Nazi Rise to Power
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power in Germany, leading to the establishment of a totalitarian regime that begins implementing anti-Jewish policies, marking the early stages of the Holocaust.
Nuremberg Laws Enacted
The Nuremberg Laws are enacted, stripping Jews of German citizenship and prohibiting marriages and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans, further institutionalizing discrimination that would lead to the Holocaust.
Kristallnacht: The Night of Broken Glass
On November 9-10, anti-Jewish pogroms break out across Germany, known as Kristallnacht, marking a significant escalation in violence against Jews and foreshadowing the horrors of the Holocaust that would follow.
Invasion of Poland and Ghettoization Begins
Nazi Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II. The Nazis begin rounding up Jews and confining them to overcrowded ghettos, setting the stage for mass deportations and executions during the Holocaust.
Establishment of Concentration Camps
The Nazis expand their network of concentration camps across Europe, where Jews and other targeted groups face forced labor, starvation, and executions as part of the Holocaust infrastructure.
Operation Barbarossa and the Einsatzgruppen
Nazi Germany launches Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) begin mass shootings of Jews and other groups, marking the transition from concentration camps to mass extermination in the Holocaust.
Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution
During the Wannsee Conference, Nazi officials formalize plans for the Final Solution, which outlines the systematic genocide of the Jewish people, marking a critical development in the Holocaust.
Mass Deportations to Death Camps
The mass deportation of Jews from ghettos to extermination camps such as Auschwitz begins, with systematic killings occurring as part of the Holocaust's genocidal process.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
As Allied forces advance through Europe, they begin liberating concentration camps, revealing the full extent of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, shocking the world with the evidence of mass murder.
