Holocaust Timeline Wall Chart SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION Humiliation Identification Segregation Concentration Annihilation 2 1914 –1932... Before the Holocaust 1914 –1918 World War I Involved a great many combatant nations and caused the deaths of 21 million people 1918 Germany defeated in World War I 1919 Versailles Treaty Drafted by Britain, France and the United States and signed on 28 June 1919. Germans resent the peace treaty imposed on them by the victorious Allies which forces them to yield territory and pay huge reparations. It also places strict limitations on the German armed forces, not only in size (100,000 men) but also in armaments: Germany not allowed to retain an airforce, tanks or submarines and could maintain only 6 capital naval ships. Many Germans blame the Jews for their country’s defeat 1919 –1933 Weimar Republic 1920 The German Workers’ Party becomes the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party – Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ) 1921 Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi Party 1929 The Great Depression begins 1930 The Nazi Party has the second-largest representation in the Reichstag 1932 Six million German workers are unemployed In the Reichstag elections of November 1932, the Nazis lose almost two million votes from the previous elections of July. It is clear that the Nazis will not gain a majority and Hitler agrees to a coalition with conservatives. After months of negotiations, President Paul von Hindenburg agrees to appoint Hitler Chancellor of Germany 3 1933–1945... THE HOLOCAUST Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany Discrimination and persecution of Jews become 1933 Establishment of concentration camps begins widespread 1934 Night of Long Knives Political opponents of Hitler eliminated Nuremberg Laws Jews deprived of their German citizenship 1935 Other far-reaching statutes introduced 1938 Anschluss (annexation of Austria); Evian Conference; Munich Agreement; Kristallnacht (November Pogrom); Kindertransports 1939 Czechoslovakia dismantled; Germany invades Poland; WORLD WAR II BEGINS 1940 Nazi Germany controls most of Europe Thousands of ghettos established Tripartite Pact signed between Germany, Italy and Japan 1941 Operation Barbarossa Killing squads ( Einsatzgruppen ) systematically Germany invades Soviet Union murder Jews throughout eastern territories First death camp established at Chelmno: gassing of Jews begins Bombing of American fleet in Pearl Harbor America enters the war Wannsee Conference at which decision to murder 1942 Jews by poison gas is endorsed Operation Reinhard Establishment of further death camps 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising Ghetto razed, inhabitants murdered or deported Rescue of Danish Jews Round-up, deportation and murder of Hungarian Between July and September 437,000 deported to 1944 Jews Auschwitz-Birkenau where most were gassed Soviets liberate Majdanek Start of Death Marches 1945 Liberation of Auschwitz and other camps Hitler commits suicide Germany surrenders Atom bombs dropped on Japan WORLD WAR II ENDS AFTERMATH Nuremberg War trials begin United Nations established Millions of Holocaust survivors become Displaced Persons. DP camps established in former concentration camps. Many Jewish DPs have no families left nor homes to go back to. Post-war pogroms persist against Jews in more than 1,600 incidents recorded in eastern Europe Yad Vashem inaugurates the award of Righteous Presented to non-Jewish people who risked their 1953 Among the Nations lives to save Jews during the Holocaust CONCERNS TODAY Antisemitism , Racism , Holocaust Denial , Distortion of the Holocaust 4 1933 n January – Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany and leader of the government n Violence and persecution of German Jews by Stormtroopers (the SA) begins immediately March – Book burning: Jewish religious books as German beer mat with the slogan n ‘Whoever buys from Jews is a traitor to the people’ well as books by Jewish authors and books about IWM Jews are condemned and burnt in public bonfires. Other books written by writers considered by Hitler and the Nazis to be degenerate or ‘un- German’, are also thrown into the fires and burnt n April – Boycott of Jewish shops, businesses and professions n Jews forced out of jobs in the civil service, academia and the press n Laws passed permitting the forced sterilisation of mentally and physically disabled persons, Roma and other ethnic minorities Adolf Hitler shakes hands with the President of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, after being appointed Chancellor of Germany Stormtroopers fix notices in shop windows: Burning of 20,000 books in Berlin ‘Germans! Defend yourselves! Don’t buy from Jews!’ on the night of 10 May 1933 USHMM USHMM 5 1934 n Night of the Long Knives – Hitler orders the Night of the Long Knives purge of SA paramilitary leaders as he fears a threat to his power; consequently, the SS 30 June–1 July 1934 becomes the prime instrument of Nazi terror As early as 1933, Hitler was ‘removing’ anyone he suspected of disloyalty or who had opposed n Death of Paul von Hindenburg, President of him in the past. The