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).
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German infantry during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

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# 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 appoints Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

March 20, 1933

SS opens the Dachau 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

March 16, 1935

Germany introduces military conscription.

March 7, 1936

German troops march unopposed into the Rhineland.

August 1, 1936

March 11-13, 1938

Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss (Union).

November 9/10, 1938

May 13, 1939

The St. Louis sails from Hamburg, Germany.

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  Axis alliance, 1939-1941

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The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims - 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.

In 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 occupied Poland (attacked in September 1939), Denmark (April 1940), Norway (April 1940), Belgium (May 1940), the Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg (May 1940), France (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941), and Greece (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 suddenly invaded 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.

Beginning in 1938, the Nazis increased their territorial control outside of Germany. By 1942, three years into World 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 the Soviet Union and North 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 in Italy, pushing German troops north. Rome was liberated in June, 1944. That same month, other Allied divisions landed 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 World War II in Europe.

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.

August 23, 1939

September 1, 1939

September 17, 1939

The Soviet Union occupies Poland from the east.

October 8, 1939

German officials establish what is likely the first Nazi ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland.

April 9, 1940

May 10, 1940

July 10, 1940

The Battle of Britain begins.

April 6, 1941

June 22, 1941

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

September 29-30, 1941

Einsatzgruppen shoot about 34,000 Jews at Babyn Yar, outside Kyiv (Kiev).

At Babi Yar, groups of Jews are forced to hand over their possessions and undress before being shot in the ravine

Photo

On September 29-30, 1941, SS and German police units and their auxiliaries, under guidance of members of Einsatzgruppe C, murdered the Jewish population of Kiev at Babi 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.

Credits:

- Ernst Klee Archive

November 7, 1941

Einsatzgruppen round up 13,000 Jews from the Minsk ghetto and kill them in nearby Tuchinki (Tuchinka).

November 30, 1941

Einsatzgruppen shoot at least 11,000 Jews from the Riga 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 bombs Pearl Harbor and the United States declares war on Japan the next day.

December 8, 1941

The first killing operations begin at Chelmno in occupied Poland.

December 11, 1941

Nazi Germany declares war on the United States.

January 16, 1942

Germans begin the mass deportation of Jews from Lodz to the Chelmno killing center.

January 20, 1942

March 27, 1942

German officials begin the deportation of more than 65,000 Jews from Drancy, outside Paris, to the east (primarily to Auschwitz).

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 occupied Netherlands to the east (primarily to Auschwitz).

July 22, 1942

Germans begin the mass deportation of over 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center.

September 12, 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. The Warsaw ghetto uprising begins.

German soldiers arrest Jews during the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

Photo

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.

Credits:

- National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD

July 5, 1943

Battle of Kursk.

October 1, 1943

Danish citizens initiate the mass rescue of Denmark's Jews.

November 6, 1943

Soviet troops liberate Kyiv.

March 19, 1944

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

August 15, 1944

Allied forces land in southern France.

August 25, 1944

Liberation of Paris.

December 16, 1944

January 12, 1945

Soviet winter offensive is launched.

January 18, 1945

Death march of nearly 60,000 prisoners begins from the Auschwitz camp system in the southern part of German-annexed Poland.

January 25, 1945

Death march of nearly 50,000 prisoners begins from the Stutthof 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 at Remagen.

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.

Last Edited: Jun 1, 2022

Author(s):

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

## Discussion Questions

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## See Also

## Glossary Terms

## Series: World War IISeries: World War II

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## 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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