Holocaust History Timeline: Netherlands
September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland starting WWII.
October 1939: The Dutch government established a camp at Westerbork to intern Jewish refugees who had entered the Netherlands illegally.
April 9–June 10, 1940: German troops invaded, defeated, and occupied Denmark and Norway.
May 10, 1940: Germany invaded the Netherlands, 4 days later, German planes bombed Rotterdam, and the Netherlands surrendered.
May 20, 1940: Concentration camp at Auschwitz established in Poland.
January 1941: The German authorities require all Jews to register themselves as Jews.
February 25, 1941: The arrests of several hundred young Jews (sent to the Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps) led to a general strike by Dutch workers. Which lead to a hardening of Nazi policy.
June 22, 1941: Germany invades the Soviet Union. Mobile killing squads accompany the army and murder millions of Jews, Communists, and Gypsies in mass graves.
September 23, 1941: First prisoners killed in gas chambers in Auschwitz and construction begins on Birkenau shortly after.
January 20, 1942: Nazi leaders meet at Wannsee and plan the “Final Solution” to exterminate all Jews.
April 29, 1942: Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing.
May 1942: Construction started on Vught Concentration camp. The first prisoners arriving end of 1942.
Summer of 1942: Deportations of Jews from the Netherlands began.
July 1942: The German Security Police, assisted by an SS company and Dutch military police, took control of Westerbork. They also expanded the camp.
Winter of 1944 to 1945: Combined with German rationing of food for Dutch civilians, caused the Hongerwinter famine that killed many thousands of people.
February 28, 1944: Gestapo raid the home of Corrie ten Boom, arresting 30 people. Corrie her sister Betsie and her father were arrested outside the home.
June 1944: Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Vught.
September 3, 1944: The last train left Westerbork for Auschwitz.
September 1944: Corrie and Betsie were sent to Ravesnbruck were Betsie died in December. Corrie was also released around this time.
May 5, 1945: Canadian Army liberated the Netherlands.
May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders ending WWII.