1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945

The Nazi party takes power in Germany. Hitler becomes Chancellor.

40,000 SA and SS men are sworn in as auxiliary police.

German government takes away freedom of speech, assembly, press, and freedom from invasion of privacy (mail, telephone, telegraph), and from house search without warrant.

The concentration camp at Dachau is established.

The Gestapo is created by Hermann Goering in the German state of Prussia.

Trade unions are closed.

Books declared contrary to Nazi beliefs are publicly burned.

The Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany.

Nazis pass a law requiring the forced sterilization of those found to have genetic defects.

German Jews are forbidden from owning land.

German Jews are forbidden from being newspaper editors.

Nazis pass a law that allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics, and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.

Hitler’s Defense Council declares its intention to prepare for war.

German Jews are forbidden from receiving national health insurance.

Hitler becomes Fuhrer and declares himself both President and Chancellor of Germany.

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German Jews are forbidden from serving in the military.

The German government enacts the Nuremberg Laws—depriving German Jews of citizenship and fundamental rights.

The Nazis intensify persecution of political dissenters and others considered "inferior," including Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.

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The German Gestapo is placed above the law.

SS Deathshead division is established to guard concentration camps.

Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the German Police.

Olympic Games begin in Berlin. To gain public favor, Hitler and Nazis temporarily stop actions against Jews.

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German Jews are banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans, accounting and dentistry. They are also denied tax reductions and child allowances.

Many Jewish students are ordered to leave German schools and universities.

Buchenwald concentration camp is established.

Jewish passports are declared invalid for foreign travel.

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Germany takes over Austria and all anti-Jewish laws are enforced.

Nazis require Jews to register wealth and property.

The United States convenes a League of Nations conference with delegates from 32 countries to consider helping Jews fleeing Hitler, but no country will accept them.

Nazis require Jews over age 15 to apply for identity cards to be shown on demand to any police officer.

Jewish doctors are prohibited by law from practicing medicine.

Nazis destroy the synagogue in Nuremberg.

Nazis require all Jewish women to add "Sarah" and all men to add "Israel" to their names on all legal documents, including passports.

Jews are prohibited from all legal practices.

Law requires Jewish passports to be stamped with a large red "J."

Nazis arrest 17,000 Polish Jews living in Germany and force them at gunpoint to cross the border into Poland. Poland refuses them entry, leaving them in "no-man’s land" near the Polish border for several months.

Kristallnacht: The Night of the Broken Glass, Nazis attack Jews throughout Germany—30,000 Jews are arrested; 91 are killed; 7,500 shops and businesses are looted; and more than 1,000 synagogues are burned. Nazis fine Jews one billion marks for the damages.

Jewish children are expelled from public schools.

A law is passed calling for the Aryanization of all Jewish businesses.

Hermann Goering takes charge of resolving the "Jewish Question."

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Goering orders the emigration of Jews speeded up.

Nazis force Jews to hand over all gold and silver items.

Nazis seize Czechoslovakia (Jewish population of 350,000).

Slovakia passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.

Jews are forbidden rights as tenants and are relocated into Jewish houses.

The St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United States, and other countries and returns to Europe.

German Jews are forbidden the right to hold government jobs.

Adolf Eichmann is appointed director of the Prague Office of Jewish Emigration.

Nazis invade Poland (Jewish population of 3.35 million, the largest in Europe).

Nazis order Polish Jews into restricted ghettos and force them into slave labor.

Great Britain and France declare war on Germany and World War II begins.

German Jews are forbidden to own wireless radios.

Nazis begin euthanasia on the sick and disabled in Germany.

A forced labor decree is issued for Polish Jews aged 14 to 60.

Yellow stars are required to be worn by Polish Jews over the age of 10.

Adolf Eichmann takes over the section of the Gestapo dealing with Jewish affairs and evacuations.

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Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland as the site of a new concentration camp.

Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland.

Nazis invade Denmark (Jewish population of 8,000) and Norway (Jewish population of 2,000).

The Lodz Ghetto in Poland is sealed off from the outside world with 230,000 Jews locked inside.

Rudolf Hoss is chosen kommandant of Auschwitz.

