Nazi Germany Events

1898 Oct 3 Adolf Reichwein Is Born
Adolf Reichwein (3 October 1898 in Bad Ems – 20 October 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee, executed) was a German educator, economist, and cultural policymaker for the SPD. He was also a resistan...
1905 Adolf Hitler Moves to Vienna, where He Acquires His Anti-Semitic Beliefs
From 1905 on, Hitler lived a bohemian life in Vienna on an orphan's pension and support from his mother. He was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1907–1908), citing "unfi...
1920 Feb 24 Adolf Hitler Delivers 'Twenty-Five Theses' Speech at the Munich Hofbräuhaus
Given responsibility for publicity and propaganda, Hitler first succeeded in attracting over a hundred people to a meeting in held October at which he delivered his first speech to a larg...
1920 Mar Hitler is Discharged from the Army and Begins Participating Full-Time in the German Workers' Party (DAP)
Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and with his former superiors' continued encouragement began participating full time in the party's activities. By early 1921, Hitler was...
1924 Apr 1 Adolf Hitler is Sentenced to Five Years' Imprisonment at Landsberg Prison for Treason
Hitler fled to the home of Ernst Hanfstaengl and contemplated suicide. He was soon arrested for high treason. Alfred Rosenberg became temporary leader of the party. During Hitler's trial,...
1929 Jun 12 Anne Frank is Born in Frankfurt
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, the second daughter of Otto Frank (1889–1980) and Edith Frank-Holländer (1900–45). Margot Frank (1926–45) was h...
1929 Oct Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun Meet
Born in Munich, Eva Braun was the second daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun and Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger, who both came from respectable Bavarian Catholic families. He...
1930 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Runs Bauhaus at Dessau
In 1930 Mies was appointed to run the Dessau Bauhaus on Gropius's recommendation following the dismissal of Hannes Meyer, and emphasized instruction within a more clearly-defined pedagogi...
1932
to 1933
Bauhaus School at Berlin
Although neither the Nazi Party nor Hitler himself had a cohesive architectural policy before they came to power in 1933, Nazi writers like Wilhelm Frick and Alfred Rosenberg had already ...
1932 Feb 25 Adolf Hitler is Granted German Citizenship
In 1932, Hitler intended to run against the aging President Paul von Hindenburg in the scheduled presidential elections. His 27 January 1932 speech to the Industry Club in Düsseldorf won ...
1933 Founding of the Wiener Library
The Wiener Library is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communit...
1933 Feb 3 Adolf Hitler First Reveals his Foreign Policy Goal of Conquering the Lebensraum
In a meeting with his leading generals and admirals on 3 February 1933 Hitler spoke of "conquest of Lebensraum in the East and its ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign policy o...
1933 Apr 26 Hermann Göring Forms the Gestapo
As part of the deal in which Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Hermann Göring was named as Interior Minister of Prussia. This gave him command of the largest police force in Germ...
1934 Apr 20 Heinrich Himmler Becomes Head of the Gestapo
On April 20,1934 Göring and Himmler agreed to put aside their differences (largely because of mutual hatred and growing dread of the Sturmabteilung) and Göring transferred full authority ...
1934 Jun 14
to 1934 Jun 16
 Adolf Hitler Visits Benito Mussolini in Venice
In February 1934, Hitler met with the British Lord Privy Seal, Sir Anthony Eden, and hinted strongly that Germany already possessed an Air Force, which had been forbidden by the Treaty of...
1934 Jun 30
to 1934 Jul 2
 Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives or "Operation Hummingbird", was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of politic...
1934 Aug 2 Death of Paul von Hindenburg
Hindenburg remained in office until his death at the age of 86 from lung cancer at his home in Neudeck, East Prussia on 2 August 1934 (exactly two months short of his 87th birthday). O...
1935 Sep 15 Hitler Announces Nuremberg Laws
The following month two measures were announced at the annual Party Rally in Nuremberg, becoming known as the Nuremberg Laws. Both measures were hastily improvised (there was even a short...
1936 Nazi Germany Establishes Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
Sachsenhausen (German pronunciation: [zaksənˈhaʊzən]) or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 ...
1936 Sep Hermann Göring Becomes Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan for German Rearmament
In September 1936, Goering took over most of Schacht's duties in preparing the war economy and instituted the Four-Year Plan, which was intended to make Germany self-sufficient in four ye...
1937 Jul Nazi Germany Establishes Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Buchenwald concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager or 'KZ' Buchenwald) was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg (Etter Mountain) near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany...
1938 Nov 7 Jewish Youth Herschel Grynszpan Shoots German Diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, Triggering Kristallnacht
Among the expelled was the family of Sendel and Rivka Grynszpan, Polish Jews who had emigrated to Germany in 1911 and settled in Hanover. Their seventeen-year-old son, Herschel was living...
1938 Dec SS Establishes Neuengamme Concentration Camp
The SS established Neuengamme in December 1938 as a subcamp of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned brickworks on the banks of the Dove-Elbe, a ...
1939 May Ravensbrück, the Largest Concentration Camp for Women, Opens
Ravensbrück or Ravensbrueck (German pronunciation: [ʁaːfənsˈbʁʏk]) was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a ...
1939 Aug 24 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Treaty of Non-Aggression between the Third German Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially ti...
1939 Aug 31 Gleiwitz Incident
The Gleiwitz incident was a staged attack by Nazi forces posing as Poles on 31 August 1939, against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (since 194...
