Nazi Germany Holocaust Timeline
Adolf Hitler joins the German Worker’s Party (GWP) September, 1919
National Socialist German Workers Party publishes its first programme. 24th February, 1920
The Sturm Abteilung (SA) is formed. October, 1920
Adolf Hitler attempts Beer Hall Putsch. 9th November, 1923
Adolf Hitler leaves Landsburg Prison. 20th December, 1924
The Nazi Party wins 24 seats in the Reichstag. December, 1924
The Schutz Staffeinel (SS) is formed. June, 1925
Max Amann publishes first volume of Mein Kampf. July, 1925
The Nazi Party holds its first Nuremberg Rally. July, 1927
The Nazi Party wins 14 seats in the Reichstag. 20th May, 1928
Joseph Goebbels takes over the propaganda unit in the Nazi Party. November, 1928
Max Amann publishes second volume of Mein Kampf. December, 1928
Over 60,000 members of the Sturm Abteilung attend Nuremberg Rally. August, 1929
The Nazi Party has a membership of 178,000. December, 1929
Wilhelm Frick becomes the first Nazi to become a minister in a state government. 23rd January, 1930
The Nazi Party wins 107 seats in the Reichstag. September, 1930
Unemployment in Germany reaches nearly 4 million. December, 1930
Ernst Roehm is appointed Sturm Abteilung chief of staff. January, 1931
Paul von Hindenburg defeats Adolf Hitler in presidential elections. 13th March, 1932
The Sturm Abteilung is banned. April, 1932
In Prussia the Nazi Party becomes the largest single party in the state parliament. 24th April, 1932
Franz von Papen lifts the ban on the Sturm Abteilung. 16th June, 1932
The Nazi Party wins 230 seats in the Reichstag. 31st July, 1932
Adolf Hitler refuses to serve under Franz von Papen as vice chancellor of Germany. 13th August, 1932
Franz von Papen resigns as chancellor of Germany. 17th November, 1932
Kurt von Schleicher becomes chancellor of Germany. 4th December, 1932
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. 30th January, 1933
The Reichstag catches fire. 27th February, 1933
The Nazi Party fails to win an overall majority in the Reichstag. 5th March, 1933
The first Nazi concentration camp is formed at Dachau. 20th March, 1933
Reichstag passes the Enabling Bill. 23rd March, 1933
Adolf Hitler uses the Enabling Bill to exclude communists from local government. 31st March, 1933
Herman Goering forms the Gestapo from the former Prussian police. 26th April, 1933
Adolf Hitler increases the number of Nazis in his government. 2nd June, 1933
Adolf Hitler announces an increase in the size of the German Army. 16th March, 1934
Heinrich Himmler is appointed assistant chief of the Gestapo. 4th April, 1934
The Night of the Long Knives results in the purge of the Sturm Abteilung. 29th June, 1934
Paul von Hindenburg dies and Adolf Hitler becomes president as well as chancellor. 2nd August, 1934
The German Army enters the Rhineland. 7th March, 1936
Adolf Hitler introduces a compulsory two-year period of military conscription. 24th August, 1936
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini agree to form a military alliance. 1st November, 1936
Germany and Japan sign an anti-Comintern pact. 25th November, 1936
France decides to extend the Maginot Line along the border with Germany. 27th February, 1937
Guernica in Spain is bombed by the Luftwaffe. 26th April, 1937
Pro-German riots take place in the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. 17th October, 1937
Italy joins the Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact. 6th November, 1937
Walther Funk replaces Hjalmar Schacht as German minister of economics. 24th November, 1937
Adolf Hitler replaces Werner von Blomberg as commander of the German Army. 4th February, 1938
Adolf Hitler orders the release of imprisoned Austrian Nazis. 16th February, 1938
Adolf Hitler orders the German Army into Austria. 12th March, 1938
Austria is declared part of the German Reich. 13th March, 1938
Francisco Franco, ruler of Spain, signs the Anti-Comintern Pact. 7th April, 1938
Adolf Hitler orders the mobilization of the German Army. 12th August, 1938
Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler sign the Munich Agreement. 29th September, 1938
German Army occupies the Sudetenland. 1st October, 1938
Herschel Grynzspan mortally wounds Herr von Rath, a German embassy official, in Paris. 9th November, 1938
Joseph Goebbels organizes Crystal Night ( 7,500 Jewish shops destroyed and 400 synagogues burnt down). 9th November, 1938
Adolf Hitler dismisses Hjalmar Schacht as president of the Reichsbank. 21st January, 1939
The German Army invades Czechoslovakia. 15th March, 1939
Adolf Hitler demands the free city of Danzig in Poland. 21st March, 1939
Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact. 23rd August, 1939
The German Army invades Poland and annexes the free city of Danzig. 1st September, 1939
Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany. 3rd September, 1939
The German Army reach the city of Brest-Litovsk on the Polish border with the Soviet Union. 17th September, 1939
Germany formally annexes western Poland into the German Reich. 1st November, 1939
The German Army invades Denmark. 8th April, 1940
The German Army invades Norway. 8th April, 1940
Adolf Hitler launches his Western Offensive. 10th May, 1940
