1933

Jan. 30 Hitler appointed Reich Chancellor of Germany (Prime Minister)

Feb. 27 Reichstag fire

Feb. 28 Hitler given emergency powers by presidential decree

Mar. 5 Reichstag elections; Nazis win 44% of vote

Mar. 20 Establishment of the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany at Dachau

Mar. 24 "Enabling Law" passed by Reichstag; used to establish dictatorship.

Apr. 1 Nationwide boycott of Jewish owned businesses

Apr. Jews excluded from government employment; includes teachers and university professors

Apr. 26 Formation of the Gestapo

May 10 Public burning of Jewish books and of books by opponents of Nazism

Jul. 20 Concordat signed in Rome between Vatican and the Third Reich

Oct. 14 German withdrawal from the League of Nations

Nov. 12 Reichstag elections; Nazis "win" 93% of the vote

Dec. 1 Legal unity of German state and Nazi Party declared

1934

Jan. 26 Ten-year nonaggression pact signed with Poland

Mar. 9 Outbreak of rioting against German Jews by members of SA and Stahlhelm

Jun. 30 to July 2 "Night of the Long Knives"; Ernst Roehm, head of the SA, is murdered; SA purged

Aug. 2 Death of President von Hindenburg; Hitler declares himself Fuehrer of the German State; armed forces are required to take a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler

Aug. 20 Boycott of Nazi Germany declared by American Jewish Congress

Oct. - Nov. First major arrests of homosexuals throughout Germany

1935

Jan. 7 Mussolini and Laval sign French-Italian Agreement in Rome

Jan. 13 Saar region annexed to Germany.

Mar. 16 In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, military conscription introduced in Germany

Apr. Jehovah’s Witnesses banned from civil service jobs; many arrested throughout Germany

Sep. 15 Nuremberg Laws announced; Jews deprived of citizenship

1936

Mar. 7 German army enters Rhineland in violation of Treaty of Versailles

Jul.12 First arrest of German Gypsies; sent to Dachau

Aug. 1 In anticipation of 1936 Berlin Olympics, anti-Semitic signs removed from most public places

Oct. 25 Rome-Berlin Axis agreement signed

1937

Jul. 16 Establishment of Buchenwald concentration camp

Nov. 25 Political and military pact signed by Germany and Japan

1938

Mar. 13 Anschluss: Austria is annexed by Germany

Jul. 6-15 Evian Conference: thirty-two countries discuss refugee policies; most countries refuse to let in more Jewish refugees

Aug. 17 All Jewish men in Germany will be required to add "Israel" to their names; all Jewish women will be required to add "Sarah."

Sep. 29 Munich Agreement is signed by Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain; Czechoslovakia loses Sudetenland to Germany

Oct. "Aryanization" of property of German Jews begins

Oct. 28 First deportation of Polish Jews from Germany.

Nov. 9-10 Kristallnacht, a nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria; 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps, 191 synagogues destroyed, 75,000 shops looted

Nov. 15 All Jewish children expelled from public schools

Dec. 2-3 Gypsies in Germany required to register with police.

1939

Mar. 15 Germany invades Czechoslovakia. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia established.

May 15 Ravensbrück concentration camp for women established

June Jewish refugees aboard the S.S. St. Louis denied entry to the United States and Cuba; forced to return to Europe

Aug. 23 Hitler-Stalin Pact signed

Sep. 1 Germany invades Poland; World War II begins

Sep. 2 Stutthof concentration camp established in Poland

Sep. 3 Britain and France declare war on Germany

Sep. 21 Reinhard Heydrich (SS) orders establishment of Judenrate and concentration of Polish Jews

Sep. 28 Partition of Poland between Germany and USSR

Oct. Hitler authorizes "euthanasia program" (T-4) in Germany; doctors to kill institutionalized mentally and physically disabled

Oct. 8 First Polish ghetto established in Piotrkow Trybunalksi

Nov. 23 Distinctive identifying armband made obligatory for all Jews in Central Poland

1940

Feb. 8 Establishment of Lodz Ghetto

Apr. 27 Heinrich Himmler (SS) orders establishment of Auschwitz concentration camp; first prisoners, mostly Poles, arrive in early June.