Nazis invade France (Jewish population of 350,000), Belgium (Jewish population of 65,000), Holland (Jewish population of 140,000), and Luxembourg (Jewish population of 3,500).

Paris is occupied by the Nazis.

France signs an armistice with Hitler.

Eichmann proposes his Madagascar Plan, which would deport all European Jews to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of east Africa.

The first anti-Jewish measures are taken in Vichy France.

Romania introduces anti-Jewish measures restricting education and employment, and then begins the "Romanianization" of Jewish businesses.

Tripartite (Axis) Pact is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Vichy France signs its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.

Nazis invade Romania (Jewish population of 34,000).

Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia become Nazis Allies.

The Krakow Ghetto is sealed off with 70,000 Jews inside.

The Warsaw Ghetto is sealed off with 400,000 Jews inside.

Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews at Treblinka.

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2,000 Jews are killed in a pogrom in Romania.

430 Jewish hostages are deported from Amsterdam after a Dutch Nazi is killed by Jews.

Himmler makes his first visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders a massive expansion, including a new compound at nearby Birkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners.

Nazis occupy Bulgaria (Jewish population of 50,000).

German Jews are ordered into forced labor.

The German Army High Command gives approval to the SS murder squads in occupied Poland.

Nazis invade Yugoslavia (Jewish population of 75,000) and Greece (Jewish population of 77,000).

3,600 Jews are arrested in Paris.

French Marshal Petain issues a radio broadcast approving collaboration with Hitler.

Nazis invade the Soviet Union (Jewish population of 3 million).

Romanian troops kill 10,000 Jews in the town of Jassy.

Mobile killing units begin the systematic slaughter of Jews.

As the German Army advances, SS Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) follow along and conduct mass murder of Jews.

Ghettos are established at Kovno, Minsk, Vitebsk, and Zhitomer.

The government of Vichy France seizes Jewish owned property.

Majdanek concentration camp opens in occupied Poland.

3,800 Jews are killed during a pogrom by Lithuanians in Kovno.

Goering instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.

Jews in Romania are forced into Transnistria and 70,000 are killed by December.

Ghettos are established at Bialystok and Lvov.

The Hungarian Army rounds up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk.

The first test use of Zyklon-B gas is done at Auschwitz.

German Jews are ordered to wear yellow stars.

The Vilna Ghetto is established with 40,000 Jews. General deportation of German Jews begins.

Nazis take Kiev.

23,000 Jews are killed at Kamenets-Podolsk in the Ukraine.

In two days, mobile killing units shoot 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar near Kiev.

The German Army begins a drive on Moscow.

35,000 Jews from Odessa are shot.

Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich.

Mobile killing units report a tally of 45,476 Jews killed.

The Theresienstadt Ghetto is established near Prague as a model ghetto for Nazi propaganda purposes.

A mass shooting of Latvian and German Jews occurs near Riga.

The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the next day the United States and Great Britain declare war on Japan.

In occupied Poland, near Lodz, the Chelmno extermination camp becomes operational.

Hitler declares war on the United States and Roosevelt declares war on Germany.

The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine with 769 Jews but is denied permission to disembark by British authorities. In February 1942, the Struma sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Soviet submarine and sunk as an "enemy target."

During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, says "Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them."

Mass killings of Jews by Zyklon-B begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Bunker I and bodies are buried in mass graves in a nearby meadow.

The Wannsee Conference is held to coordinate the Final Solution.

Mobile killing units report a tally of 229,052 Jews killed.

Six death camps equipped with gas chambers begin full operation in Poland: Majdanek, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. During peak operations, thousands of people a day are murdered in these death factories.

Jews from Lublin are deported to Belzec. Beginning of deportation of Slovak Jews and French Jews to Auschwitz. Fritz Sauckel named Chief of Manpower to speed up recruitment of slave labor.

German Jews are banned from using public transportation.

The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine gunned more than 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland, and 200,000 in western Russia.

SS leader Heydrich is mortally wounded by Czech underground agents.

Jews in France, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, and Romania are required to wear yellow stars.

Heydrich dies of his wounds.

SS report 97,000 persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans.

Nazis liquidate Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich’s death.

Eichmann meets with representatives from France, Belgium, and Holland to coordinate deportation plans for Jews.

