Nazi Party Events

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 Nazi Party formed
Adolf Hitler never held a regular job and aside from his time in World War One, led a lazy lifestyle, from his brooding teenage days in Linz through years spent in idleness and poverty in...
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...
1921 Jul Adolf Hitler named leader of the Nazi Party
By early 1921, Adolf Hitler was becoming highly effective at speaking in front of ever larger crowds. In February, Hitler spoke before a crowd of nearly six thousand in Munich. To publici...
1923 Nov 8 The Beer Hall Putsch
A series of financial events unfolded in the years 1921 though 1923 that would propel the Nazis to new heights of daring and would even prompt Hitler into attempting to take over Germany....
1924 Feb 26 Adolf Hitler goes on trial for treason
The trial of Adolf Hitler for high treason after the Beer Hall Putsch was not the end of Hitler's political career as many had expected. In many ways marked the true beginning. Overnig...
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,...
1925 "Mein Kampf" published
Although it is thought of as having been 'written' by Hitler, Mein Kampf is not a book in the usual sense. Hitler never actually sat down and pecked at a typewriter or wrote longhand, but...
1925 Feb 26 "A New Beginning": Hitler released from prison
A few days before Christmas, 1924, Adolf Hitler emerged a free man after nine months in prison, having learned from his mistakes. In addition to creating the book, Mein Kampf, Hitler had ...
1929
to 1930
Adolf Hitler, Nazis come to power through the Great Depression
When the stock market collapsed on Wall Street on Tuesday, October 29, 1929, it sent financial markets worldwide into a tailspin with disastrous effects. The German economy was especia...
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...
1932 Adolf Hitler runs for president of Germany
In February 1932, President Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to run again and announced his candidacy for re-election. Hitler decided to oppose him and run for the presidency himself. "Fr...
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 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 Mar Nazi Concentration Camp at Dachau is Opened
Dachau concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager Dachau or KZ-Dachau) was the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions facto...
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...
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 Nov 9
to 1938 Nov 10
 Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht (German pronunciation: [kʁɪsˈtalˌnaxt]; literally "Crystal night") or the Night of Broken Glass was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria on 9 to 10 November 193...
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 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...
1940 Apr 9
to 1940 Jun 10
 The Norwegian Campaign - first Allied confrontation with Nazi forces
The Norwegian Campaign was the name used by the Allies – United Kingdom and France – for their first direct land confrontation with the military forces of Nazi Germany in World War II. Th...
1940 Apr 27 Heinrich Himmler Establishes a Concentration Camp at Auchwitz
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's concentration camps and extermination camps, operational during World War II. The camp took its German name from the hosting town o...
1940 May 25 First Transport of Prisoners to the Mauthausen-Gusen Nazi Concentration Camp Complex
Mauthausen Concentration Camp and its sub Labor camp Gusen, combined to form the Mauthausen-Gusen Nazi concentration camp, were located near the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper ...
1940 Jun 10 The Gestapo Takes Control of Theresienstadt Fortress, Converting it to a Concentration Camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp (often referred to as Terezín) was a Nazi German concentration camp during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison c...
1940 Jun 22 France Surrenders to Nazi Germany
During this period, Hitler built up his forces on Germany's western frontier. In April 1940, German forces invaded Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, Hitler's forces attacked France, conque...
1941 May 1 Gross-Rosen Becomes Independent Concentration Camp
KL Gross-Rosen (Groß-Rosen) was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen, Lower Silesia (now Rogoźnica, Poland). It was located directly on the rail line between Jauer (now Jaw...
1941 Oct Soviet Prisoners of War Prepare Salaspils Nazi Concentration Camp
Salaspils concentration camp was established at the end of 1941 at a point 18 km southeast of Riga,in the country of Latvia. The Nazi bureaucracy drew distinctions between different types...
1941 Oct The Nazis Set Up Janowska Concentration Camp Next Door to a Factory Housing Forced Laborers
Janowska was a German Nazi labor, transit and concentration camp established in occupied Poland September 1941 on the outskirts of Lvov, (Poland, today Ukraine).
1941 Oct 1 Majdanek Concentration Camp Begins Operation
Majdanek was a German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland, established during German Nazi occupation of Poland. The camp operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22...
1941 Dec Sajmište Nazi Concentration Camp is Established in the Independent State of Croatia
Sajmište concentration camp (Serbian Cyrillic: Концентрациони логор Сајмиште) was a Nazi concentration camp, located in the Independent State of Croatia, on the outskirts of Belgrade. It ...
1941 Dec 7 Adolf Hitler Implements the Nacht und Nebel Directive
Nacht und Nebel (German for "Night and Fog") was a directive (German: Erlass) of Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 signed and implemented by Armed Forces High Command Chief Wilhelm Keitel, ...
1941 Dec 7 Chełmno Extermination Camp Begins Operation
Chełmno extermination camp (German name Kulmhof) was an extermination camp of Nazi Germany that was situated 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Łódź, near a small village called Chełmno nad Nerem...
1941 Dec 11 Hitler and Mussolini Declare War on the United States
Ultimately, it was Hitler and Mussolini’s declaration of war against the US on 11 December 1941, that overcame American opposition to a crusade against all the fascist powers. Interest...
1942 Jan 20 Adolf Hitler Lays Out His Vision of the 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question' to Nazi Officials at the Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform ad...
1942 Mar Belzec Extermination Camp Begins Operation
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec [ˈbɛu̯ʐɛt​͡s], was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. Operating in 1942, the...
1942 May Mass Gassing Operations Begin at Sobibor Nazi Extermination Camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp set up in the Lublin region of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor. Jews, in...
1942 Jul 24 Construction of Treblinka Nazi Extermination Camp is Completed
Treblinka II was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II. Around 850,000 people - more than 99.5 percent of whom were Jews, but also other victims (among t...
1942 Oct 23
to 1942 Nov 5
 Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The battle lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942. The First Battle of El A...
1943 Jan Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp Begins Operation
Herzogenbusch concentration camp (Dutch: Kamp Vught, German: Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch) was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, in the Ne...
1943 Mar Construction is Completed on Kaiserwald Concentration Camp
Kaiserwald was a Nazi German concentration camp near the Riga suburb of Mežaparks in Latvia. Kaiserwald was built in March, 1943, during the period that the German army occupied Latvia...
1943 Aug Prisoners at Treblinka Nazi Concentration Camp Stage a Revolt, Allowing Several Hundred to Escape
Jewish inmates organized a resistance group in Treblinka in early 1943. When camp operations neared completion, the prisoners feared they would be killed and the camp dismantled. During t...