January 16 Soviet troops liberate 800 Jews at Czestochowa and 870 in Lodz. January 17 Soviet troops liberate Warsaw. Liberation of 80,000 Jews in Budapest. Nazis evacuate Auschwitz and "Death March" of prisoners begins. January 27 Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz. March 3 American troops reach the Rhine River. March 19 Hitler orders destruction of all German military, industrial, transportation, and communications facilities to prevent them from falling under enemy control. April Allies discover Nazi-stolen art and wealth hidden in salt mines. April 6-10 Evacuation of 15,000 Jews from Buchenwald.
American troops liberate Buchenwald. President Roosevelt dies. Truman becomes President. April 15 British troops liberate concentration camp Bergen-Belsen southeast of Hamburg. April 20 American troops occupy Nuremberg. April 23 Soviet troops near Berlin. April 23-May 4 Evacuation of inmates from concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck. SS guards conduct last massacre of Jews. April 25 Meeting of American and Soviet troops on the Elbe River in Germany. April 28 Mussolini captured and hanged by Italian partisans.
American troops liberate Dachau. April 30 Hitler commits suicide. May 2 Berlin capitulates. Representatives of International Red Cross take over at Theresienstadt. May 5 Liberation of Mauthausen. May 7-9 Unconditional surrender of Germany: end of war in Europe. May 8 V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
U.S. troops capture Göring. May 23 Himmler captured and commits suicide. June 5 Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over government. June 26 United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco. August 6 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. August 15 Japan surrenders: end of World War II. October 24 United Nations officially born. November 22 Start of Nuremberg Trials. Trials end January 10, 1946, with 12 defendants sentenced to death, three to life imprisonment, four to various prison terms, and three acquitted. Photos: Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives. The Director's Story | Timeline of Nazi Abuses Results of Death-Camp Experiments: Should They Be Used? Exposing Flawed Science | Resources Transcript | Site Map | Holocaust on Trial Home Editor's Picks | Previous Sites | Join Us/E-mail | TV/Web Schedule About NOVA | Teachers | Site Map | Shop | Jobs | Search | To print PBS Online | NOVA Online | WGBH © | Updated October 2000 |
