1889 April 20 Birth of Adolf Hitler
1918 November 3-4 German sailors revolt in Kiel.
November 9 Philip Scheidemann (a Social Democrat) proclaims the German Republic.
1919 January 5 Founding of the German Workers’ Party in Munich.
January 5-12 Spartacus uprising in Berlin.
February 11 Friedrich Ebert elected Reich President by National Assembly in Weimar.
April 4 Soviet Republic established in Bavaria.
September Hitler joins the German Workers’ party as member number 7.
1920 February 24 “Twenty-five Point Program” adopted by German Workers’ Party.
March 13-17 Kapp Putsch attempted in Berlin.
1923 January 11 Occupation of the Ruhr industrial area by French and Belgian forces.
November 8-9 Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch attempted in Munich.
1924 February 26 Hitler’s trial for treason begins.
December 20 Hitler released from prison.
1927 March 10 Lifting of speaking ban on Hitler.
1928 May 20 Reichstag elections – Nazis poll 2.6% and get 12 (of 491) seats in Reichstag.
1929 October 25 “Black Friday:” New York Stock Market crash and onset of Depression.
1930 July 16 President Hindenburg invokes Article 48 of Constitution. Rule by presidential decree begins.
September 14 Reichstag elections. Nazis poll 18.3% and get 107 (of 577) in Reichstag.
1932 March 13 Presidential election. Hitler receives 11.5 million votes; Hindenburg 18.6 million.
April 10 Presidential (run-off) election. Hitler receives 13.4 million vs Hindenburg’s 19.25 million votes.
July 31 Reichstag elections. Nazis poll 37.4% and get 230 seats (of 608) in Reichstag. Nazis are now the single largest party.
1933 January 30 Hitler appointed chancellor, with Papen as vice-chancellor.
March 31 Beginning of Gleichschaltung of state governments.
April 1 First nationally organized boycott of Jewish businesses and professional people.
October 14 Withdrawal from League of Nations. Beginning of rearmament.
1934 June 30 Blood Purge (aka Night of the Long Knives).
August 2 Death of Hindenburg. Hitler fuses Presidency and Reich Chancellor. Armed forces swear loyalty.
1935 March 16 Hitler denounced restrictions imposed by Treaty Versailles and resumes draft.
September 15 Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of rights.
1938 March 12 German troops enter Austria.
September 29 Conclusion of the Munich Conference; Sudetenland ceded to Germany.
November 9 Crystal Night (pogrom against German Jews).
1939 March 15 German troops invade and occupy remainder of Czechoslovakia.
August 23 German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.
September 1 Germany invades Poland.
October Fuhrer decree on euthanasia program.
1940 February 12 First deportation of Jews from Germany.
1941 June 22 Germany invades Soviet Union. Einsatzgruppen begin extermination of Jews in east.
September 19 Jews in Germany forced to wear yellow star.
1942 January 20 Wannsee Conference. “Final Solution” discussed; mass extermination of Jews to begin.
June 23 First gassings in Auschwitz.
July 21-22 Beginning of deportation of Jews from Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka.
1943 April 19 Uprising in Warsaw ghetto suppressed.
1944 July 20 July Plot: Stauffenberg’s attempt on Hitler’s life and coup by conspirators fails.
1945 January 26 Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.
April 30 Hitler commits suicide.
May 7 German surrender signed.
November 20 Opening of Nuremberg War Crimes trials.
1946 October 16 Executions of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg.
Anschluss – Incorporation of Austria into the Reich in 1938.
Beer Hall Putsch – Failed attempt by Hitler and his Nazi Party supporters to overthrow the national government on
November 8-9, 1923.
Blitzkrieg – Lightning war. Military tactics emphasizing mobility and fluidity, which were employed by German forces
in 1939-40 during invasions of Poland and France.
Blood Purge – Also called “Night of the Long Knives.” Hitler’s purge of SA leadership and other perceived opponents,
through a campaign of assassinations during the night of June 30, 1934.
Center Party – Political party dedicated to Catholic interests; appealed to all social classes and had support in most areas
of Germany.
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – DAP (German Workers’ Party). Original name of the Nazi Party; changed its name to NSDAP
(National Socialist German Worker’s Party) in 1920.
Einsatzgruppen (Special Task Groups) – Special units recruited from the security police; given the task of suppressing all
opposition in occupied territories; engaged in mass liquidation of Jews in eastern Europe.
Enabling Act – (Law for the Removal of the Distress of People and Reich). Act passed by the Reichstag on March 24,
1933, that gave Hitler dictatorial power for 2 years. Later renewed.
Endlosung (Final Solution) – Euphemism used by the Nazis for the extermination of the Jews of Europe.
Freikorps (Free Corps) – Volunteer paramilitary units composed of veterans who were politically right wing and
dedicated to fighting communism. They initially allowed the government to circumvent the manpower limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.
