The Holocaust and World War II: Key Dates
The mass murder of Europe’s Jews took place in the context of World War II. As German troops invaded and occupied more and more territory in Europe, the Soviet Union, and North Africa, the regime’s racial and antisemitic policies became more radical, moving from persecution to genocide. Explore a timeline of key events during the Holocaust and World War II.
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January 30, 1933
President Hindenburg appointsAdolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.
March 20, 1933
SS opens theDachau concentration camp outside of Munich.
April 1, 1933
Boycott of Jewish-owned shops and businesses in Germany.
April 7, 1933
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.
July 14, 1933
Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases.
September 15, 1935
Nuremberg Race Laws.
March 16, 1935
Germany introduces military conscription.
March 7, 1936
German troops march unopposed into the Rhineland.
August 1, 1936
SummerOlympics begin in Berlin.
March 11–13, 1938
Germany incorporatesAustria in theAnschluss (Union).
September 29, 1938
Munich Agreement. Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement, by which Czechoslovakia must surrender its border regions and defenses (the so-called Sudeten region) to Nazi Germany.
November 9–10, 1938
Kristallnacht (violent nationwide anti-Jewish riot in Germany and its annexed territories).
May 13, 1939
TheSt. Louis sails from Hamburg, Germany.
- World War II and the Holocaust
TheHolocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and itscollaborators, between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primaryvictims - six million were murdered. Roma (Gypsies), physically and mentally disabled people and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny.
German conquests in Europe, 1939-1942In World War II, Germany sought to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns in Europe. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years. Germany defeated and occupiedPoland (attacked in September 1939),Denmark (April 1940),Norway (April 1940),Belgium (May 1940), theNetherlands (May 1940),Luxembourg (May 1940),France (May 1940),Yugoslavia (April 1941), andGreece (April 1941). Yet Germany did not defeat Great Britain, which was protected from German ground attack by the English Channel and the Royal Navy. On June 22, 1941, German forces suddenlyinvaded the Soviet Union. But Germany proved unable to defeat the Soviet Union, which together with Great Britain and the United States turned the tide of battle and ultimately defeated Germany in May 1945.
Defeat of Nazi Germany, 1942-1945Beginning in 1938, the Nazis increased their territorial control outside of Germany. By 1942, three years intoWorld War II, Nazi Germany reached the peak of its expansion. At the height of its power, Germany had incorporated, seized, or occupied most of the continent. However, also in 1942, the Allied Powers started to systematically bomb Germany. They would continue to do so until Germany's surrender in 1945, weakening the war effort and demolishing cities.
Slowly, the Allied Powers began pushing Germany back towards prewar boundaries. From 1942 to 1943, Nazi Germany suffered battle and territory losses in theSoviet Union andNorth Africa. With the Soviets on the offensive, German troops were pushed westward, gradually losing control of the Eastern Front. In July 1943, the Allied Powers landed inItaly, pushing German troops north. Rome was liberated in June, 1944. That same month, other Allied divisionslanded on the beaches of Normandy, France, pushing German troops east. By the end of 1944, the Allies had liberated a majority of Axis territories occupied during the war.
In early 1945, Allied troops entered Germany. By mid-April, the Soviets had encircled the German capital of Berlin. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself. The German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the west on May 7 and in the east on May 9, 1945, bringing an end to World War II in Europe.
August 23, 1939
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Agreement.
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, startingWorld War II in Europe.
September 17, 1939
The Soviet Union occupies Poland from the east.
October 8, 1939
German officials establish what is likely the first Nazighetto in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland.
April 9, 1940
German forces invadeDenmark andNorway.
May 10, 1940
Germany attacks western Europe (France and the Low Countries).
July 10, 1940
The Battle of Britain begins.
April 6, 1941
German forces invadeYugoslavia andGreece.
June 22, 1941
Germany invades the Soviet Union.
July 6, 1941
Einsatzgruppen (so-called mobile killing units) shoot nearly 3,000 Jews at the Seventh Fort(Fort VII), one of the 19th-century fortifications surrounding Kovno.
August 3, 1941
Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen of Muenster denounces the“euthanasia” killing program in a public sermon.
September 29–30, 1941
Einsatzgruppen shoot about 34,000 Jews atBabyn Yar, outsideKyiv (Kiev).
