Holocaust - Timeline - 1939
January 17
Decree pertaining to the
expiration of permits for Jewish dentists, veterinarians, and
pharmacists.
January 24
Establishment of a
National Central Office for Jewish emigration, with central offices in
Vienna and Prague. SS leader Reinhard Heydrich is ordered by Goering to
speed up emigration of Jews.
January 30
Hitler predicts in the
parliament the “extermination of the Jewish race in Europe” in the event
of war.
February 21
Nazis require Jews to
relinquish all their gold and silver.
March 14
Slovakia declares itself
an independent state under the protection of Nazi Germany.
March 15
Occupation of
Czechoslovakia “Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia” created. Introduction
of the anti-Semitic decrees which are already in force in Germany.
March 28
Civil war in Spain ends
April 18
AntiJewish racist laws
passed in Slovakia. Cancellation of eviction protection.
April 27
Conscription in Great
Britain
April 27-28
Germany cancels
non-aggression pact with Poland and 1935 Naval Agreement with Britain
April 30
Law pertaining to rent
agreements with Jews: Legal preparations for the combining of Jewish
families into “Jewish Houses.” Cancellation of eviction protection.
May 13
Passengers board the
USS St. Louis in Hamburg for trip to Cuba.
May 15
The SS transfers almost
900 women prisoners from the Lichtenburg concentration camp for women to
Ravensbrück. Upon this transfer, Ravensbrück replaces Lichtenburg as the
main camp for women prisoners in Germany.
May 22
Nazis sign “Pact of
Steel” with Italy.
May 23
Hitler vows to attach
Poland at the earliest opportunity.
June 16-20
USS St. Louis
returns to Europe and passengers disembark.
June 29, 1939
A transport of 440
Romani (Gypsy) women, with their children, arrives in Ravensbrück from
the Burgenland in Austria. By 1945 about 5,000 Romani women will have
passed through the Ravensbrück camp.
July 4
German Jews are denied
the right to hold government jobs.
July 26
Adolf Eichmann (deputy
to Heydrich) is placed in charge of the Prague branch of the emigration
office.
August 23
Nazis, Soviets ink
non-aggression pact
September 1
Germany attacks Poland.
World War II begins. Numerous pogroms in Poland.
Curfews for Jews in
Germany. (9:00 p.m. in the summer, 8:00 p.m. in the winter).
September 3
Britain, France, India,
Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany. Britain in blockade on
Germany.
September 17
Soviets invade Poland
September 21
Authorization by
Heydrich for Einsatzgruppen in Poland.
September 21
Ghettos to be
established in occupied Poland each under a Judenrat, by order of
Heydrich.
September 23
Confiscation of radios
from Jews.
After the German
invasion of Poland earlier in September, the first Polish women
prisoners arrive in Ravensbrück. By 1945 more than 40,000 women from
Poland and the German-occupied eastern territories will have been
deported to Ravensbrück.
September 27
Establishment of the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt (National Central Security Department).
Warsaw surrenders.
September 29
Germans and Soviets
divide Poland. More than 2 million Jews live in the German area and 1.3
million in the Soviet-controlled territory.
October
Nazis begin euthanasia
on sick and disabled in Germany.
October 6
Poland surrenders to the
German army.
October 7
Jewish "resettlement" in
the Lublin district
October 8
First ghetto (unguarded
and unfenced) established in Piotrkow, Poland.
October 12
First deportations from
Austria and the “Protectorates” to Poland.
Establishment of the
Generalgouvernement (Government General) in the German occupied
territories of Poland.
October 15
Hitler anounces to his
general staff his plans to conquer the West.
October 26
Forced labor for Jews in
the Generalgouvernement.
October 18
First introduction of
wearing of the Star of David in Wloclawek, Poland.
November 8
Hans Frank appointed
Governor of the Generalgouvernement (headquartered in Krakow).
Assassination attempt on Hitler fails.
November 12, 1939
Forced deportation of
Jews from West Prussia, Poznan, Danzig and Lodz was begon.
November 23
Introduction of the
wearing of the Star of David in the entire Generalgouvernement (occupied
Poland).
November 28
Directive by Hans Frank
to establish Judenrats in Generalgouvernement.
November 30
Soviets invade Finland
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