Fuhrer (The Leader) – Title used by Hitler to reinforce his position of authority as head of the Nazi Party and later as
head of the Third Reich.
Fuhrerprinzip (Leadership Principle) – Nazi concept of hierarchical party organization that emphasized discipline and a
chain of command that culminated in the charismatic position of the Fuhrer.
Gau (Region) – Largest territorial unit of the Nazi organizational structure. The Gaus corresponded roughly to the
Reichstag electoral regions.
Gauleiter (Regional leader) – Chief Nazi Party official within the regional organization.
Geheime Staatspolizei – Gestapo (Secret State Policy) – Under the control of the SD, the Gestapo was the most important
security organization of the Reich and one of the most effective organs of the totalitarian state. Its powers were extensive and independent of the legal system, and it established its own law courts, ostensibly to protect all Germans and defend them against all enemies.
General Government – Nazi term for pieces of occupied Poland not directly incorporated into Germany.
Gleichschaltung (Coordination) – Nazi policy that sought to bring all sectors of the state and society under the control of
the regime.
Hitler Jugend – HJ (Hitler Youth) – Nazi organization for boys between the ages of 10 and 18. Membership was made
compulsory in 1939.
Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD (German Communist Party) – The KPD was outlawed in 1933 and its
leaders arrested.
Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) – National pogram against German Jews on night of Nov. 9-10, 1938.
Lebensborn (Spring of Life) – Program designed by Himmler to improve the racial stock of the German Volk. Racially
pure women encouraged to breed with selected SS men without the sanction of marriage.
Lebensraum (Living Space) – A concept that emphasized the need for the territorial expansion of overpopulated
Germany. Only through the acquisition of new lands to the east could adequate raw materials and foodstuffs for the allegedly superior German Volk be ensured.
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party).
Reichstag – German parliament. During the Third Reich, it occasionally met as a rubber-stamp organization.
Schutzstaffeln – SS (Guard Squadrons) – Organization in control of the various police forces in Germany and in
conquered territories. It also included military units.
Sicherheitsdienst – SD (Security Service) – The intelligence service of the SS under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich.
It was responsible for the security of Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the entire Third Reich. The SD consisted of several police forces, including the Security Police (Sipo), the Criminal Police (Kripo), the Central Office for Reich Security (RSHA), and the Schupos (urban police forces).
Sicherheitspolizei – Sipo (Security Police) – The Security Police organization, consisting of the Gestapo and the Criminal
Police under the control of Reinhard Heydrich.
Sturmabteilung – SA (Stormtroopers) – The early private army of Brown Shirts of the Nazi Party. It was originally
organized to protect party leaders and oppose rival political parties. It declined in power and influence after the Blood Purge of 1934.
Volk – All-inclusive concept of nation, people, and race. Since the early nineteenth century, the term had implied
homogeneity and a superiority of German culture, and later increasingly came to be associated with theories of race and a sense of mission for the German people.
Volkischer Beobachter (People’s Observer) – Main daily newspaper of the Nazi Party.
Volksgemeinschaft (Volk Community) – The image of a harmonized, racially pure community stressed by Nazi ideology,
which led to a number of governmental policies in the Third Reich.
Wannsee Conference – A meeting of Nazi Party and state officials in Berlin on January 20, 1942, during which the plans
for the Final Solution were outlined.
Bormann, Martin (1900-1945). Head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to the Fuhrer. Increasingly more
powerful in the final days of the Third Reich because of his proximity to Hitler. At Nuremberg he was sentenced to death in absentia. Mystery still surrounds his fate. Rumors abound of his death (in a tank) at the hands of the Russians, of his suicide, and of his escape to South America. German courts pronounced him officially dead in April 1973, on the basis of skeletal remains found not far from Hitler’s bunker in Berlin.
Drexler, Anton (1884-1942). Co-founder of the German Workers’ Party on January 5, 1919. Pushed out of the party’s
leadership by Hitler in 1921. Left the NSDAP in 1923, and never rejoined the Nazi movement.
Eichmann, Adolf (1906-62). SS Lieutenant-Colonel; chief of the office dealing with Jewish affairs and evacuation within
the Central Office for Reich Security. Entrusted by Heydrich with implementation of the “Final Solution.” Arrested after the war but escaped to Argentina. Tracked down by Israeli agents in 1960 and tried in Jerusalem. Executed in Israel in 1962.
Frank, Hans (1900-46). Director of the NSDAP’s legal department. Governor-General of occupied Poland, 1933-45.
Tried and executed in Nuremberg in 1946.
Frick, Hans (1900-46). Reich Minister of the Interior, 1933-43, a position he used to draft laws that sent Nazi opponents
to concentration camps; also drafted the Nuremberg race laws. Tried and executed in Nuremberg in 1946.
