Events for Timelines

January  30,  1933   Hitler  becomes  Chancellor,  even  though  over  70  percent  of  Germany  did  not  vote  for  him.     Recently appointed as German chancellor, Adolf Hitler greets President Paul von Hindenburg in Potsdam, Germany, on March 21, 1933. This pose was designed to project an image of Hitler as non-threatening to the established order. This particular image is from a popular postcard. The photo also appeared widely in both the German and international press. Hitler appears in civilian dress, bowing in deference to the heavily decorated von Hindenburg. The March 5, 1933, elections had conferred legitimacy on Hitler's leadership. — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; USHMM Collection, courtesy of B. I. Sanders               March  22,  1933   The  first  concentration  camp,  Dachau,  was  established.  Political  prisoners  were  imprisoned  here  at  first.       An early view of the Dachau concentration camp. Columns of prisoners are visible behind the barbed wire. Dachau, Germany, May 24, 1933. — KZ Gedenkstaette Dachau                 April  1,  1933   Hitler  announces  a  state  boycott  of  all  Jewish  businesses…on  a  Saturday.  It  was  a  failure.     Members of the Storm Troopers (SA), with boycott signs, block the entrance to a Jewish-owned shop. One of the signs exhorts: "Germans! Defend yourselves! Don't buy from Jews!" Berlin, Germany, April 1, 1933. — National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md. May  10,  1933   All  over  Germany,  books  by  Jewish,  handicapped,  and  “undesirable”  authors  are  burned.   At Berlin's Opernplatz, an SA man throws books into the flames at the public burning of books deemed "unGerman." Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933. — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum                   June  30,  1934   The  Night  of  the  Long  Knives.  Over  300  people  on  Hitler’s  hit  list  were  murdered,  many  of  them  Hitler’s   own  military.     Political opponents of the Nazis, guarded by SA (Storm Troopers), are forced to scrub anti-Hitler slogans off a wall shortly after the Nazi assumption of power. Germany, March 1933. — Archiv der Sozialen Demokratie der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung                 September  10,  1935   Nuremberg  Laws  are  released.  These  laws  deprive  the  Jews  of  basic  rights,  such  as  citizenship  and  the   right  to  marry  whomever  they  would  like.     Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws. The figures represent Germans, Jews, and Mischlinge. Germany, 1935. — Stadtarchiv und Landesgeschichtliche Bibliothek Bielefeld August  1-­‐6,  1936   The  Olympics  in  Berlin.  Hitler  establishes  the  torch  run  from  Greece.    Jesse  Owens  from  American  sets   major  world  records.     German citizens saluting Adolf Hitler at the opening of the 11th Olympiad in Berlin. [ALSO HAVE OVERSIZED PRINT] Date: Aug 1936 Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] Germany; Berlin-Buckow; Berlin-Mariendorf; Berlin-Ochstumsand; Berlin-Ploetzensee; Berlin-Reinickendorf; Berlin-Tempelhof; Berlin-Wannsee; Berlin-Schlachtensee; Berlin-Duppel Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Copyright: Public Domain           July  1938   World  leaders  met  in  Evian,  France  to  discuss  what  to  do  about  Hitler.  They  decided  to  do  nothing.   Myron  Taylor  represented  the  United  States.   United States delegate Myron Taylor delivers a speech at the Evian Conference on Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Evian-les-Bains, France, July 15, 1938. — National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md. October  1938   Deportations  of  Jews  to  other  countries  begin.  Hitler’s  first  idea  was  to  just  get  them  out  of  Germany.       German Jews from the town of Coesfeld are assembled for deportation to Riga, Latvia. Locale: Coesfeld, Germany Photographer: Anton Walterbusch Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Fred Hertz Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum November  7,  1938   In  response  to  a  letter  from  his  parents,  who  were  deported  from  Germany,  Herschel  Grynzpan   assasinated  Ernst  Vom  Rath  in  the  German  embassy  in  Paris.  He  was  arrested  and  killed.     Portrait of Herschel Grynszpan taken after his arrest by French authorities for the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath. Grynszpan (1921-1943?), born in Hannover, Germany, was the son of Polish Jews who had immigrated to Germany. In 1936 Grynszpan fled to Paris. On November 7, 1938, after having learned of the deportation of his parents from Germany to the Polish frontier, Grynszpan assassinated Ernst vom Rath, the third secretary of the German embassy in Paris. The diplomat's subsequent death two days later was used by the Nazi regime as justification for unleashing the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10. In 1940 Grynszpan was turned over to the Germans by the Vichy government, but the date and place of his death have never been clarified. Paris, France, November 7, 1938. — USHMM, courtesy of Morris Rosen       November  9-­‐10,  1938   In  a  nationwide  pogrom  called  Kristallnacht,  the  Nazis  and  their  collaborators  burn  synagogues  and  loot   Jewish  homes  and  businesses.  Approximately  30,000  Jewish  men  are  imprisoned  in  concentration  camps   such  as  Dachau.       The Boerneplatz synagogue in flames during Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass"). Frankfurt am Main, Germany, November 10, 1938. — Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz               May  1939   The  S.S.  St.  Louis  left  Germany,  bound  for  Cuba.  