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March 22, 1933. On this date, the SS established the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
In 1933, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship. Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to "purify" and strengthen the Germanic "Aryan" population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany's one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life. For two weeks in August…
August 2, 1934. On this date, Adolf Hitler became President of Germany after Paul von Hindenburg's death.
Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Frick, and Hermann Göring wave to a torchlight parade in honor of Hitler's appointment as chancellor. Behind Göring stands Rudolf Hess. Berlin, Germany, January 30, 1933.
Reich President Paul von Hindenburg poses with Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933. Germany, 1933-1934.
A certificate of "Aryan" descent, issued to Joseph Schäfer of Mühlheim, Germany. To prove one's "Aryan" racial status in Nazi Germany, an individual had to trace their ancestry back to 1800. Signed by an official justice of the peace, this certificate attests to Schäfer's parentage and baptism. Dated January 14, 1936.
The Law against the Founding of New Parties proclaimed the Nazi Party as the only political party in Germany, which became a one-party dictatorship led by the Nazis.
A newspaper advertisement for the Damenklub Violetta, a Berlin club frequented by lesbians, 1928. Before the Nazis came to power in 1933, lesbian communities and networks flourished in Germany.
November 24, 1933. On this date, the German government issued the Law against the Dangerous Habitual Criminals, allowing indefinite imprisonment.
Under Adolf Hitler, the Nazi regime was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims. Learn about Hitler in the years 1924-1930.
Karl Höcker created a personal album of photographs chronicling SS officers’ activities at Auschwitz. Learn about this chilling collection.
Article 48 allowed the German president to declare a state of emergency in times of national danger and effectively to rule as a dictator for short periods. Learn about its far-reaching effects.
Under Adolf Hitler's leadership, the Nazi regime was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims. Learn about Hitler in the years 1930-1933.
Karl Kautsky was a leading Marxist and Socialist theoretician in the Austrian Social Democratic movement. His books were burned in Nazi Germany in 1933. Learn more.
The US 8th Infantry and the 82nd Airborne Divisions arrived at the Wöbbelin camp in May 1945, witnessing the deplorable living conditions in this subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp.
The White Rose, led by students including Hans and Sophie Scholl, was an anti-Nazi group during WWII. Its members spread leaflets denouncing the regime.
The SA established a protective custody camp at Hainewalde in March 1933. Well-known journalist and writer Axel Eggebrecht was among its early prisoners.
Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (left), Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (center), and Soviet foreign minister Viacheslav Molotov (right) at the signing of the nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. Moscow, Soviet Union, August 1939.
Karl Höcker’s album shows SS officers at events ranging from ceremonies to social gatherings, in stark contrast to other photographs from Auschwitz. Learn more.
Eduard Schulte was a prominent German industrialist and secret anti-Nazi who leaked the first report to the west that the Nazis intended to murder all Jews in Europe.
Adolf Eichmann, a pivotal figure in the implementation of the “Final Solution,” was put on trial in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1961. Learn about the trial and its legacies.
Learn about photographs contained in Karl Höcker’s album depicting official visits, ceremonies, and the social activities of the Auschwitz camp staff.
To implement their policies, the Nazis had help from individuals across Europe, including professionals in many fields. Learn about the role of the German police.
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi politician, propagandist, and radical antisemite, was Reich Minister for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment from 1933 until 1945.
Hermann Ludwig Maas, a Protestant pastor in Heidelberg, Germany, was a rescuer and clergyman who stood in solidarity with the Jewish community.
Adolf Eichmann was a key figure in implementing the “Final Solution,” the Nazi plan to kill Europe's Jews. Learn more through key dates and events.
Learn about the establishment and history of the Dachau subcamp München-Schwabing, and the role of Eleonore Baur (also known as Schwester Pia or Sister Pia).
German General Erich Ludendorff was a key proponent of the fictitious “Stab-in-the-Back” myth which blamed Jews and others for Germany’s defeat in WWI.
In April 1945, US troops encountered a barn on the outskirts of Gardelegen where the SS and its accomplices had massacred over 1,000 concentration camp prisoners.
Learn more about the plight of Jewish refugees who attempted to escape Germany between 1933 and 1939.
Werner was raised in the rural German town of Herleshausen, where his family owned a farming supply business. His father sold seeds to local farmers and purchased their grain, while his mother ran the office. After several years of public schooling in Herleshausen, Werner began attending a high school in Eisenach, some 12 miles from their home. The Katzensteins were one of about two dozen Jewish families living in the area. 1933–39: When the Nazis came to power in January 1933, the Katzensteins' lives…
The July 20, 1944, plot was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Learn more about the July 20 plot, including some of the motivations of the participants.
Charged with managing the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and killing centers, Adolf Eichmann was a key figure in the "Final Solution."
Explore Frank Liebermann’s biography and learn about his experiences of antisemitism in his home town in Germany before World War II.
During the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), eugenics gained popularity in Germany. Learn more about the pseudoscience of “racial hygiene.”
Settchen was one of three children born to a religious Jewish family in a small town in the German state of Hessen. Her father was a cantor and kosher butcher. Settchen completed grade school during the 1880s. Because of a digestive disease, Settchen was largely homebound. She never married, and lived with her younger sister and brother-in-law. 1933-39: Reichenbach was a quiet town. Its largely Protestant inhabitants were generally not antisemitic. After Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis staged…
By September 1939, over half of German Jews had emigrated. WWII would accelerate the persecution, deportation, and later, mass murder, of the remainder of Germany's Jews.
Jews were the main targets of Nazi genocide. Learn about other individuals from a broad range of backgrounds who were imprisoned in the Nazi camp system.
The Mauthausen concentration camp was established following the Nazi incorporation of Austria in 1938. Learn about the harsh conditions in the camp.
The SS established the Mühldorf camp complex in mid-1944 as a satellite system of Dachau to provide labor for the production of the Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter.
Learn about the Freiburg subcamp of Flossenbürg, including its establishment, prisoner population, and conditions there.
The swastika is an ancient symbol that was in use in many different cultures for many years before Adolf Hitler made it the centerpiece of the Nazi flag.
April 1, 1933. On this date, the Nazi Party and its affiliates organized a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.
The word antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. The Holocaust is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism. Learn more.
Learn more about the end of Nazi tyranny in Europe and the liberation of camps and other sites of Nazi crimes. This article includes dates of liberation of some of the camps.
The SS oversaw policing, intelligence, and the camp system in Nazi Germany. Learn more about the Schutzstaffel and its rise to power.
Execution site at the Ploetzensee prison. At Ploetzensee, the Nazis executed hundreds of Germans for opposition to Hitler, including many of the participants in the July 20, 1944, plot to kill Hitler. Berlin, Germany, postwar.
The Institute for Sexual Science was founded in Germany by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a leading researcher of sex, sexuality, and gender. In 1933, the Nazis looted the institute and forced it to close. Photo published in 1924.
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