Goebbels, Joseph (1897-1945). Gauleiter of Berlin. Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, 1930-
1945. Committed suicide along with his entire family on May 1, 1945.
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946). Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Reichstag President, and Plenipotentiary for the
Four-Year Plan. Instructed Heydrich to prepare a solution to the Jewish question. Captured by the U.S. Army in May 1945 and tried at Nuremberg. Sentenced to death by hanging but committed suicide in prison on October 15, 1946.
Hess, Rudolf (1894-1987). Early member of the NSDAP; secretary to Hitler 1925-32; Deputy to the Fuhrer, 1933-41;
flew to Britain in May 1941 on a self-appointed peace mission and was interned for the duration of the war. Tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment. Committed suicide by strangling himself with an electrical cord in prison in Berlin in August 1987 at the age of ninety-three; for twenty-one years, he had been the sole remaining prisoner at Spandau prison.
Heydrich, Reinhard (1904-42). SS Lieutenant-General; Chief of the Security Service and Chief of the Central Office for
Reich Security. Convened the Wannsee Conference and laid the groundwork for the “Final Solution.”
Assassinated by a Czech resistance organization in 1942. In retribution, the Nazis razed the Czech village of
Lidice and executed all its male inhabitants.
Himmler, Heinrich (1900-45). Reich Leader of the SS, 1929-45; Chief of the German police, 1936-45. Because of his
position as head of the SS and the police, he was probably the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany. He was a fanatical disciple of race theory and dedicated to the implementation of the “Final Solution.” Following the German surrender, he tried to escape in disguise but was captured by British troops. Committed suicide on May 23, 1945, by swallowing a poison vial before he could be tried.
Hindenburg, Paul von (1847-1934). General Field Marshall and national hero during World War I. President of the
Weimar Republic from 1925 until his death in 1934. Did not like Hitler but under the influence of conservative groups accepted him as chancellor.
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945). Joined German Workers’ Party in 1919; chairman of NSDAP in 1921; jailed during 1924 for
treason; assumed the title of Fuhrer (leader) of the party from 1925 on. He became chancellor in 1933 and Fuhrer of Germany after Hindenburg’s death in 1934; thereafter, he was the all-powerful dictator until he committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
Hoess, Rudolf (1900-47). SS Captain, Commandant of the extermination camp at Auschwitz, 1940-43. Prided himself
on introducing poison gas into the extermination process. Arrested on March 2, 1946 and sentenced to death by a Polish tribunal in March 1947. Executed at Auschwitz on April 7, 1947.
Ludendorff, Erich (1865-1937). Brilliant military tactician; Quartermaster General in World War I. Embittered by
Germany’s defeat, became involved in postwar right-wing politics; participated in the Beer Hall Putsch. His relations with Hitler cooled after 1925, although Ludendorff continued to espouse increasingly eccentric ideas directed against Jews, Jesuits, and Freemasons.
Papen, Franz von (1879-1969). Conservative Catholic politician who served as chancellor of Germany for six months in
1932. Helped negotiate the coalition between the Nazis and the conservative Nationalists, which brought Hitler to power. Served as Vice-Chancellor, 1933-34; ambassador to Turkey, 1939-44. Arrested at the end of the war, tried at Nuremberg and acquitted; a German court reclassified him as a “Major Offender;” released in 1949.
Ribbentrop, Joachim von (1893-1946). Foreign Minister, 1938-45. Signed German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which
cleared the way for Hitler’s attack on Poland. Found guilty at Nuremberg trials, he was the first of the defendants to be executed.
Roehm, Ernst (1887-1934). Participant in the Beer Hall Putsch; Chief of Staff of the SA, 1931-34. Arrested on June 30,
1934, on Hitler’s orders, Roehm was shot two days later by the SS, one of the major victims of the Blood Purge.
Rosenberg, Alfred (1893-1946). Editor-in-chief of the Völkischer Beobachter, and a leading Nazi ideologue and race
theorist. As Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories, 1941-45, he supported Nazi subjugation of the “inferior” Slavic people, although he protested ineffectively the regime’s extermination campaigns in those territories. He was hanged at Nuremberg in 1946.
Speer, Albert (1905-81). Hitler’s favorite architect during the mid-1930s. Designed the Reich Chancellery building in
Berlin, and used lighting effects to orchestrate the Nazi Party rallies at Nuremberg. In 1942 he was named Minister of Armaments and Munitions, and greatly increased army production. Acknowledged his guilt for “war crimes” at the Nuremberg trials and received a twenty-year prison sentence.
Strasser, Gregor (1892-1934). Early member of the NSDAP and leader of the Party’s social-revolutionary wing. NSDAP
Propaganda Leader, 1926-32, but resigned from the Party in December 1932 over policy differences with Hitler. Strasser was murdered by the Gestapo during the Blood Purge.
Streicher, Julius (1885-1946). Gauleiter of Franconia and founder of the violently antisemitic journal Der Stürmer (The
Attacker). Lost his party posts in 1940 because of a feud with Goering. Sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials because of his activities inciting the extermination of the Jews.