Lesbians under the Nazi Regime

Under the Nazi regime, there was no official law or policy prohibiting sexual relations between women. Nonetheless, beginning in 1933, the Nazi regime harassed and destroyed lesbian communities and networks that had developed during the Weimar Republic (1918–1933). This created a climate of restriction and fear for many lesbians.

Rwanda: The First Conviction for Genocide

Genocide was first recognized as an international crime in 1948, when the United Nations adopted the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The first conviction for genocide only occurred nearly 50 years later in response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Jean-Paul Akayesu, the mayor of the Rwandan town of Taba, was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Rwanda Genocide

Genocides have continued to occur since the Holocaust. This was the case, for example, in Rwanda in 1994. Over a period of 100 days, from April to July 1994, as many as one million people, mostly Tutsis, were massacred. This occurred when an extremist-led Hutu government launched a plan to wipe out Rwanda’s entire Tutsi minority and any others who opposed its policies.

Genocide Timeline

Buchenwald

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites (including ghettos). The perpetrators used these locations for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people deemed to be "enemies of the state," and mass murder. Millions of people suffered and died or were killed. Among these sites was the Buchenwald camp near the city of Weimar.

Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Campaign against Homosexuality

Paragraph 175 was a German statute that criminalized sexual relations between men. It did not criminalize sexual relations between women. Paragraph 175 predated the Nazi regime. However, the Nazis revised Paragraph 175 in 1935 to make it broader and harsher. It was one of the main tools that the Nazis used to persecute gay men and men accused of sexual relations with other men.

Eichmann Trial

Adolf Eichmann was one of the most pivotal actors in the implementation of the “Final Solution.” Charged with managing and facilitating the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and killing centers in the German-occupied East, he was among the major organizers of the Holocaust. His 1961 trial in Jerusalem, Israel, sparked international interest and heightened public awareness of the crimes of the Holocaust.

Westerbork

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites (including ghettos). The perpetrators used these locations for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people deemed to be "enemies of the state," and mass murder. Millions of people suffered and died or were killed. Among these sites was the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands.

Esterwegen Concentration Camp

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites (including ghettos). The perpetrators used these locations for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people deemed to be "enemies of the state," and mass murder. Millions of people suffered and died or were killed. Among these sites was the Esterwegen camp, near the German-Dutch border. 

Kurt Gerstein

German SS officer Kurt Gerstein was assigned to the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS. He was called upon to assist in the implementation of the "Final Solution." After witnessing atrocities at the Belzec and Treblinka killing centers, he tried to inform foreign diplomats, Vatican officials, and members of the political resistance within Germany about Nazi German atrocities. While in Allied custody after the war, Gerstein wrote a report documenting the atrocities he had witnessed. 

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Jewish insurgents inside the ghetto resisted these efforts. This was the largest uprising by Jews during World War and the first significant urban revolt against German occupation in Europe. By May 16, 1943, the Germans had crushed the uprising and deported surviving ghetto residents to concentration camps and killing centers.

The "Final Solution"

Mauthausen

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites (including ghettos). The perpetrators used these locations for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people deemed to be "enemies of the state," and mass murder. Millions of people suffered and died or were killed. Among these sites was the Mauthausen camp. 

The Rescue Mission of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus

In the spring of 1939, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, an affluent and secular Jewish American couple, rescued 50 Jewish children from Vienna, Austria, by bringing them to the United States. With the help of others, including family friend Dr. Robert Schless, members of the Independent Order Brith Sholom (a Jewish fraternal organization based in Philadelphia), and members of the Jewish communities of Berlin and Vienna, the Krauses were able to work within US immigration law to rescue these children.

Gay Men under the Nazi Regime

The Nazi regime carried out a campaign against male homosexuality and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945. As part of this campaign, the Nazi regime closed gay bars and meeting places, dissolved gay associations, and shuttered gay presses. The Nazi regime also arrested and tried tens of thousands of gay men using Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code. Uncovering the histories of gay men during the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century because of continued prejudice against same-sex sexuality and the postwar German enforcement of Paragraph 175.

Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Germany, 1933–1939

D-Day

The D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, was one of the most important military operations to the western Allies’ success during World War II. By the end of June, more than 850,000 US, British, and Canadian troops had come ashore on the beaches of Normandy.

Lidice: The Annihilation of a Czech Town

Lidice was a small Czech town located about 12 miles (20 km) from Prague. In June 1942, German forces annihilated Lidice. They razed the town to the ground and murdered or deported its residents. The annihilation of Lidice was an act of revenge for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a prominent Nazi official.

Röhm Purge

The Röhm Purge was the murder of the leadership of the SA (Storm Troopers), the Nazi paramilitary formation led by Ernst Röhm. The murders took place between June 30 and July 2, 1934. The ruling elites and ultimately Hitler saw the SA as a threat to their hold on power. The purge demonstrated the Nazi regime’s willingness to go outside of the law to commit murder as an act of state for the perceived survival of the nation.

Frank Liebermann

David Bayer

Jacob Wiener

Martin Weiss

Estelle Laughlin

Erika Eckstut