Night of the Long Knives Germany; Hitler becomes head of state was Adolf Hitler’s great purge, ridding the Nazi Party of those he distrusted, as well as anti-Nazi n Discrimination against Jews increases figures within Germany and members of his paramilitary wing, the SA. The last Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Kurt von Schleicher, was Jewish actors and entertainers banned from n murdered that night, as was Ernst Rohm, once performing on stage and screen Hitler’s loyal friend and devotee. The Night of the Long Knives claimed over 200 lives. Other victims As well as Jews, the Nazis persecuted other groups of people whom they considered ‘inferior’ or who opposed Nazi ideology. These included: people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti people, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christians of all denominations, Communists, trade unionists and political opponents, Poles, Slavs, black and mixed race people, and other minorities. Members of the SA with political prisoners at 234 Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, March 1933. BPK Berlin ‘Gypsies’ The genocide of the Roma took place during the Holocaust. The Romany people of Europe were formerly called ‘Gypsies’, a term which many of them nowadays regard as offensive. It is the term the Nazis used when referring to them. Reconstructed still photograph from the US documentary The March of Time . On the blackboard is written ‘The Jew is our worst enemy’ 6 1935 Nuremberg Laws n Jews deprived of their German citizenship n Jews classified as a ‘race’ n Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour: Jews forbidden to marry Germans or have sexual relationships with Germans n Laws introduced forbidding Jews from public places: parks, cafés, cinemas, etc. n Law for the Protection of the Fatherland: Jews forbidden to farm. Jews forbidden to enter swimming pools n Swastika formally adopted as the official symbol of Nazi Germany ‘Jews are not wanted here’, USHMM Swastika, which became Germany’s new flag, is displayed at a Nazi rally in Nuremberg Jew forced to carry sign: ‘I am a racial defiler’ USHMM Stylised map illustrating the Nuremberg Law Park bench ‘not for Jews’ for the Protection of German Blood and Honour Hulton archive, Getty Images © USHMM 7 1936 Roll call at Sachsenhausen concentration camp,1936 Yad Vashem n Establishment of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which became the prototype for other camps ADOLF HITLER n German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling, a former 1889 –1945 world champion, defeats African-American heavyweight Joe Louis; Hitler turns the fight into a 1889 Born in Austria propaganda victory for Aryan superiority 1913 Hitler states that the n German authorities order the arrest and forcible ultimate aim of relocation of all Roma in Berlin to a special camp in antisemitism should be the the Berlin suburb of Marzahn total removal of the Jews n Berlin Olympic Games 1921 Becomes chairman of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) 1923 Attempts to seize control of government, fails, imprisoned for nine months 1924 In prison Hitler writes Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’) 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany 1934 Hindenburg dies Night of Long Knives – murder of Hitler’s political opponents 1939 Germany invades Poland Britain and France declare war on Germany, Olympic torch arrives in Berlin USHMM World War II begins n Mass arrests of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany; most 1945 30 April, Hitler commits suicide are sent to concentration camps Rome–Berlin Axis Agreement signed Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international n Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in n Spanish Civil War 1936 –1939 – Hitler defies Treaty plunging the nations once more into a world war, of Versailles Agreement and sends German pilots to then the result will be… the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe! Adolf Hitler aid of Franco 8 1937 n Intensity of German antisemitism and anti-Jewish propaganda increases n Jews forbidden to work as doctors, dentists or academics n Jews forbidden to serve in the army n Establishment of Buchenwald concentration camp n Antisemitic exhibition, Der ewige Jude (‘The eternal Jew’), opens in Munich ‘Gnawing away at the Nations of the World’ © Der Stu ̈rmer , no. 39, 28 September 1944 The Nazis often referred to the Jews as insects or vermin. This antisemitic image is supposed to show a Jew depicted as an insect. In the centre of its eyes one can see the dollar sign and the hammer and sickle, as it devours the world. Poster for Der ewige Jude Hitler Youth, boys Hitler Youth, girls (League of German Girls) Yad Vashem Yad Vashem 9 1938 March – Anschluss annexation of Austria as part of Passport issued to Inge n Frankel from Vienna with ‘J’ Nazi Germany. Approximately 200,000 more Jews clearly stamped on it in red come under Hitler’s control. Persecution of Austrian Jews begins immediately n Switzerland persuades Germany to mark all passports belonging to Jews with a red letter J n July – Evian Conference convened by President Roosevelt of the United States.