Adolf Hitler timeline
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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... Read more
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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... Read more
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Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp Begins Operation
Herzogenbusch concentration camp (Dutch: Kamp Vught, German: Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch) was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near... Read more
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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... Read more
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Belzec Extermination Camp is Dismantled by Jewish Forced Laborers
By late spring 1943, Jewish forced laborers, guarded by the SS and police and their auxiliaries, had completed the task of exhuming the bodies and... Read more
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Battle of Kursk Begins
The Battle of Kursk refers to German and Soviet operations on the Eastern Front of World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk in July and... Read more
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Allied Invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) Begins
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy... Read more
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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... Read more
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Jewish Prisoners Stage Successful Uprising at Sobibor Extermination Camp
Sobibor was the site of one of two successful uprisings by Jewish prisoners in a Nazi extermination camp — there was a similar revolt at Treblinka... Read more
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Dismantling and Liquidation of Prisoners at Sobibor Extermination Camp Following Partially-Successful Jewish Uprising
After the revolt, the Germans and the Trawniki-trained guards dismantled the killing center and shot the Jewish prisoners who had not escaped... Read more
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SS Evacuates and Liquidates Janowska Concentration Camp
The evacuation of the Janowska camp began in November 1943. As the Germans attempted to destroy the traces of mass murder (Aktion 1005), they... Read more
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Hitler Delivers Address at Platterhof
This is an important speech, perhaps the most meaningful of Adolf Hitler's entire political career. He not only recapped his entire life's work in... Read more
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Operation Valkyrie: Adolf Hitler Narrowly Escapes Explosion of Bomb Planted by Claus von Stauffenberg
The 20 July plot of 1944 was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, inside his "Wolf's Lair" field headquarters... Read more
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Majdanek Concentration Camp is Liberated by Soviet Troops
In late July 1944, as Soviet forces approached Lublin, the Germans hastily evacuated Majdanek. The SS had evacuated most of the prisoners to... Read more
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Nazis Begin Evacuation of Kaiserwald Concentration Camp Preceding Arrival of Soviet Forces
On August 6, 1944, as the Red Army advanced westwards and entered Latvia, the Germans began to evacuate the inmates of Kaiserwald to Stutthof, in... Read more
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Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp is Liberated by the 4th Canadian Armored Division and the 96th Battery of the 5th Anti-Tank Division
Due to hunger, sickness and abuse at least 749 children, women and men died in the concentration camp. 329 of them were executed at the execution... Read more
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Salaspils Concentration Camp Closes with the Liberation of Riga by the Red Army
In 1944, in an attempt to destroy evidence of mass murder, the Germans forced prisoners to reopen mass graves in Rumbula and burn the bodies. Once... Read more
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Bergen-Belsen, Once a Holding Camp for Prisoners, Becomes a Full-Fledged Concentration Camp
Bergen-Belsen (or Belsen) was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle.... Read more
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Germany Begins its Assault in the Ardennes
The German assault began on 16 December 1944, at 05:30, with a massive artillery barrage on the Allied troops facing the Sixth SS Panzer Army. By... Read more
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Malmédy Massacre
The Malmedy massacre refers to a war crime in which about 90 American prisoners of war were murdered by their German captors. The massacre was... Read more
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Operation Stösser
Originally planned for the early hours of 16 December, Operation Stösser was delayed for a day because of bad weather and fuel shortages. The new... Read more
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Hitler Agrees to Withdraw Forces from the Ardennes
While the German offensive had ground to a halt, they still controlled a dangerous salient in the Allied line. Patton’s Third Army in the south,... Read more
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Chełmno Extermination Camp is Abandoned by SS with the Approach of the Red Army
Beginning in September 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners, presumably brought from outside the Wartheland District, was forced to exhume and cremate... Read more
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Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp is Liberated by Soviet Forces
At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to sixty subcamps located in eastern Germany and occupied Poland. In its final stage,... Read more
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With Defeat Looming, Adolf Hitler Orders the Destruction of Remaining German Industry
By late 1944, the Red Army had driven the Germans back into Central Europe and the Western Allies were advancing into Germany. Hitler realized that... Read more