1939 Sep 1
to 1939 Sep 4
 Battle of Grudziądz
Battle of Grudziądz was a military engagement between German and Polish forces during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. It started on September 1 and ended with a German victory on Septembe...
1939 Sep 1
to 1939 Sep 3
 Battle of Mława
At noon on September 1, 1939 the Polish line of defence manned by the 20th Infantry Division was attacked by the 1st Army Corps under General Walter Petzel. Although the attacking forces ...
1939 Sep 1 Battle of Mława Begins
The Battle of Mława, otherwise known as the Defence of the Mława position, took place to the north of the town of Mława in northern Poland between September 1 and September 3, 1939. It wa...
1939 Sep 1 Battle of Mokra
On September 1, at 0500, the German Tenth Army of Army Group South crossed the Polish border and initiated the invasion of Poland. The German 31st Infantry Division, as well as 1st and 4t...
1939 Sep 1
to 1939 Sep 7
 Battle of Westerplatte
The Battle of Westerplatte was the very first battle that took place after Germany invaded Poland and World War II began in Europe. During the first week of September 1939, a completel...
1939 Sep 1 Bombing of Wieluń
The bombing of Wieluń refers to the indiscriminate bombing of the Polish town of Wieluń by the German Luftwaffe on 1 September 1939, five minutes before the shelling of Westerplatte, whic...
1939 Sep 1 Charge at Krojanty
In the early morning hours of September 1, 1939, military forces of Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Later that day, events unfolded that would lead to one of the most fanciful and enduring l...
1939 Sep 1 Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig
At 04:00 Germans cut the phone and electricity lines to the building. At 04:45, just as the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein started shelling the nearby Polish Army military outpost a...
1939 Sep 1 Slovak Forces Begin Attack on Poland in Concert with Nazi Invasion
The attack started on September 1, 1939 at 05:00. The 1st division occupied the village Javorina, town Zakopane and continued toward Nowy Targ protecting the German 2nd mountain divisi...
1939 Sep 2 Construction on Stutthof Concentration Camp is Completed
In September 1939, the Germans established the Stutthof camp in a wooded area west of Stutthof (Sztutowo), a town about 22 miles east of Danzig (Gdansk). The area was secluded: to the nor...
1939 Sep 3
to 1945 May 7
 Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II, (though some say it was a series of naval military campaigns and offensives) running from 1939 thr...
1939 Sep 7
to 1939 Sep 10
 Battle of Wizna
On September 1, 1939, the Polish Defensive War and World War II started. The German 3rd Army was to advance from East Prussia towards Warsaw, directly through the positions of Polish Nare...
1939 Sep 7 France Launches Saar Offensive
French patrols cross the frontier into Germany near Saarbrucken, marking the beginning of the Saar offensive. A total of 11 divisions advance along a 32 km frontage. There is negligible G...
1939 Sep 8
to 1939 Sep 14
 Battle of Gdynia
The German offensive isolated the Polish coast from the Polish mainland between 4 and 8 September, and Armia Pomorze was forced to retreat south-east. Units of Land Coastal Defence has be...
1939 Sep 8 Battle of Wola Cyrusowa
The first Polish units to reach the area, that is the Wołyńska Cavalry Bde and the 30th Infantry Division were ordered to secure the area in order to allow for the remaining units to join...
1939 Sep 8
to 1939 Sep 28
 Siege of Warsaw (1939)
The 1939 Battle of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army (Armia Warszawa) garrisoned and entrenched in the capital of Poland (Warsaw) and the German Army. It started with huge ...
1939 Sep 9 Battle of the Bzura Begins as Germany Invades Poland
The Battle of the Bzura (or Kutno or Battle of Kutno — German name) was a battle in the opening campaign of World War II during the 1939 German Invasion of Poland, fought between 9 and 19...
1939 Sep 9 Germany Begins Assault on Polish Forces in Hel
Hel was the target of air attacks from the first day of the campaign (1 September). The German army forced Polish units of Armia Pomorze to retreat from the Danzig Corridor in the first ...
1939 Sep 10 Parliament of Canada Declares War on Nazi Germany
September 10, 1939 the Parliament of Canada declared war against the German Reich, marking the beginning of Canada's participation in the Second World War. The war officially began on Sep...
1939 Sep 10
to 1939 Sep 11
 Polish Forces of General Stanisław Maczek Hold German Forces at Jarosław
Contrary to most other Polish armies during the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the Kraków Army managed to withstand the initial German assault on Silesia and retreat steadily eastwards. Th...
1939 Sep 12 Anglo French Supreme War Council, Where it was Decided to Halt Saar Offensive
On September 12, the Anglo French Supreme War Council gathered for the first time at Abbeville in France. It was decided that all offensive actions were to be halted immediately. Maurice ...
1939 Sep 12 German Forces Begin Siege of Lvov
Initially, the town of Lwów was not to be defended as it was considered too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture to be used in warfare. However, the fast pace ...
1939 Sep 13
to 1939 Sep 29
 Battle of Modlin
The Battle of Modlin took place during the German invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War. Modlin Fortress was initially the headquarters of the Modlin Army until its ...
1939 Sep 14 German Forces Begin Attack on Fortress of Brześć
On 14 September 77 German tanks of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Panzer Regiment, part of 10th Panzer Division, reached the area of Brześć and tried to capture the fortress on the run. The...