The  Cubans  and  the  Americans  refused  to  let  them  in   and  they  had  to  go  back  to  Europe.     Group portrait of children on the deck of the SS St. Louis. Pictured in the front row, from left to right are: Herbert Karliner, Harry Guttmann, Hans Schelansky. In the second row: Eugene Moser, unknown, Erich Stein, Walter Karliner and Hans Fischer.                     September  1,  1939   In  response  to  a  fake  attack  on  a  border  radio  station,  Hitler  invaded  Poland  and  begins  World  War  II.  No   one  came  to  Poland’s  defense.  The  Nazis  execute  Polish  leaders  and  change  education.  The  Soviets  also   invade  from  the  East  and  they  divide  Poland  between  them.       Adolf Hitler (standing at front of car) enters Danzig. The Danzig District was incorporated into Greater Germany following the invasion of Poland. Danzig, September 19, 1939. — National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.               October  1939   The  T-­‐4  Euthanasia  Program  begins  in  Germany.  Those  in  mental  institutions  are  used  as  guinea  pigs  for   experiments  with  lethal  injection  and  gas.  This  is  how  the  Nazis  discover  Zyklon  B  gas.     Buses used to transport patients to Hadamar euthanasia center. The windows were painted to prevent people from seeing those inside. They often used these buses as gas vans, re-routing the exhaust into the back and driving around town until the patients were dead. Germany, between May and September 1941. — Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden             Summer  1941   Killing  squads  called  the  Einsatzgruppen  begin  going  into  towns  and  killing  all  Jews  in  large  numbers  with   machine  guns.  Hundreds  of  thousands  are  killed  this  way.   Members of an Einsatzkommando (mobile killing squad) before shooting a Jewish youth. The boy's murdered family lies in front of him; the men to the left are ethnic Germans aiding the squad. Slarow, Soviet Union, July 4, 1941. — Dokumentationsarchiv des Oesterreichischen Widerstandes                 December  7,  1941   The  Japanese  attack  Pearl  Harbor,  bringing  the  United  States  into  the  war.   Smoke billows out from U.S. ships hit during the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor. Date: Dec 7, 1941 Locale: Honolulu, HI United States Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Copyright: Public Domain       January  20,  1942   The  Wannsee  Conference  takes  place  in  a  house  outside  of  Berlin.  Here,  top  Nazi  officials  decide  the  fate   of  the  Jews:  The  Final  Solution.   Site of the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, convened by Reich Security Main Office chief Reinhard Heydrich, on the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." Wannsee, Germany, date uncertain. — Ullstein Bilderdienst                   Summer  1942   Deportations  from  ghettoes  to  killing  centers  and  concentration  camps  begin.   Jews during a deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto. Date: Oct 1940 - May 1943 Locale: Warsaw, Poland; Varshava; Warschau Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Leopold Page Photographic Collection Copyright: Agency Agreement (No Fees)             April-­‐October  1943   Jews  begin  to  rebel  and  fight  back  once  they  learn  what  the  Nazis  have  waiting  for  them  in  the  killing   centers  and  camps.   Members of a Jewish resistance group (Organisation Juive de Combat). Espinassier, France, wartime. — La Documentation Francaise December  1944   Death  marches  from  the  camps  begin.  The  survival  rate  on  a  march  was  one  in  every  five  people   survived.     A view of the death march from Dachau passing through villages in the direction of Wolfratshausen. German civilians secretly photographed several death marches from the Dachau concentration camp as the prisoners moved slowly through the Bavarian towns of Gruenwald, Wolfratshausen, and Herbertshausen. Few civilians gave aid to the prisoners on the death marches. Germany, April 1945. — KZ Gedenkstaette Dachau               January-­‐May  1945   The  Allies  liberated  the  killing  centers  and  concentration  camps,  places  they  didn’t  know  even  existed   until  they  stumbled  on  them.   Former prisoners of the "little camp" in Buchenwald stare out from the wooden bunks in which they slept three to a "bed." Elie Wiesel is pictured in the second row of bunks, seventh from the left, next to the vertical beam. Abraham Hipler is pictured in the second row, fourth from the left. The man on the third bunk from the bottom, third from the left, is Ignacz (Isaac) Berkovicz. [He has also been identified as Abraham Baruch.] Michael Nikolas Gruner, originally from Hungary, is pictured on the bottom left corner. Perry Shulman from Klimitov, Poland is on the top bunk, second from the left (looking up). Buchenwald, Germany, April 16, 1945. — National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum           April  30,  1945   Hitler  commits  suicide  in  his  bunker  in  Berlin.  He  had  just  married  his  secretary  an  hour  before  his  death.   She  also  committed  suicide.     Soviet soldiers guard the entrance to Hitler's underground bunker. Upon the advance of Soviet forces through the streets of Berlin, Hitler committed suicide here on April 30, 1945, rather than face capture. Berlin, Germany, 1945. — Wide World Photo               May  8,  1945   The  Germans  surrendered  and  World  War  II  is  over  in  Europe.  The  Japanese  do  not  surrender  until   August.       German officers surrender in Paris. France, August 1944. — The Paris Pages, "Paris Libere!" -- www.paris.org -- Norman H. Barth