At Auschwitz, a second gas chamber is made operational at Birkenau because of the number of Jews arriving.

The New York Times reports that more than 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis.

Jews from Berlin are sent to Theresienstadt.

Beginning of deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz.

12,887 Jews from Paris are rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp outside the city. A total of 74,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, are eventually sent from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Sobibor.

Himmler orders Operation Reinhard, mass deportations of Polish Jews to extermination camps.

Beginning of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the new extermination camp at Treblinka. Also, beginning of the deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz.

Treblinka extermination camp opens in Poland. The camp is fitted with two buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbon monoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-B is later substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits.

The beginning of deportation of Croatian Jews to Auschwitz.

The beginning of German army attack of Stalingrad.

7,000 Jews are arrested in unoccupied France.

Open pit burning of bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is made to dig up and burn 107,000 already buried corpses, to prevent the contamination of ground water.

Food rations for Jews in Germany are reduced.

SS begins cashing in possessions and valuables of Jews from Auschwitz and Majdanek. German banknotes are sent to the Reichs Bank. Foreign currency, gold, jewels, and other valuables are sent to SS Headquarters of the Economic Administration. Watches, clocks, and pens are distributed to troops at the front. Clothing is distributed to German families. By February of 1943, more than 800 boxcars of confiscated goods have left Auschwitz.

Himmler orders all Jews in concentration camps in Germany to be sent to Auschwitz and Majdanek.

A German eyewitness observes SS mass murder.

There is a mass killing of Jews from the Mizocz Ghetto in the Ukraine.

The SS puts down a revolt at Sachsenhausen by a group of Jews about to be sent to Auschwitz.

Beginning of deportation of Jews from Norway to Auschwitz.

170,000 Jews are murdered in the area of Bialystok.

The first transport of Jews from Germany arrives at Auschwitz.

Exterminations at Belzec cease after an estimated 600,000 Jews are murdered. The camp is dismantled, plowed over, and planted.

The British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons the Nazis are "now carrying into effect Hitler’s oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people of Europe." The United States declares those crimes will be avenged.

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Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto resist.

Nazis order all Gypsies arrested and sent to extermination camps.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner succeeds Heydrich as head of RSHA.

The Romanian government proposes to the Allies the transfer of 70,000 Jews to Palestine, but receives no response from Great Britain or the United States.

Greek Jews are ordered into ghettos.

Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler’s armies.

Jews working in Berlin armaments industry are sent to Auschwitz.

The start of deportation of Jews from Greece to Auschwitz, lasting until August, totaling 49,900 persons.

In New York, American Jews hold a mass rally at Madison Square Garden to pressure the U.S. government into helping the Jews of Europe.

The Krakow Ghetto is liquidated.

Bulgaria states opposition to the deportation of its Jews.

Newly built gas chambers/crematories II and IV are opened in Auschwitz.

Exterminations at Chelmno stop. The camp will be reactivated in the spring of 1944 to liquidate ghettos. In all, Chelmno will total 300,000 deaths.

At the Bermuda Conference, the United States and Great Britain discuss the plight of refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but nothing is decided about the plight of the Jews.

The Warsaw Ghetto revolt begins. Jews fight until early June.

German and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allies

Nazi declares Berlin to be Judenfrei (cleansed of Jews).

Nazis order the destruction of all ghettos in Poland and Russia.

Newly built gas chamber/crematory III opens at Auschwitz. With its completion, the four new crematories at Auschwitz have a daily capacity of 4,756 bodies.

Armed resistance begins in many ghettos.

Allies land in Sicily.

Two hundred Jews escape from Treblinka extermination camp during a revolt. Nazis hunt them down one by one.

The Bialystok Ghetto is liquidated.

Exterminations stop at Treblinka, after an estimated 870,000 deaths.

The Vilna and Minsk Ghettos are liquidated.

Germans occupy Rome, after occupying northern and central Italy, containing in all about 35,000 Jews.

Beginning of Jewish family transports from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz.

Himmler talks openly about the Final Solution at Posen.

Massive escape from Sobibor as Jews and Soviet POWs break out, with 300 making it safely into nearby woods. Of those 300, 50 survive. Exterminations then stop at Sobibor, after 250,000 deaths. All traces of the death camps are removed and trees are planted.