Apr. 30 Lodz Ghetto is sealed

Spring Germany conquers Demark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, and France

Sep. 27 Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis established

Oct. 3 Anti-Jewish laws passed by Vichy government in France

Nov. 15 Warsaw Ghetto is sealed

Nov. 20 Hungary, Rumania, and Slovakia join the Nazis and Italians

1941

Mar. 1 Himmler orders construction of camp at Birkenau (Auschwitz II); construction begins in October 1941 and continues until March 1942

Mar. 3-20 Krakow Ghetto established and sealed

Mar. 24 Germany invades North Africa

Apr. 6 Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece

Apr. 24 Lublin Ghetto is sealed

Jun. 22 Operation "Barbarossa," the Nazi regime’s invasion of the USSR

Jun. 23 Einsatzgruppen begin their mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, and Communist leaders in the USSR

Jul. 20 Minsk Ghetto established

Jul. 21 Hermann Goering gives Reinhard Heydrich the authority to prepare a "total solution" to the "Jewish Question" in Europe

Aug. 1 Bialystok Ghetto established

Sep. 1 "Euthanasia program" (T-4) in Germany ended; between 70,000 and 93,000 people had been murdered in Germany during the course of this program

Sep. 3 The first experimental gassing of Soviet prisoners of war at Auschwitz

Sep. 3- 6 Two ghettos established at Vilna (Lithuania)

Sep. 19 German Jews required to wear yellow badge in public

Sep. 29-30 At Babi Yar, 33,771 Kiev Jews murdered

Oct. - Nov. First deportation of German and Austrian Jews to ghettos in Eastern Europe

Oct. Construction of Majdanek-Lublin extermination camp

Nov. 1 Construction of Belzec extermination camp begins

Nov. 24 Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp established

Dec. 7 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

Dec. 8 Gassing operations begin at Chelmno extermination camp

Dec. 11 Germany and Italy declare war on the United States

1942

Jan. 20 Wannsee Conference; plans to coordinate the "Final Solution" are discussed

Feb. 8 First Jews from Salonika, Greece sent to Auschwitz

Mar. 1 Construction of Sobibor extermination camps begins

Mar. 28 First Jews from France sent to Auschwitz

Jul. 22 Treblinka extermination camp completed

Jul. 22-Sept. 12 Mass deportations from Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka

Jul. 28 Jewish fighting organizations set up in Warsaw Ghetto

Nov. 24 Knowledge of extermination of the Jews of Europe publicly announced in U.S. by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise

1943

Jan. 18-22 First Warsaw Ghetto Uprising breaks out

Feb. 2 German army defeated at Battle of Stalingrad

Feb. 26 First transport of Gypsies arrive at Auschwitz; Gypsy camp established

Apr. 19 - May 16 Warsaw Ghetto uprising; Jews resist Nazis’ effort to deport them to death camps

Jul. 21 Himmler orders the liquidation of all ghettos in Poland and USSR

Oct. 2 Nazis attempt round-up of Danish Jews; Danish people use boats to smuggle most of Danish Jews (7,200) to neutral Sweden

1944

Mar. 19 Nazis occupy Hungary

May 2 First transport of Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz; by July 9, over 437,000 Hungarian Jews are sent to Auschwitz; most of them are gassed

Jun. 6 Allied invasion of Normandy

Aug. 2 Gypsy camp at Auschwitz destroyed by Nazis; 3,000 gassed

Oct. 7 Prisoners blow up one of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp

1945

Jan. 17 Nazis evacuate Auschwitz; "death marches" toward Germany

Jan. 27 Soviet army liberates Auschwitz

Feb. 4-11 Yalta Conference

Apr. 11 American army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp

Apr. 15 British army liberates Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Apr. 29 American army liberates Dachau concentration camp

Apr. 30 Hitler commits suicide in Berlin

May 2 Soviet troops capture Berlin

May 7 Nazi Germany surrenders; end of World War II in Europe

Aug. 14 Japan surrenders; end of World War II

Nov. 20 First major Nuremberg War Crimes Trials begin

1946

Oct. 1 Conclusion of first major Nuremberg Trials; twelve Nazis to be executed, three sentenced to life imprisonment, four receive various prison terms, and three are acquitted

1948

May 14 State of Israel established

Oct. 16 Execution of Nazi war criminals

Sources: Feinberg, Stephen. SE, Classroom Focus - "Holocaust Chronology:" October 1995.
Holocaust Chronology, Yad Vashem, Israel