Timeline

timeline of nazi genocidal politics and action before and during ww2

1919–1932: Seeds of Hatred and the Rise of Nazism

1919: Treaty of Versailles signed.

The Treaty of Versailles was the peace agreement that officially ended World War I. It was imposed by the Allied powers and was extremely harsh on Germany:

Germany lost about 10% of its territory and all of its colonies.
A “war guilt clause” forced Germany to accept full responsibility for the war.
Germany was required to pay enormous reparations.
Its military was drastically reduced, and the Rhineland was demilitarized.

These humiliating terms caused deep resentment among the German people. Many felt betrayed by their leaders and looked for someone to blame. This created fertile ground for extremist ideologies like Nazism, which promised to restore national pride and power.

1920: The Nazi Party publishes its 25-point platform.

This platform outlined the core ideas of Nazism, including the exclusion of Jews from German citizenship and the revocation of the Treaty of Versailles. These proposals appealed to nationalism and antisemitism, gaining support among discontented sectors of the population.

1923: Failed coup attempt (Beer Hall Putsch).

Hitler and his followers attempted to seize power in Munich but were arrested. During his imprisonment, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, where he laid out his racist and expansionist ideology, laying the foundations of Nazism.

1933–1939: Nazi Consolidation of Power & Early Anti-Jewish Policies

Jan 30, 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany

Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg, marking the beginning of Nazi rule. The Nazis quickly moved to dismantle democracy, using propaganda, violence, and legal measures to eliminate opposition.

Mar 1933: Dachau concentration camp opens

Dachau, near Munich, was the first Nazi concentration camp, initially holding political prisoners (communists, socialists, and other opponents). It became a model for later camps, combining forced labor and brutal repression.

Apr 1, 1933: Nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses

The Nazi Party organized a one-day boycott of Jewish-owned shops, doctors, and lawyers, enforced by SA troops. This was the first nationwide anti-Jewish action, aiming to isolate Jews economically and socially.

1935: Nuremberg Laws passed

These laws stripped Jews of German citizenship, banned marriages or relationships with non-Jews ("Aryans"), and defined Jewish identity based on ancestry. They institutionalized racial discrimination and paved the way for further persecution.

1938 Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass" (November 9–10, 1938), marked a violent escalation in Nazi persecution of Jews. Following the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish teenager, the Nazis orchestrated nationwide pogroms, destroying over 1,000 synagogues, looting 7,500 Jewish businesses, and arresting 30,000 Jewish men—many sent to concentration camps. Afterward, Jews were collectively fined 1 billion Reichsmarks and systematically excluded from public life. This state-sponsored terror signaled the Nazis' shift from discrimination to outright violence, foreshadowing the Holocaust. The world largely condemned the attacks but took little action, leaving Jews trapped in an increasingly deadly regime.

1939–1941: War and the Shift Toward Systematic Violence

Sept 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland; WWII begins

The invasion triggered WWII and marked the start of Nazi Germany’s brutal occupation of Poland. Jews and Polish elites were immediately targeted for repression and mass killings.

Sept 1939–1940: Einsatzgruppen begin mass shootings

Mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) followed the German army into Poland and later the USSR, executing Jews, intellectuals, and political leaders in mass shootings.

Oct 1939: T4 “Euthanasia” Program begins

A secret program to murder disabled individuals, deemed "life unworthy of life." Over 70,000 were killed in gas chambers or by lethal injection, foreshadowing later genocide methods.

November 1939: First Jewish Ghettos Established in Occupied Poland In November 1939, following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the first Jewish ghettos were established in Nazi-occupied Polish territory. These ghettos, including the infamous ones in Lódz and Warsaw, were part of the Nazis' early steps toward the systematic persecution and eventual extermination of European Jews.

Jews were forcibly removed from their homes and confined to overcrowded, enclosed districts within cities, often surrounded by walls, barbed wire, and armed guards. Life inside the ghettos was marked by extreme deprivation-residents faced starvation, disease, inadequate shelter, and lack of medical care. Families were torn apart, and basic human dignity was stripped away.

The ghettos were not only a means of isolating and controlling the Jewish population but also served as a staging ground for future deportations to concentration and extermination camps as part of the Final Solution.

By creating these ghettos, the Nazis aimed to erase Jewish presence from public life, both physically and psychologically, while conditioning the German population to accept increasingly brutal measures. The ghettos became sites of immense suffering but also of resistance, resilience, and cultural preservation, as Jewish communities tried to maintain religious, educational, and artistic life despite the horrific conditions.

1941–1943: The Holocaust Intensifies

June 22, 1941: Operation Barbarossa

Germany invaded the Soviet Union, escalating genocide. Einsatzgruppen massacred entire Jewish communities, often with local collaboration.

July-Aug 1941: Babi Yar massacre (Sept 29–30, 1941)

Near Kyiv, over 33,000 Jews were murdered in a ravine by SS and local collaborators. This was one of the largest single massacres of the Holocaust.

(December 8, 1941)

Chelmno, located in Nazi-occupied Poland, became the first dedicated extermination camp, marking the shift to industrialized mass murder. Unlike concentration camps, Chelmno was designed solely for killing, using mobile gas vans that suffocated victims with carbon monoxide. Deceived into believing they were being "resettled," Jews and Roma were herded into sealed trucks and driven to nearby burial sites. By 1945, over 320,000 people had been murdered there, with most bodies dumped in mass graves or burned to hide evidence. Chelmno’s methods laid the groundwork for later death camps like Treblinka and Auschwitz.