On September 29-30, 1941, SS and German police units and their auxiliaries, under guidance of members ofEinsatzgruppe C, murdered the Jewish population of Kiev atBabi Yar, a ravine northwest of the city.
This photograph shows groups of Jews being forced to hand over their possessions and undress before being shot in the ravine.
November 7, 1941
Einsatzgruppen round up 13,000 Jews from theMinsk ghetto and kill them in nearby Tuchinki (Tuchinka).
November 30, 1941
Einsatzgruppen shoot at least 11,000 Jews from theRiga ghetto in the Rumbula Forest.The massacre continues on December 8-9. In total, at least 25,000 Jews are killed.
December 6, 1941
Soviet winter counteroffensive.
December 7, 1941
Japan bombsPearl Harbor and the United States declares war on Japan the next day.
December 8, 1941
The first killing operations begin atChelmno in occupied Poland.
December 11, 1941
Nazi Germany declares war on the United States.
January 16, 1942
Germans begin the mass deportation of Jews fromLodz to theChelmno killing center.
January 20, 1942
TheWannsee Conference is held near Berlin, Germany.
March 27, 1942
German officials begin the deportation of more than 65,000 Jews fromDrancy, outsideParis, to the east (primarily toAuschwitz).
June 28, 1942
Germany launches a new offensive towards the city of Stalingrad.
July 15, 1942
Germans begin mass deportations of nearly 100,000 Jews from the occupiedNetherlands to the east (primarily toAuschwitz).
July 22, 1942
Germans begin the mass deportation of over 300,000 Jews from theWarsaw ghetto to theTreblinka killing center.
September 21, 1942
Germans complete the mass deportation of about 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka.
November 23, 1942
Soviet troops counterattack at Stalingrad, trapping the German Sixth Army in the city.
April 19, 1943
The Jews of the Warsaw ghetto initiate their final act of armed resistance against the Germans. TheWarsaw ghetto uprising begins.
German soldiers arrest Jews during theWarsaw ghetto uprising. Poland, May 1943.
The Warsaw ghetto uprising began on April 19, 1943, after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. By May 16, 1943, the Germans had crushed the uprising, deported surviving ghetto residents, and left the ghetto area in ruins.
- National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD
July 5, 1943
Battle of Kursk.
October 1, 1943
Danish citizens initiate the mass rescue ofDenmark's Jews.
November 6, 1943
Soviet troops liberateKyiv.
March 19, 1944
German forces occupy Hungary.
May 15, 1944
Germans begin the mass deportation of about 440,000 Jews from Hungary.
June 6, 1944
D-Day: Allied forces invade Normandy, France.
June 22, 1944
The Soviets launch an offensive in eastern Belorussia (Belarus).
July 25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of Normandy.
August 1, 1944
The Polish Home Army initiates theWarsaw uprising.
August 15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France.
August 25, 1944
Liberation of Paris.
December 16, 1944
Battle of the Bulge.
January 12, 1945
Soviet winter offensive is launched.
January 18, 1945
Death march of nearly 60,000 prisoners begins from theAuschwitz camp system in the southern part of German-annexed Poland.
January 25, 1945
Death march of nearly 50,000 prisoners begins from theStutthof camp system in the northern part of German-annexed Poland.
January 27, 1945
Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz camp complex.
March 7, 1945
US troops cross the Rhine River atRemagen.
April 16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April 29, 1945
American forces liberate the Dachau concentration camp.
April 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7–8, 1945
Germany signs an unconditional surrender at the headquarters of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander of Allied forces in northwest Europe, at Reims on May 7. The surrender takes effect on May 8 at 11:01 PM Central European time (CET).
May 8, 1945
Germany signs a second, very similar, document of surrender in Berlin. It also comes into effect on May 8 at 11:01 PM CET. In Moscow, this was already after midnight on May 9.
Series: World War II
Critical Thinking Questions
How can knowledge of the events in Germany and Europe before the Nazis came to power help citizens today respond to threats of genocide and mass atrocity in the world?
While fighting against the Allied armies, how was the German army involved in the murder of the European Jews at the same time?
What was the relationship between the progress of the war and the mass murder of Europe’s Jews?
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