Netherlands surrenders and Queen Wilhelmina flees to England. 14th May, 1940
General Gerd von Rundstedt and the German Army pierce the French defences at Sedan. 23rd May, 1940
Adolf Hitler orders the German forces in France and Belgium to halt their advance. 23rd May, 1940
Adolf Hitler orders the German forces in resume their advance into France and Belgium. 25th May, 1940
Belgium surrender to the German Army and Leopold III is arrested. 28th May, 1940
The German Army enters Paris. 14th June, 1940
Henri-Philippe Petain begins to negotiate an armistice with Germany. 17th June, 1940
France signs armistice with Nazi Germany and is divided into two zones. 22nd June, 1940
The Luftwaffe began attacking RAF Fighter Command’s aircraft, airfields and installations. 13th August, 1940
The Luftwaffe carry out a all-night bombing raid on London and begins the Blitz. 23rd August, 1940
Adolf Hitler postpones Operation Sealion. 12th October, 1940
Adolf Hitler meets Francisco Franco an attempt to persuade Spain to join the war. 23rd October, 1940
The Luftwaffe bomb Coventry killing 380 people and injuring 865. 14th November, 1940
The Royal Air Force bomb Hamburg in Germany. 16th November, 1940
Erwin Rommel mounts his first attack in the Desert War. 24th March 1941
Yugoslavia surrenders to the German Army. 17th April, 1941
The Luftwaffe destroy the House of Commons in Westminster. 10th May, 1941
Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland and is arrested by the authorities. 10th May, 1941
The Bismarck sinks the British battlecruiser Hood. 24th May, 1941
The Bismarck attacked and sunk by the Royal Navy. 27th May, 1941
Adolf Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa. 22nd June, 1941
The German Army advances on Leningrad. 12th August, 1941
The German Army captures Kiev, the Ukrainian capital in the Soviet Union. 20th September, 1941
The German Army advances on Moscow. 6th October, 1941
The Royal Air Force bombs the German city of Nuremberg. 13th October, 1941
Adolf Hitler sacks Heinrich von Brauchitsch as commander in chief of the German Army. 19th December, 1941
Hermann Balck and the 3rd Panzer Division captures Salonika. 9th April, 1942
Reinhard Heydrich is shot in Prague by Czech resistance fighters. 27th May, 1942
Erwin Rommel defeats Neil Richie at Gazala. 14th June, 1942
Erwin Rommel and the German Army captures Tobruk. 21st June, 1942
The German Army enters Stalingrad. 24th August, 1942
Erwin Rommel attacks Eighth Army at Alam el Halfa. 30th August, 1942
The German Army defeated at El Alamein. 4th November, 1942
Adolf Hitler orders the occupation of Vichy France. 11th November, 1942
Erich von Manstein and the 4th Panzer Army begin the attempt to relieve the 6th Army. 12th December, 1942
The Luftwaffe renews its air attacks on London. 18th January, 1943
Red Army recaptures the city of Kursk in the Soviet Union. 8th February, 1943
British and US military aircraft begin round-the-clock bombing of Nazi Germany. 25th February, 1943
Germany announces the discovery of 4,443 Polish officers at Katyn in the Soviet Union. 13th April, 1943
The Royal Air Force carryout the Dambusters Raid in the Ruhr. 16th May, 1943
Air Marshall Arthur Harris orders further bombing of Hamburg. 24th July, 1943
The intensive bombing of Berlin by the RAF begins. 18th November, 1943
The Luftwaffe make their heaviest raids on London since May 1941 19th February, 1944
Allied bombing of Nuremberg Raid. 30th March, 1944
Second Front opened with Allied landings in Normandy. 6th June, 1944
First V1 Flying bomb lands on Britain. 13th June, 1944
July Plot against Adolf Hitler fails. 20th July, 1944
First V2 Rocket lands on Britain. 8th September, 1944
Allied troops enter Nazi Germany. 11th September, 1944
Adolf Hitler calls up all remaining males between 16 and 60 in Germany for army service. 25th September, 1944
The German Army crushes Warsaw Uprising killing 250,000 of the inhabitants of the city. 2nd October, 1944
Erwin Rommel is forced to commit suicide by the Nazi government. 14th October, 1944
Air Marshall Arthur Harris orders the bombing of Dresden. 13th February, 1945
United States Army cross the River Rhine between Mainz and Mannheim. 22nd March, 1945
Last V2 Rocket lands on Britain. 27th March, 1945
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoffer is hanged by the Nazi authorities. 9th April, 1945
Liberation of Belsen and Buchenwald. 13th April, 1945
Liberation of Dachau. 25th April , 1945
**** Adolf Hitler commits suicide. 30th April, 1945 ****
Joseph Goebbels commits suicide. 1st May , 1945
Commander of German troops in Berlin surrenders. 2nd May, 1945
All military forces in Germany surrender to the Allies. 4th May, 1945
General Alfred Jodl signs the official surrender of Germany. 8th May, 1945
The German Army in Czechoslovakia surrender to the Red Army. 9th May, 1945
Heinrich Himmler commits suicide. 22nd May, 1945
The International Military War Tribunal at Nuremberg announces its verdict. 1st October, 1946
Herman Goering commits suicide. 15th October, 1946
Wilhelm Frick, Hans Frank, Walther Funk, Fritz Saukel, Alfred Rosenberg, Julius Streicher, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart,and Joachim von Ribbentrop are executed. 16th October, 1946
