WWII and Holocaust Timeline

A Brief History

January 30th, 1933

• Hitler is Appointed Chancellor of Germany.

March 24, 1933

• German Parliament passes the Enabling Act.– The Enabling Act Gave Hitler dictatorial

powers.

September 15, 1935

• Nuremberg Race Laws Against Jews enacted.– The laws deprived German Jews of their

rights of citizenship, giving them the status of "subjects" in Hitler's Reich. The laws also forbid Jews to marry or have sexual relations with Aryans or to employ young Aryan women as household help

• www.historyplace.com/.../timeline/nurem-laws.htm

Nuremberg Laws, 1935Define who is, and who is not, Jewish

August 1st, 1936

• Olympic games in Berlin– Due to international attention, Nazi

discrimination against the Jews lessened during the Olympics.

– Hitler viewed the Olympics as a time to showcase the new Germany.

Jesse Owens wins the gold medal for the long jump.

November 9th and 10th 1938

• Kristallnacht

•www.historyplace.com/.../triumph/tr-knacht.htm

September 1st, 1939

• Nazis invade Poland

– The Jewish population was 3.35 million, the largest in Europe

– Two days later, September 3rd, England and France declare war on Germany

December 7th, 1941

• Japanese, Germany’s allies, attack the United States at Pearl Harbor. The Next day, U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan.

• December 11th, 1941, Germany declares war on the United States.

Operation BarbarossaJune, 1941

• Nazis attack USSR, violating the two countries’ non-aggression pact.

• 4.5 million Nazi troops invade—a major commitment of Nazi resources.

• After initial success, Soviets hold the line. • July 1942, Battle of Stalingrad is bloodiest

battle in the history of warfare.– Lasts over five months and costs

approximately 1.5 Million lives

Wannsee ConferenceBerlin, January 1942

• Nazi top brass (both military and civilian) meet in secret.

• Led by General Richard Heydrich (at right)

• Centralizes power with the SS for the “final solution to the Jewish Question.”

June 6th, 1944

• D-Day: The Allied Troops Invade the beaches of Normandy.

• www.warrinerprimaries.com/Clipart/ww2.htm

January 27, 1945

• Soviet Troops liberate Auschwitz• This photo was staged in February after the liberation because they did not have cameras during the actual

liberation.

• April 20th, 1945 Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin Bunker.

• May 7th- Germany surrenders unconditionally.

November 20th, 1945

• Opening of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. – After the Allies agreed to bring major Nazi leaders to trial, they

had trouble deciding whom to indict. Top Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels had committed suicide, leaving their less powerful colleagues to be held accountable. On October 18, 1945, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia issued an indictment against 24 men and six Nazi organizations. Twenty-one of the indicted men eventually sat in the dock in the Nuremberg courtroom. Three of the defendants escaped trial: industrialist Gustav Krupp, who was too frail; Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann, whose remains were finally located in Berlin in 1972; and labor leader Robert Ley, who hanged himself before the trial.

– http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nuremberg/peopleevents/p_defendants.html

Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess as the

verdicts were being read at Nuremberg.