 |
| 1933 |
President Roosevelt's New Deal creates agencies that hire by "merit system," resulting in more opportunities for Jews. |
 January 30 -- Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. |
March 20 -- The Nazis establish their first concentration camp: Dachau. |
March 23 -- Germany passes the Enabling Act, giving Hitler dictatorial powers. |
March 27 -- Mass anti-Nazi rally held in Madison Square Garden, New York. |
April 7 -- Nazis' first anti-Semitic decree removes all Jews from the civil service. |
| 1935 |
September -- Nazis enact the Nuremberg Laws. Among other things they deprive German Jews of the right to vote and hold public office, and they outlaw marriages between Jews and non-Jews. |
| 1936 |
 October 25 -- Hitler and Mussolini form Rome-Berlin Axis. |
November -- Landslide re-election victory for President Roosevelt, with nearly complete Jewish support. |
| 1938 |
March 13 -- "Anschluss:" Germany annexes Austria. |
April 26 -- German Jews required to register their property. |
July -- Convened by President Roosevelt, 32 countries meet at the Evian Conference in France to discuss refugee problem. Little is accomplished; most Western countries unwilling to accept Jewish refugees. |
September 29 -- Munich Agreement is signed. Britain and France accept Hitler's annexation of Sudetenland. |
November 9-10 -- "Kristallnacht," The Night of Broken Glass. Throughout Germany and Austria, the Nazis destroy Jewish property and deport some 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. |
 November 12 -- All Jewish retail establishments in Germany ordered to cease business by end of year. |
| 1939 |
February - June -- Wagner-Rogers Bill proposes admitting 20,000 German refugee children to the U.S. The bill dies in committee. |
March 15 -- Germany occupies Czechoslovakia. |
 May - June -- The S.S. St. Louis, carrying 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba. The U.S. refuses to admit the refugees, who are forced to return to Europe. |
May -- British government issues a White Paper which restricts future Jewish immigration to Palestine to 75,000 over the next five years. |
September 1 -- Germany invades Poland. |
September 3 -- Britain and France declare war on Germany. |
November -- Germans have killed more than 16,000 Polish civilians in first six weeks of war. Five thousand of them are Jewish. |
| 1940 |
May 10 -- Germany launches attacks against Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. |
 June -- Germans establish the Auschwitz concentration camp. |
June 22 -- France surrenders to Germany. Marshall Pétain signs armistice with Germany |
September 7 -- German begins massive bombing campaign on London. |
October 22 -- Germany deports 15,000 from the Rhineland to internment camps in France. |
 November -- Warsaw Ghetto created. |
1933 - 1940 | 1941 - 1942 | 1943 | 1944 - 1945
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