented the Germans to allow the Jews a chance to disperse
 The Germans planned to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto in three days, but the ghetto fighters held out
for more than a month. Individual Jews hiding out in the ruins of the ghetto continued attacks on the
patrols of the Germans.
 The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the largest, symbolically most important Jewish uprising, and the
first urban uprising in German-occupied Europe. The resistance in Warsaw inspired other uprising in
ghettos (e.g. Bialystok and Minsk) and killing centres (Treblinka and Sobibor).
German Soldiers questioning Jews in the Warsaw
Ghetto.
Germans began to concentrate Poland’s
population of over 3 million Jews into
overcrowded ghettos. Thousands of Jews died to
rampant disease and starvation, even before
deportations began.
After the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Ghetto was
completely destroyed. This is a view of the
remains of the ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto existed
for a few years, and in that time, some 300,000
Polish Jews lost their lives there.
Liberation of Death Camps / Germany Surrenders
U.S. Liberates BUCHENWALD CONCENTRATION CAMP
The things I saw beggar description…The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were…overpowering…I
made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to
charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’
— General Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 15, 1945, letter to General George C. Marshall following the liberation of Ohrdruf, a subcamp of
Buchenwald
LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ
“So I was hiding out in the heap of dead bodies because in the last week when the crematoria didn’t function at
all, the bodies were just building up higher and higher. So there I was at nighttime, in the daytime I was roaming
around in the camp, and this is where I actually survived, January 27, I was one of the very first, Birkenau was
one of the very first camps being liberated. This was my, my survival chance.”
—Bart Stern
Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans
Auschwitz included a concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camp.
In mid-January 1945, Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp complex, the Nazis began evacuating Auschwitz and its satellite
camps. Nearly 60,000 prisoners were forced to march west from the Auschwitz camp system. Thousands had been killed in the
camps in the days before these death marches began. Tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to march to the city
of Wodzislaw in the western part of Upper Silesia. SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue. Prisoners also
suffered from the cold weather, starvation, and exposure on these marches. More than 15,000 died during the death marches from
Auschwitz.
On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill
and dying. It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least
1.1 million were murdered.
View of the entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau from inside the camp after May 1945. —USHMM #08909 / Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccAWioDHgQM
Apr 30, 1945:
Hitler Commits Suicide
Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol, on this day in
1945, as his "1,000-year" Reich collapses above him.
At his side were Eva Braun, whom he married only two days before their double suicide, and his dog, an Alsatian named Blondi.
Warned by officers that the Russians were only a day or so from overtaking the chancellery and urged to escape to Berchtesgarden, a small town in the Bavarian
Alps where Hitler owned a home, the dictator instead chose suicide. It is believed that both he and his wife swallowed cyanide capsules (which had been tested for
their efficacy on his "beloved" dog and her pups). For good measure, he shot himself with his service pistol.
The bodies of Hitler and Eva were cremated in the chancellery garden by the bunker survivors (as per Der Fuhrer's orders) and reportedly later recovered in part
by Russian troops. A German court finally officially declared Hitler dead, but not until 1956