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Teacher Guide to the Documentary
Holocaust
Timeline
Jan. 30, 1933 -
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany, the most powerful
position in the German government. Hitler was the leader of
the right-wing National Socialist German Workers Party.
April 1933 - Nazi
Boycott of Jewish stores begins. Dachau becomes the first
concentration camp in Germany.
May 10, 1933 -
Book burning is staged by the Nazis throughout Germany. Forced
Sterilization for "undesirables" becomes government
policy in Germany for those people who are considered mentally
deficient and for those with hereditary diseases. Euthanasia
Program begins at this time for people in Germany who are
mentally or physically handicapped or are considered asocial.
July 14, 1933 -
Nazi Party becomes the only legal party in Germany.
Sept., 15 1935
- Nuremberg Laws are passed, dividing the German nations into
Germans and Jews.
March 7, 1936 -
Nazi troops occupy the Rhineland, located west of the Rhine
River in Northwestern France.
August 1936 - The
1936 Summer Olympics are held in Berlin and all anti-Semitic
signs are taken down and no German Jews are allowed to be
on the German team.
March 12, 1938
- Hitler annexes Austria; Anschluss.
July 1938 - The
Evian Conference is called by President Roosevelt and is attended
by representatives from 32 countries who plan to discuss the
"Jewish Question." Only the Dominican Republic agreed
to accept Jewish refugees.
Oct. 15, 1938 -
Nazi troops occupy the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region
of Czechoslovakia.
Sept. 29, 1938
- The Munich Agreement is signed by France, Germany and Italy.
Italy accepted the German demand that the Sudetenland be ceded
to Germany.
Nov. 7, 1938 -
Kristallnacht "The Night of Broken Glass," takes
place as a response to the assassination of a German diplomat
in Paris, France, by a Jew whose parents' business had been
taken from them and deported. All Jews are now forced to wear
the YELLOW STAR; Jewish men must adopt a middle name of Israel,
and Jewish women must adopt the middle name of Sarah.
Nov. 15, 1938 -
All Jewish children are expelled from German schools.
 March
15, 1939 - Nazi troops occupy Czechoslovakia.
May 1939 - The
St. Louis with 939 Jewish refugees aboard is turned away from
Cuba and the United States.
Aug. 23, 1939 -
The Non-Aggression Pact, dividing Poland between Germany and
the Soviet Union is signed by Hitler and Stalin who pledge
not to attack each other as a result of this treaty.
Sept. 1, 1939 -
Germany invades Poland and WWII begins.
Oct. 12, 1939 -
The first deportation of Jews to Poland takes place.
Oct. 1939 - The
Madagascar Plan is suggested to ship Jews to this island off
the coast of Africa but the logistical problems cannot be
solved; and there was the additional problem of France's control
of Madagascar.
Oct. 12, 1940 -
In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto is constructed with 1/2 million
Jews inside the walled-off area.
June 22, 1941 -
Germany attacks the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarosa in
a was of annihilation. EINSATZGRUPPEN (mobile killing squads)
are sent to the Russian Front to execute Jews, Communists
and Roma and Sinti (Gypsies).
Sept. 1 1941 -
All Jews must wear the YELLOW STAR in Germany and all occupied
territories.
Oct. 1, 1941 -
All Jewish emigration is stopped.
Dec. 7, 1941 -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
Dec. 8, 1941 -
Chelmno death camp is constructed and the first gassing takes
place.
Dec. 11, 1941 -
Germany declares war on the United States.
Jan. 20, 1942 -
The WANNSEE CONFERENCE takes place with SS Chief Heydrich
instructed to formulate a plan for the "Final Solution"
of the 11 million Jews in Europe. In less that 90 minutes,
highly educated men decided the fate of European Jewery.
Feb. 2, 1943 -
The Soviets defeat the Germans at the battle of Stalingrad
marking the turning point of the war.
April 2, 1943 -
A revolt at Treblinka (an extermination camp in Poland) involving
200 prisoners takes place with twelve escaping and the rest
shot.
April 18, 1943
- The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising takes place with SS Commander
Himmler promising the Fuehrer a birthday present - a three
day battle to liquidate the Ghetto. The battle will last over
a month because of the strong Jewish resistance under the
leadership of Mordechai Anielewicz.
Spring 1943 - Himmler
orders the total "liquidation" of all Polish ghettos.
Oct. 14, 1943 -
The revolt at Sobibor (an extermination camp in Poland) takes
place when 600 prisoners try to escape with 300 making it
to the woods and 48 survive WWII.
June 6, 1944 -
D-Day takes place on the beaches of Normandy, France.
July 1944 - Theresienstadt
Ghetto/Camp outside of Prague, Czechoslovakia, is showcased
for a Nazi Propaganda documentary. The camp was a "model
camp" visited by the International Red Cross who failed
to comprehend the true nature of the camp.
 Oct.
6, 1944 - At Auschwitz-Birkenau, an extermination camp located
in southwest Poland, twelve Sonderkommandos, Jewish prisoners
who are forced to facilitate the operation of the gas chambers
and crematoria, blow up one of the four gas chambers, killing
seventy guards.
Jan. 17, 1945 -
In the face of the advancing Soviet Army, a "Death March"
begins in the middle of winter from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Out
of the 58,000 who begin the march, 20,000 die. This is the
only one of many death marches that take place at this time.
April 29, 1945
- Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7, 1945 - The
war in Europe ends with V-E Day.
Aug. 15, 1945 -
The war in the Pacific ends with V-J Day.
Nov. 20, 1945 -
The Nuremberg Trials begin in Germany with 24 defendants indicted
for crimes against humanity.
April 11, 1961
- Adolf Eichmann, director of the "Final Solution",
is placed on trial in Israel and convicted of crimes against
humanity; he was hanged on May 31, 1962. He had been captured
in Argentina in 1960.
Feb. 19, 1986 -
The United States Congress ratifies a United Nations Treaty
outlawing genocide. Ninety countries sign the treaty, including
the Soviet Union.
April 22, 1993
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated;
it is the most visited museum in America.
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