The U.S. Congress holds hearings on the U.S. State Department’s inaction regarding European Jews, despite mounting reports of mass extermination.

Nazis carry out Operation Harvest Festival in occupied Poland, killing 42,000 Jews.

Auschwitz Kommandant Hoss is promoted to chief inspector of concentration camps. The new kommandant, Liebehenschel, divides up the huge Auschwitz complex of more than 30 sub-camps into three main sections.

The first transport of Jews from Vienna arrives at Auschwitz.

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Soviet troops reach former Polish border.

In response to political pressure to help Jews under Nazi control, Roosevelt creates the War Refugee Board.

Diary entry by Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, concerning the fate of 2.5 million Jews originally under his jurisdiction, "At the present time we still have in the General Government perhaps 100,000 Jews."

Nazis occupy Hungary (Jewish population of 725,000). Eichmann arrives with Gestapo "Special Section Commandos."

President Roosevelt issues a statement condemning German and Japanese ongoing "crimes against humanity."

Two Jewish inmates escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau and make it safely to Czechoslovakia. One of them, Rudolf Vrba, submits a report to the Papal Nuncio in Slovakia. The report is forwarded to the Vatican and received there in mid-June.

The first transports of Jews from Athens to Auschwitz total 5,200 people.

Himmler’s agents secretly propose a trade to the western Allies: Jews for trucks and money. The deal is rejected.

Rudolf Hoss returns to Auschwitz, ordered by Himmler to oversee the extermination of Hungarian Jews.

Jews are deported from Hungary to Auschwitz. Eichmann arrives to personally oversee and speed up the 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 and white metal from the teeth of those gassed.

A Red Cross delegation visits Theresienstadt after the Nazis have carefully prepared the camp and the Jewish inmates, resulting in a favorable report.

D-Day: Allied landings in Normandy.

By the end of the month, half the Jews in Hungary (381,661 people) arrive at Auschwitz.

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary, and saves nearly 33,000 Jews by issuing diplomatic papers and establishing "safe houses."

Soviet troops liberate the first concentration camp at Majdanek, where more than 360,000 people have been murdered.

Auschwitz-Birkenau records its highest-ever daily number of people gassed and burned, at just over 9,000. Six huge pits are used to burn bodies, as the number exceeds the capacity of the crematories.

The last Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, is liquidated with 60,000 Jews sent to Auschwitz.

A revolt by Soderkommando (Jewish slave laborers) at Auschwitz-Birkenau results in the complete destruction of Crematory IV.

Nazis seize control of the Hungarian puppet government, and then resume deportation of Jews, which was temporarily stopped by international political pressure to end Jewish persecution.

The last transport of Jews to be gassed (2,000 from Theresienstadt) arrives at Auschwitz.

The last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Nazis force 25,000 Jews to walk more than 100 miles in the rain and snow from Budapest to the Austrian border, followed by a second forced march of 50,000 people ending at Mauthausen.

Himmler orders the destruction of the crematories at Auschwitz.

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As the Allies advance, the Nazis conduct death marches of concentration camp inmates away from outlying areas.

Soviets liberate Budapest, freeing more than 80,000 Jews.

Eastern Germany is invaded by Soviets.

Warsaw is liberated by Soviets.

Nazis evacuate 66,000 from Auschwitz.

Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz. By this time, an estimated 2,000,000 people (including 1,500,000 Jews) have been murdered there.

Ohrdruf camp is liberated and later visited by General Eisenhower.

The Allies liberate Buchenwald.

40,000 prisoners are freed at Bergen-Belsen by the British, who report, "Both inside and outside the huts was a carpet of dead bodies, human excreta, rags and filth."

Soviet troops reach Berlin.

The U.S. 7^th Army liberates Dachau.

Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker.

Americans free 33,000 inmates from concentration camps.

Mauthausen is liberated.

An unconditional German surrender is signed by General Jodl at Reims.

Hermann Goering is captured by the U.S. 7^th Army.

Himmler commits suicide.

The opening of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal.

Timeline material based on information from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

Some timeline material from A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust, Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida © 2001

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