April 20, 1889 – Hitler is born in Austria
November 11, 1918 – WWI Ends
1920 – Nazi Party Founded
July 1921 – Hitler named leader of Nazi Party
November 9, 1923 – Failed “Putsch”
February 26, 1924 – Hitler put on trial for treason
1924 – Mein Kampf
October 29, 1929 – Stock Market crashes
January 30, 1933 – Hitler named Chandellor of Germany
February 27, 1933 – Reichstag fire
March 23, 1933 – Hitler becomes dictator of Germany (Enabling Act)
April 1, 1933 – Nazi’s issue a boycott of Jewish shops – blamed them for negative press in American and
British newspapers
April 26, 1933 – Hermann Göring creates “Gestapo”, Nazi police force separate from SS/SA – German
police could not interfere with Nazi activities.
o
o
1936 Gestapo law - "Neither the instructions nor the affairs of the Gestapo will be open to review
by the administrative courts."
Göring kept secret files on nearly all Nazi leaders
May 10, 1933 – Burning of Books – un-German ideas. Policy continued to schools and universities
Spring 1933 – Dachau Opens - "Arbeit Macht Frei" – work sets you free. SS men trained to no feel
sympathy for prisons
June 30, 1934 – Night of Long Knives – Hitler had 70+ executed by SS/Gestapo: included SA leaders,
Strasser, von Schleicher, Father Bernhard Stempfle, Karl Ernst. Hitler admitted to killings – to protect
Germany
August 2, 1934 – Hitler becomes Führer – Hindenburg died, Hitler put his rule to a ja/nein vote… 90% ja.
September 1934 – Triumph of the Will made at Nuremberg rally.
September 15, 1935 – Nuremberg Laws:
Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935
I. 1. A subject of the State is a person who belongs to the protective union of the German Reich, and who therefore
has particular obligations towards the Reich. 2. The status of subject is acquired in accordance with the provisions of
the Reich and State Law of Citizenship.
II. 1. A citizen of the Reich is that subject only who is of German or kindred blood and who, through his conduct,
shows that he is both desirous and fit to serve the German people and Reich faithfully.
Law for the Protection of German Blood
and German Honor, September 15, 1935
Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and
inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has
unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:
I. 1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in
defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad. 2.
Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor.
II. Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of German of kindred blood are forbidden.
III. Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood under 45 years of age as
domestic servants.
IV. 1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors. 2. On the other hand they are
permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the State.
V. 1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section I will be punished with hard labor. 2. A person who
acts contrary to the prohibition of Section II will be punished with imprisonment or with hard labor. 3. A person
who acts contrary to the provisions of Sections III or IV will be punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a
fine, or with one of these penalties.
VI. The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice will
issue the legal and administrative regulations required for the enforcement and supplementing of this law.
VII. The law will become effective on the day after its promulgation; Section III, however, not until January 1,
1936.
On Jews: a leter decree “defined a "full Jew" as a person with at least three Jewish grandparents. Those
with fewer than three grandparents were designated as Mischlinge (half-breeds), of which there were two
degrees: First Degree Mischlinge – a person with two Jewish grandparents; Second Degree Mischlinge –
a person with one Jewish grandparent.”
March 7, 1936 – Nazi’s march into Rhineland –




March 1935 – Hitler decided to reintroduce mandatory conscription – build an army of 550,000
man – defy ToV
No reaction to re-militarization from international community
May 21st – Hitler made a speech saying Germany will honor all other portions of TOV
March 7, 1936 – Hitler marched troops across the Rhine – makes speech promising not to break
peace
Summer 1936 – Berlin Olympics
November 5, 1937- Held secret meeting to lay out “Lebensraum” plans





Hitler’s two main goals –
o Lebensraum
o Fix “Jewish problem”
Lebensraum can only be acquired by force – ideal goal was Russia
First, needed to take Austria and Czechoslovakia
Plan was to be completed by 1945
Hitler removed all opposition from army
February 1938 – Hitler declares himself commander of the army
o
Goring and Hitler removed Generals from army and replaced them with loyalists
March 12, 1938 – Germany invades Austria
o Feb 12 - Hitler met with Chancellor of Austria: "The whole history of Austria is just one
uninterrupted act of high treason…But I am telling you that I am going to solve the socalled Austrian problem one way or the other...I have a historic mission, and this mission
I will fulfill because Providence has destined me to do so...I have only to give an order
and all your ridiculous defense mechanisms will be blown to bits. You don't seriously
believe you can stop me or even delay me for half an hour, do you?"
o Made him sign an agreement with a list of demands
o Nazi’s began to cause disruptions in Austria
o Austrian presidency refused to meet all demands
o Hitler got permission from Mussolini to invade Austria
o Invasion – no opposition
September 1938 – England & France agrees to let Germany take Sudetenland from
Czechoslovakia
November 9, 1938 – Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht)
o Oct 27 – 17,000 Polish Jews expelled from Germany (Reinhard Heydrich)
o Nov 7 – Attempted assassination of German ambassador by Jew in Paris
o Nov 9 – SS smashed Jewish storefronts, broke into homes, torched synagogues, assaulted
Jews, murdered 91 Jews
March 15, 1939 – Nazis take Czechoslovakia
o Hitler – No intention of honoring Munich Agreement
o Nazis created political unrest in Czech
o Created propaganda campaign stating Germans in Czech were being persecuted
o Germany then had to come rescue Germans in Czech – “restore order”
o Nazis met with Czech president – told them if he did not sign over Czech, Prague would
be destroyed
August 23, 1939 – Nazi Soviet pact
o After Germany annexed rest of Czech, France and Britain said they would declare war if
Germany went after Poland
o Germany and Italy signed “Pact of Steel”
o Hitler – wanted non-aggression pact with Russia
o Plan was to take Poland, then quickly beat France and Britain before going after
Russia
Summer of 1939 – Beginning of WWII
o FDR to Hitler – Please don’t invade these 20 countries – Hitler to FDR – “Germany only
has peaceful intentions with its neighbors…”
o Hitler – spent beginning of 1939 planning Poland invasion (Operation Himmler)
o SS – took control of Polish radio station and broadcasted anti-German propaganda
o SS – release propaganda of Germans in Poland being persecuted
o SS would stage fake attack against Germany from Poland – Germany forced to
retaliate
 Gave lethal injection to concentration camp inmates, dressed them in
Polish Army uniforms, shot them, and put them on German soil to “prove”
Polish invasion
o Sept - Poland defeated (Blitzkrieg - carefully coordinated attacks of planes, tanks,
motorized troops and self-propelled artillery, all set to a precise timetable.)