A
ntisemitism permeated German and European society in the early 20th century. The Nazi Empire, in particular, regarded the Jewish people as a threat to the “purity” of the Aryan race. It enacted legislation, most notably the Nuremberg Laws, to strip Jews of their freedoms. The atrocities culminated with the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” This “solution” led to mass killings of over six million Jews and five million “undesirables”—gypsies, the mentally handicapped, homosexuals, and political agitators. Extermination camps like Auschwitz and Dachau are testaments to the Holocaust and the horrific consequences of prejudice and racism.
Timeline
Other: Concentration Camp
Auschwitz, Poland
Other: Largest Extermination Camp
At its peak Auschwitz killed 12,000 people per day
People or Groups: Role
Architect of the Final Solution
People or Groups: Role
SS General, carried out Final Solution
Other: Anne Frank and family arrested
Aug 4, 1944
Other: Displaced Person Camps set up for camp victims
Jun 1945
Other: First day of Nuremberg Trials
Nov 20, 1945
Other: U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau
Apr 29, 1945
Other: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins
Apr 19, 1943
Other: Wannsee Conference implements the Final Solution
Jan 1942
Other: Soviets liberate first concentration camp Majdanek
Jul 24, 1944
Other: Mass killings of Jews using Zyklon-B gas begins
Jan 1942
Other: Gas Chambers last used at Auschwitz
Oct 30, 1944
Other: Prisoners blow up a crematoria at Auschwitz
Oct 7, 1943
Other: Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz
Jan 27, 1945
Other: Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass
Other: Jewish boy kills German diplomat vom Rath
Nov 6, 1938
Other: Nazi concentration camp Dachau opens
Mar 22, 1933
Other: Nuremberg Laws
Sep 1935
Other: Warsaw Ghetto is sealed off, 400,000 Jews inside
Nov 15, 1940
Other: Nazis begin using gas vans-trucks to kill Jews
Dec 8, 1941
Other: Nazis prohibit Jews from owning land
Sep 29, 1933
Other: All Jews required to wear yellow Star of David
Nov 23, 1939
Other: Nazis begin program of euthanasia in Germany
Oct 1939
Other: The Nacht and Nebel (Night and Fog) order passed
Dec 7, 1941
Holocaust in Poland: Major Ghettos
Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, and Lvov
Holocaust in Poland: Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp
1 million Jews killed and 1 million non-Jews
Holocaust in Poland: Treblinka Extermination Camp
750,000 Jews killed
Holocaust in Poland: Chelmno Extermination Camp
150,000 Jews killed
Holocaust in Poland: Lublin Extermination Camp
50,000 Jews killed
Holocaust in Poland: Sobibor Extermination Camp
200,00 Jews killed
Holocaust in Poland: Belzec Extermination Camp
550,000 Jews killed
Other Facts
Name
Reinhard Heydrich
Name
Heinrich Himmler