Wannsee Conference (January 20, 1942)

Held in a Berlin villa, the Wannsee Conference brought together 15 high-ranking Nazi officials to formalize plans for the "Final Solution"—the systematic genocide of Europe’s Jews. Led by SS officer Reinhard Heydrich, the meeting detailed logistical strategies, including mass deportations to extermination camps in Poland and the expansion of gassing operations. While mass shootings by Einsatzgruppen were already underway, the conference streamlined bureaucracy to accelerate annihilation. Minutes of the meeting (later discovered by Allies) revealed the cold, calculated nature of the Holocaust, with euphemisms like "evacuation" masking genocide.

Operation Reinhard Camps (1942–1943: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka)

Operation Reinhard, named after assassinated SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, established three purpose-built death camps in Poland: Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Unlike Auschwitz, these camps had no labor divisions; nearly all arrivals were gassed immediately. Victims were told to undress for "showers," then suffocated in chambers using engine exhaust. The camps operated with terrifying efficiency: Treblinka alone murdered 800,000 Jews in just 15 months. By late 1943, over 1.7 million people had been killed, and the camps were dismantled to conceal evidence.

Sobibor Uprising (October 14, 1943)

Sobibor, one of the Operation Reinhard camps, witnessed one of the few successful prisoner revolts of the Holocaust. Led by Jewish Red Army officer Alexander Pechersky and Polish-Jewish prisoner Leon Feldhendler, 300 inmates staged a daring escape. Using stolen weapons and covert signals, they killed 11 SS guards and broke through the camp’s fences. Though half were recaptured or killed in minefields, about 50–70 survived to join partisan groups. The uprising forced the Nazis to close Sobibor, proving that even in the face of certain death, resistance was possible.

Collapse of the Regime and Liberation

Deportation of Hungarian Jews (Spring–Summer 1944)

After Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944, the Nazis swiftly targeted its last major Jewish population. Under Adolf Eichmann’s direction, 430,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz in just eight weeks—the fastest rate of the Holocaust. Most were sent directly to the gas chambers, with only young, able-bodied individuals selected for forced labor. The operation’s brutality shocked even some Nazi officials, but Allied inaction and Hungarian collaboration sealed the victims’ fate. By July 1944, Hungary’s Jewish communities were nearly erased.

Auschwitz Sonderkommando Uprising (October 7, 1944)

The Sonderkommando—Jewish prisoners forced to operate Auschwitz’s crematoria—staged a desperate revolt as the camp neared liberation. Using gunpowder smuggled by female factory workers, they blew up Crematorium IV, killing several SS guards and delaying operations. The rebellion was crushed within hours, with 250 participants executed, but it remains a powerful symbol of defiance. The SS accelerated killings afterward, burning records and dismantling gas chambers to hide their crimes before Soviet troops arrived in January 1945.

Liberation of Auschwitz (January 27, 1945)

As Soviet forces advanced into Poland, they liberated Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp. They found 7,000 emaciated survivors and overwhelming evidence of genocide: warehouses filled with victims’ belongings, piles of ashes, and ruined gas chambers. Over 1.1 million people—90% of them Jews—had been murdered there. The liberation exposed the Holocaust’s scale to the world, though Allied governments had already known of the atrocities through intelligence reports. Auschwitz became a symbol of Nazi barbarity and a rallying cry for justice during postwar trials.

Germany's Surrender (May 8, 1945)

May 8, 1945 marked the long-awaited end of World War II in Europe as Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces. Known as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day), this came after Adolf Hitler's suicide on April 30 and the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops. The unconditional surrender was signed in Reims, France on May 7 and ratified in Berlin on May 8, bringing an end to nearly six years of devastating conflict that had claimed over 50 million lives across the continent. While celebrations erupted worldwide, the war continued in the Pacific until Japan's surrender in August 1945. The surrender also revealed the full horror of Nazi crimes as Allied forces liberated concentration camps across Germany and occupied territories.

Post-War Justice and Remembrance (1945–1946)

Discovery of Genocide Evidence (Summer 1945)

As Allied troops advanced through Germany in the war's final months, they uncovered irrefutable evidence of Nazi atrocities. American, British and Soviet forces liberated major concentration camps like Buchenwald, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen, finding tens of thousands of emaciated survivors and mass graves containing countless victims. The scale of systematic murder shocked the world, with camps like Auschwitz revealing gas chambers, crematoria and warehouses filled with victims' belongings. These discoveries provided crucial evidence for the Nuremberg Trials and permanently documented the Holocaust's horrors, ensuring the crimes would not be forgotten or denied.

Nuremberg Trials (Nov 1945 – Oct 1946)

After World War II, the Allied powers held the Nuremberg Trials in Germany to prosecute 24 top Nazi leaders for crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against peace, and conspiracy. This was the first time international law was used to hold individuals, including government and military leaders, personally accountable for such crimes.

The trial began in November 1945 and ended in October 1946. Key figures like Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess were tried. 12 were sentenced to death, 3 were acquitted, and the rest got prison sentences.

The trials set a historic precedent for international justice and the prosecution of war crimes.

Displaced Persons Camps (Late 1940s)

In the war's aftermath, Allied authorities established Displaced Persons (DP) camps across Germany to house Holocaust survivors and other refugees. These camps, often in former military barracks or schools, became temporary homes for over 200,000 Jewish survivors who had nowhere to return to. While conditions were difficult, the camps fostered cultural revival with schools, newspapers and Zionist movements preparing survivors for new lives. The DP camp experience highlighted the ongoing refugee crisis and influenced the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sought to prevent future genocides

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse