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1) 1 September 1914

2)Germany, United States and England (Britain)

3)By 1914, Germany and the United States were overtaking England economically and were the world’s fastest growing economies. Great Britain had a strategy to impose a blockade on Germany to prevent further success of the country.

4)Germany’s economic success was undermined by the war and US-German trade was reduced to less than 1% of its 1914 value by England’s successful naval blockade. American ships going to England thus became targets for German U-boats.

5)It is significant as it was this event that prompted submarine warfare by the Germans against Americans at sea.

Nicole 3G

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1) 5 January 1919

2) The Spartacists, Weimar Government, Freikrops and the German Army.

3) The Spartacists organised a general strike against the Weimar Government. They formed a revolutionary committee, taking control of public buildings and putting up red flags, the symbol of communism. Ebert used force to subdue them by deploying the Freikorps. The German Army eventually brought the rebellion to an end on 10 January 1919.

4) Outcome: Many Spartacists were killed and the Spartacists leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were also murdered.

5) These rebellions against the Weimar Government are evidences of the unpopularity that the government had among its people, which lead to their eventual downfall.

Cherish

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June 1919(signing of the Treaty of Versailles)

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June 1919(signing of the Treaty of Versailles)

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1) June 1919

2) The newly-formed post-war Weimar Government, the “victorious powers” of WW1

3) Germany had no choice but to sign the treaty of continue fighting the war. The terms of the treaty were: War Guilt Clause, territorial reductions, demilitarisation, reparations, self-determination of people previously belonging to Austria-Hungary, formation of the League of Nations

4) Germans were angry at the Weimar Government for agreeing to sign to treaty. Germany’s standing amongst the world powers was also greatly reduced due to the territorial reductions. Germany was also unable to fight back against any attacking powers and struggled economically. Many nationalities also found themselves outside of their nation-states.

5) The event is significant as it meant that the Weimar Government was extremely weak due to the lack of support from Germans. Germany also suffered a lot of irreparable damage to its economy.

Isabelle Yue(3C)

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Feb 1919 ( formation of the Weimar Republic )

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Feb 1919 ( formation of the Weimar Republic )

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1) February 1919

2) Germans politicians, Kaiser Wilhelm II

3) Germany’s emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, gave up his rule on 9 November 1918. WW1 ended officially on 11 November 1918. Germany’s new republican government was declared in the town of Weimar in February 1919. It became known as the Weimar Republic. It’s first president was Friedrich Ebert, leader of German Social Democratic Party. All citizens were guaranteed freedom of speech and religion by the Bill of Rights. All men and women over the age of 20 could vote in elections.

4)However, the Weimar Republic has 3 key weaknesses that contributed to its downfall. They are the system of proportional representation, the instability of coalition governments and Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution.

5)The creation of the Weimar Republic marked a new-start for Germany after the war. It was no longer rule by an emperor but instead a government.

By Teo Jing Wei (3D)

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1919-1923(opposition from the left and the right )

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1919-1923(opposition from the left and the right )

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1) From 1919 to 1923
2) The left-wing (a group that supports social change to create a more equal society. They also favour equal advantages and opportunities and the collective good over individualism ) and the right-wing (a group that favours the existence of transitional social classes and hierarchy. In Germany, they are monarchists who wished to bring the Kaiser back into power. )
3)Left wing opposition
- wanted more equality in society
- were influenced by the Russian Bolsheviks
- were opposed to democracy
- in January 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Kari Liebknecht led the communist spartacist rebellion in Berlin. (5 Jan 1919)
- President Ebert made an agreement with the army and the Freikorps (Weimar republic parliament) to put down the rebellion
- Communist Workers’ Councils took control in many parts of Germany; communist ‘People’s Government’ took over Bavaria
- In 1920, the Freikorps, the army and the police ruthlessly crushed the communist Red Army Rebellion in the Ruhr
Right-wing opposition
- felt that Germany should not be solely responsible for WW1
- disagreed with the terms of the TOV
- wanted Germany’ army and industry to be strong again, and wanted territory expansion
- wanted a dictatorial style of government
- many were extreme nationalists and called those who ratified the treaty the ‘November criminals’
- did not accept Germany’s defeat in the war and blamed politicians for not having the courage to continue the war
4) Outcomes/ Reason of event
-the Nazi Party, which opposes the Weimar Republic is a left-wing party and came into power with Hilter as the Chancellor
5) Why is the event significant?
- it marked the beginning of how Hilter came into power
- it divides the political parties into 2 main parts to present their aim for Germany clearly

By Teo Jing Wei (3D)

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February 1920, Founding of the Nazi party

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February 1920, Founding of the Nazi party

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1) 24 February 1920

2)Adolf Hitler, German Workers’ party, German Army

3)Founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party promoted German pride and anti-Semitism, and expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 peace settlement that ended World War I  and required Germany to make numerous concessions and reparations. Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers’ party as a spy for the army and later became its leader in 1921.

4)The founding of this party led to major events such as Hitler and the Nazis rise in power in Germany. After assuming leadership of the organisation, Hitler gave multiple speeches regarding issues the country was struggling with, and explained that most problems could be solved if communists and Jews were driven from the nation. His fiery speeches swelled the ranks of the Nazi Party, especially among young, economically disadvantaged Germans.

5)This is event is significant as it is the main reason for the sufferings of the communists and Jews in the 1920s.

Nicole Lim 3G

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1) March 1920

2) Wolfgang Kapp and General Walter von Luettwittz

3) An attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic government.  The leader of the Freikrops ("Free Corps") authorised General to lead a group of Freikrops soldiers to take over control of Berlin and overthrow the Weimar Government.

4) On 13 March 1920, the soldiers took over Berlin and announced a new right-wing government with Kapp as the Prime Minister. Wolfgang Kapp is a right-wing politician who opposed the Weimar Republic due to the humiliation that they caused by signing the Treaty of Versailles (TOV).

5) It shows how the Weimar Government lacked strong support from the people, politicians and soldiers, who had worked for the Kaiser and wished for his return.

hanna 3g

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1921 Establishment of the SA (Stormtroopers)

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1921 Establishment of the SA (Stormtroopers)

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1. 1921

2. SA, Nazi Party

3. SA was established as Nazi party’s paramilitary organisation. The SA served as Hitler’s security and provided military support in the enforcement of Hitler’s orders.

4. Reason: The SA made the Nazi Party more credible and helped to prevent the function of other parties. Increasing the support for the Nazi party.

Outcome: The SA helped to break up Communist party meetings which gained support of the anti communist.
The SA also broke up strikes which gained support of the industrialists.
Thus increasing the number of votes for the Nazi party.

5. The SA served Hitler loyally and helped Hitler to carry out many orders he would not have been able to carry out without a military. For example, the SA helped in the Reichstag fire to arrest communists, break up their meetings and shut down their newspapers.

Jenevieve Yeo (3G)

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1. January 1923

2. France and Belgium (invaded Ruhr)
Germany

3. Germany had to pay reparations for the damage they caused during World War 1.
In December 1922, Germany failed to make payment. This led to France and Belgium invading in retaliation. They seized mines, factories and railways.
However, the Germans adopted a policy of non-cooperation. Workers went on strike so that the French would not not be able to use the mines, factories and railways they took.
The government responded to this by printing more money to pay the striking Ruhr workers and to pay off some of its debt. This led to the value of money to spiral out of control resulting in hyperinflation. Not only were the poor hard hit but the middle class and wealthier Germans saw their savings wiped out virtually overnight.

4)Reasons: Post war Germany struggled with poverty, high unemployment and a fragile economy.The only way for the government to keep up with the reparations was to keep printing more money. In December 1922, Germany failed to make payment leading to France’s retaliation.

Outcomes: However, the Germans adopted a policy of non-cooperation. Workers went on strike so that the French would not not be able to use the mines, factories and railways they took.
The government responded to this by printing more money to pay the striking Ruhr workers and to pay off some of its debt. This led to the value of money to spiral out of control resulting in hyperinflation. Not only were the poor hard hit but the middle class and wealthier Germans saw their savings wiped out virtually overnight.The Hyperinflation caused the Weimar government to lose the support of the middle and lower middle class Germans.

5) This was one of the most devastating instances of Hyperinflation. This emphasised the weakness of the Weimar government and the impact a weak government can do to a country. This event led to even more Germans losing trust in the Weimar government. The Germans wanted greater economic and political stability and looked to other parties such as the Nazi party.

Jenevieve Yeo 3G

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September 1926, Germany joins the League of Nations

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September 1926, Germany joins the League of Nations

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1)3 September 1926

2)League of Nations, League’s Council, Gustav Stresemann, Germany

3)The League of Nations was created by the Paris Peace Conference in April, 1919. In 1926, Germany joined he a league demonstrating its move out of economic depression and toward normal diplomatic status. Gustav Stresemann made the first speech by a German representative as Germany became a member of the League.

4)Germany’s admission into the League of Nations was victory for Stresemann and the Republic, and a step on road to overcoming defeat in World War I. Germany one again became a respected member of the world community.

5)This event is significant in Germany’s road to recovering from the war and economic issues as it was the first step that enabled other countries to see Germany in a new light.

Nicole Lim 3G

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1) 1929

2) Germany, Almost every country in the world, USA.

3)The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression between 1929 and 1939 that began after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic shock transmitted across the world, impacting countries to varying degrees, with Germany experiencing the Great Depression from 1929. The Great Depression was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.

4) Germany was dependent on loans and investments from the USA. Thus when the USA suddenly recalled the loans and deposits from German Bank, Germany suffered an economic crisis which in turn caused a social crisis. Factories closed down. Millions lost their jobs. the government also had to make cuts to Social Services. poverty, homelessness, and even starvation were commonplace. By 1932, 6 million people or 1/3 of the working population were unemployed.

5) This event was significant as the situation not only resulted in millions of deaths, it also resulted in a political crisis. The coalition government in power at the time could not decide what course of action to take. From 1930 onwards, no government had enough support in the Reichstag to pass laws. However, the president at that time was a right-wing nationalist which did not really care for democracy. People were angry and wanted decisive action. There was a decline in support for parties with moderate opinions and a rise in support for more extreme parties like the nazi party and the communist party. Leading to the rise of hitler.

Done by: Edith Lee (3G)

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1) 27 February 1933

2) Hitler, Marinus van der Lubbe, the Nazis Party

3) The Reichstag Parliament building in Berlin was set on fire by Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutchman. He was arrested near the building that day along with several leaders of the Communist Party, and the Nazis accused him of being part of a communist conspiracy. They were then charged with arson and attempting to overthrow the government.

4) Hitler used this incident to convince President Hindenburg to invoke Article 48 of the constitution and establish emergency powers, as well as to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree. It suspended civil liberties such as freedom of the press and freedom to assemble in public. Hitler's SA arrested communists, broke up their meetings and shut down their newspapers. Those who spoke against Hitler were also beaten up.

5) This event is significant as it gave Hitler the opportunity to deal with his strongest rivals. It also greatly affected the election campaigns of the other political parties in preparation for the March 1933 elections.

Done by Joy Teo

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1) 23 March 1933

2) Hitler, Nazi Party

3) With the Communist Party out of the way, the Nazi Party won 44 per cent of the vote in March 1933 elections. It was the minority. With the support of another small-wing party, the vote became the majority. Hitler then planned to pass the enabling act, which would eventually give him a large amount of power such as passing laws without the President's approval.

4) On 23 March, when the Enabling Act was to be voted on, only Nazis and their supporters were allowed in the building, which would give them a 100% vote of the Act being passed. The bill for the Enabling Act was therefore passed. Hitler's position of authority was further strengthened by the enforcement of the Enabling Act. In addition, the Communist Party and the Social Democrat Party were banned from taking part in any future election.

5) This event is significant because it greatly increased the political authority of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany.

Done by Janelle Fong (3C)

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1) 1932 July, November

2) Hitler, President Hindenburg, Franz von Papen, Kurt von Schleicher

3) Both Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher had no support within the Reichstag. After Franz von Papen, another election was called in November 1932, and Kurt von Schleicher was forced to resign.

4) After much negotiation, Hitler was appointed as Chancellor. Hindenburg and von Papen thought that Hitler would be able to get the support the Reichstag needed.

5) This is significant as Hitler's capabilities were underestimated and when the time was right, Hitler managed to take complete control of the government.

hanna 3g

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1. 14 July 1933

2. Hitler, the Nazi Party

3. Hitler passed a law and made the Nazi Party the only legal political party in Germany. He created a totalitarian state, and other political parties were outlawed.

4. The Nazi officials took charge of local governments in the individual states of the German federation, with trade unions taken over and their leaders imprisoned. The media was under total Nazi control, and most of Hitler’s opponents either fled Germany or were sent to concentration camps.

5. This event made Hitler a legal dictator, and gave the Nazi Party full control of the government.

Charis 3g

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1. June 1934

2. Hitler, SA and its leader Roehm

3. As Hitler consolidated power, the SA had helped him disrupt the meetings of other political parties and broke up strikes, as well as enforced his will after becoming Chancellor. Hitler was concerned about the growing power of the SA, which had grown to nearly 3 million in numbers, almost 10 times the size of the regular army. Roehm, the leader of the SA, had also become too powerful. The army leader also viewed the SA as a threat to the army, and convinced Hitler that the SA was a threat to him.

4. In June 1934, the SS arrested and killed Roehm and other SA members. Many of hitler’s opponents were also killed. Around 400 men were killed, and the power of the SA was broken and became subjected to the power of the SS.

5. This allowed Hitler to gain absolute power in Germany by removing political opposition and gain support from the military.

charis 3g

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1) August 1934

2) President Hindenburg, Hitler, Weimar Constitution

3)While some wanted to return to a constitutional monarchy, the Weimar Constitution stated that there must be a President. Hitler emerged the powers of the President with those of the Chancellor and proclaimed himself Fuehrer, supreme leader of the German people.

4) He now had the ability to invoke Article 48. A plebiscite was held and the German people approved of Hitler being in complete control of Germany.

5) This is significant as this allowed Hitler to be above the law.

hanna 3g

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November 1938 (The Night of Broken Glass)

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November 1938 (The Night of Broken Glass)

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1) November 1938

2) Nazi Diplomat, young Jewish boy, Hitler, Nazis, Jews

3) A Nazi Diplomat was shot dead by a young Jewish Boy in Paris

4) Hitler used this as an excuse for ordering a campaign of terror to be unleashed on Jews in Germany and Austria. Nazis looted and destroyed thousands of Jewish homes. Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This was so Hitler and Nazis could use this as an excuse to fuel their hatred and opposition against Jews.

5) This event was significant as it was what started the mass killing and prejudice against Jewish people and the establishment of concentration camps.

Isabella Yang 3C

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1941 - 8 May 1945 (The Holocaust - Mass murder of the Jews)

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1941 - 8 May 1945 (The Holocaust - Mass murder of the Jews)

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1) Unspecified day and month in 1941 to 8 May 1945 (when the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews became even more radicalised and implemented a genocide)

**1933–1941 (when Nazi Germany started to enact discriminatory laws towards the Jews and no killings were carried out during this period of time)

The above information was retrieved from this website: https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html

2) European Jews,  Nazi Germany and its allies (refers to Axis countries officially allied with Nazi Germany) and collaborators (refers to regimes and organizations that cooperated with German authorities in an official or semi-official capacity which included some local police forces, bureaucracies, and paramilitary units).

3) Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews using deadly living conditions, brutal mistreatment, mass shootings and gassings, and specially designed killing centers.

4) The persecution and murder of six million European Jews. The Nazis targeted Jews because the Nazis were radically antisemitic. This means that they were prejudiced against and hated Jews. In fact, antisemitism was a basic tenet of their ideology and at the foundation of their worldview. The Nazis falsely accused Jews of causing Germany’s social, economic, political, and cultural problems. In particular, they blamed them for Germany’s defeat in WWI (1914–1918). The Nazis believed that Jews were a problem that needed to be removed, hence the mass murders, which was called “The Final Solution” by Adolf Hitler.

5) The Holocaust had wiped out 2/3 of the European Jewish population. It was one of the worst war crimes ever committed in German history and was considered as one of the key examples of anti-Semitism and prejudice, genocide and the development of human rights initiatives after 1945. In addition, The Holocaust’s significance to 20th century/German history can be inferred from the fact that it has been made into countless films, movies and books.

Website used: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust

Done by: Chloe Soh (3G)

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Jump to: 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1933

January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000.

February 27, 1933 - Nazis burn Reichstag building to create crisis atmosphere.

February 28, 1933 - Emergency powers granted to Hitler as a result of the Reichstag fire.

March 22, 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to be followed by Buchenwald near Weimar in central Germany, Sachsenhausen near Berlin in northern Germany, and Ravensbrück for women.

See also : The History Place - Rise of Hitler

July 14, 1933 - Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrants from Poland of their German citizenship.

In September - Nazis establish Reich Chamber of Culture, then exclude Jews from the Arts.

1934

June 30, 1934 - The Night of Long Knives occurs as Hitler, Göring and Himmler conduct a purge of the SA (storm trooper) leadership.

July 20, 1934 - The SS (Schutzstaffel) is made an independent organization from the SA.

August 2, 1934 - German President von Hindenburg dies. Hitler becomes Führer.

August 19, 1934 - Hitler receives a 90 percent 'Yes' vote from German voters approving his new powers.

1935

1936
In August - Nazis set up an Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortions (by healthy women).

1937

April 22, 1938 - Nazis prohibit Aryan 'front-ownership' of Jewish businesses.

April 26, 1938 - Nazis order Jews to register wealth and property.

June 14, 1938 - Nazis order Jewish-owned businesses to register.

July 25, 1938 - Jewish doctors prohibited by law from practicing medicine.

August 11, 1938 - Nazis destroy the synagogue in Nuremberg.

September 27, 1938 - Jews are prohibited from all legal practices.

October 5, 1938 - Law requires Jewish passports to be stamped with a large red "J."

October 15, 1938 - Nazi troops occupy the Sudetenland.

October 28, 1938 - Nazis arrest 17,000 Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany, then expel them back to Poland which refuses them entry, leaving them in 'No-Man's Land' near the Polish border for several months.

November 7, 1938 - Ernst vom Rath, third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris, is shot and mortally wounded by Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of one of the deported Polish Jews. Rath dies on November 9, precipitating Kristallnacht.

November 12, 1938 - Nazis fine Jews one billion marks for damages related to Kristallnacht.

November 15, 1938 - Jewish pupils are expelled from all non-Jewish German schools.

December 14, 1938 - Hermann Göring takes charge of resolving the "Jewish Question."

January 24, 1939 - SS leader Reinhard Heydrich is ordered by Göring to speed up the emigration of Jews.
January 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.
March 15/16 - Nazi troops seize Czechoslovakia (Jewish pop. 350,000).

April 19, 1939 - Slovakia passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.

April 30, 1939 - Jews lose rights as tenants and are relocated into Jewish houses.

July 4, 1939 - German Jews denied the right to hold government jobs.

July 21, 1939 - Adolf Eichmann is appointed director of the Prague Office of Jewish Emigration.

September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland (Jewish pop. 3.35 million, the largest in Europe). Beginning of SS activity in Poland.

See also : The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline

September 1, 1939 - Jews in Germany are forbidden to be outdoors after 8 p.m. in winter and 9 p.m. in summer.

September 3, 1939 - Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.

September 4, 1939 - Warsaw is cut off by the German Army.

September 17, 1939 - Soviet troops invade eastern Poland.

September 21, 1939 - Heydrich issues instructions to SS Einsatzgruppen (special action squads) in Poland regarding treatment of Jews, stating they are to be gathered into ghettos near railroads for the future "final goal." He also orders a census and the establishment of Jewish administrative councils within the ghettos to implement Nazi policies and decrees.

September 23, 1939 - German Jews are forbidden to own wireless (radio) sets.

September 27, 1939 -Warsaw surrenders; Heydrich becomes leader of RSHA.

September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland. Over two million Jews reside in Nazi controlled areas, leaving 1.3 million in the Soviet area.

October 6, 1939 - Proclamation by Hitler on the isolation of Jews.

October 12, 1939 - Evacuation of Jews from Vienna.

October 26, 1939 - Forced labor decree issued for Polish Jews aged 14 to 60.

November 23, 1939 - Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10.

In December - Adolf Eichmann takes over section IV B 4 of the Gestapo dealing solely with Jewish affairs and evacuations.

February 12, 1940 - First deportation of German Jews into occupied Poland.

April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark (Jewish pop. 8,000) and Norway (Jewish pop. 2,000).

April 30, 1940 - The Lodz Ghetto in occupied Poland is sealed off from the outside world with 230,000 Jews locked inside.

May 1, 1940 - Rudolf Höss is chosen to be kommandant of Auschwitz.

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France (Jewish pop. 350,000), Belgium (Jewish pop. 65,000), Holland (Jewish pop. 140,000), and Luxembourg (Jewish pop. 3,500).

June 14, 1940 - Paris is occupied by the Nazis.

June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with Hitler.

In July - Eichmann's Madagascar Plan is presented, proposing to deport all European Jews to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of east Africa.

July 17, 1940 - The first anti-Jewish measures are taken in Vichy France.

August 8, 1940 - Romania introduces anti-Jewish measures restricting education and employment, then later begins "Romanianization" of Jewish businesses.

September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.

October 3, 1940 - Vichy France passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.

October 7, 1940 - Nazis invade Romania (Jewish pop. 34,000).

October 22, 1940 - Deportation of 29,000 German Jews from Baden, the Saar, and Alsace-Lorraine into Vichy France.

In November - Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia become Nazi Allies.

1941 Return to Top of Page

In 1941 - Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states, "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear."

In January - Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "Now judgment has begun and it will reach its conclusion only when knowledge of the Jews has been erased from the earth."

February 22, 1941 - 430 Jewish hostages are deported from Amsterdam after a Dutch Nazi is killed by Jews.

In March - Hitler's Commissar Order authorizes execution of anyone suspected of being a Communist official in territories about to be seized from Soviet Russia.

March 1, 1941 - Himmler makes his first visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders Kommandant Höss to begin massive expansion, including a new compound to be built at nearby Birkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners.

March 2, 1941 - Nazis occupy Bulgaria (Jewish pop. 50,000).

March 7, 1941 - German Jews ordered into forced labor.

March 29, 1941 - A 'Commissariat' for Jewish Affairs is set up in Vichy France.

April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Yugoslavia (Jewish pop. 75,000) and Greece (Jewish pop. 77,000).

May 14, 1941 - 3,600 Jews arrested in Paris.

May 16, 1941 - French Marshal Petain issues a radio broadcast approving collaboration with Hitler.

June 22, 1941 - Nazis invade Russia (Jewish pop. 3 million).

June 29/30 - Romanian troops conduct a pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000.

Summer - Himmler summons Auschwitz Kommandant Höss to Berlin and tells him, "The Führer has ordered the Final Solution of the Jewish question. We, the SS, have to carry out this order...I have therefore chosen Auschwitz for this purpose."

July 21, 1941 - In occupied Polandnear Lublin, Majdanek c oncentration camp becomes operational.

July 25/26 - 3,800 Jews killed during a pogrom by Lithuanians in Kovno.

July 31, 1941 - Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for Final Solution.

September 3, 1941 - The first test use of Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz.

September 6, 1941 - The Vilna Ghetto is established containing 40,000 Jews.

September 27/28 - 23,000 Jews killed at Kamenets-Podolsk, in the Ukraine.

In October - 35,000 Jews from Odessa shot.

October 2, 1941 - Beginning of the German Army drive on Moscow.

October 23, 1941 - Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich.

In November - SS Einsatzgruppe B reports a tally of 45,476 Jews killed.

November 30, 1941 - Near Riga, a mass shooting of Latvian and German Jews.

December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack United States at Pearl Harbor. The next day the U.S. and Great Britain declare war on Japan.

December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares war on the United States. President Roosevelt then asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany saying, "Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization." The U.S.A. then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90 percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler.

December 12, 1941 - The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In February 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Russian submarine and sunk as an "enemy target."

December 16, 1941 - During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states - "Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible in order to maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole..."

January 31, 1942 - SS Einsatzgruppe A reports a tally of 229,052 Jews killed.

March 17, 1942 - The deportation of Jews from Lublin to Belzec.

March 24, 1942 - The start of deportation of Slovak Jews to Auschwitz.

March 27, 1942 - The start of deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz.

March 28, 1942 - Fritz Sauckel named Chief of Manpower to expedite recruitment of slave labor.

March 30, 1942 - First trainloads of Jews from Paris arrive at Auschwitz.

In April - First transports of Jews arrive at Majdanek.

In May - In occupied Poland, Sobibor extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with three gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.

May 18, 1942 - The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine-gunned over 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland and twice as many in western Russia.

May 27, 1942 - SS leader Heydrich is mortally wounded by Czech Underground agents.

In June - Gas vans used in Riga.

June 1, 1942 - Jews in France, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania ordered to wear yellow stars.

June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies of his wounds.

June 5, 1942 - SS report 97,000 persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans.

June 11, 1942 - Eichmann meets with representatives from France, Belgium and Holland to coordinate deportation plans for Jews.

June 30 and July 2 - The New York Times reports via the London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis.

Summer - Swiss representatives of the World Jewish Congress receive information from a German industrialist regarding the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews. They then pass the information on to London and Washington.

July 2, 1942 - Jews from Berlin sent to Theresienstadt.

July 7, 1942 - Himmler grants permission for sterilization experiments at Auschwitz.

July 16/17 - 12,887 Jews of Paris are rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp located outside the city. A total of approximately 74,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, will eventually be transported from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor.

July 17/18 - Himmler visits Auschwitz-Birkenau for two days, inspecting all ongoing construction and expansion, then observes the extermination process from start to finish as two trainloads of Jews arrive from Holland. Kommandant Höss is then promoted. Construction includes four large gas chamber/crematories.

July 19, 1942 - Himmler orders Operation Reinhard, mass deportations of Jews in Poland to extermination camps.

July 22, 1942 - Beginning of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the new extermination camp, Treblinka. Also, beginning of the deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz.

July 23, 1942 - Treblinka extermination camp opened in occupied Poland, east of Warsaw. The camp is fitted with two buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbon monoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-B will later be substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits.

In August - The start of deportations of Croatian Jews to Auschwitz.

August 23, 1942 - Beginning of German Army attack on Stalingrad in Russia.

August 26-28 - 7,000 Jews arrested in unoccupied France.

September 9, 1942 - Open pit burning of bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is made to dig up and burn those already buried, 107,000 corpses, to prevent fouling of ground water.

September 18, 1942 - Reduction of food rations for Jews in Germany.

October 5, 1942 - Himmler orders all Jews in concentration camps in Germany to be sent to Auschwitz and Majdanek.

October 22, 1942 - SS put down a revolt at Sachsenhausen by a group of Jews about to be sent to Auschwitz.

October 28, 1942 - The first transport from Theresienstadt arrives at Auschwitz.

In November - The mass killing of 170,000 Jews in the area of Bialystok.

In December - Exterminations at Belzec cease after an estimated 600,000 Jews have been murdered. The camp is then dismantled, plowed over and planted.
Map of Concentration/Death Camps
December 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons the Nazis are "now carrying into effect Hitler's oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people of Europe." The U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged.

December 28, 1942 - Sterilization experiments on women at Birkenau begin.

The number of Jews killed by SS Einsatzgruppen passes one million. Nazis then use In 1943 - special units of slave laborers to dig up and burn the bodies to remove all traces.

January 18, 1943 - First resistance by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.

January 29, 1943 - Nazis order all Gypsies arrested and sent to extermination camps.

January 30, 1943 - Ernst Kaltenbrunner succeeds Heydrich as head of RSHA.

In February - The Romanian government proposes to the Allies the transfer of 70,000 Jews to Palestine, but receives no response from Britain or the U.S.

In February - Greek Jews are ordered into ghettos.

February 2, 1943 - Germans surrender to Russian troops at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.

February 27, 1943 - Jews working in Berlin armaments industry are sent to Auschwitz.

March 1, 1943 - In New York, American Jews hold a mass rally at Madison Square Garden to pressure the U.S. government into helping the Jews of Europe.

March 17, 1943 - Bulgaria states opposition to deportation of its Jews.

March 22, 1943 - Newly built gas chamber/crematory IV opens at Auschwitz.

March 31, 1943 - Newly built gas chamber/crematory II opens at Auschwitz.

April 4, 1943 - Newly built gas chamber/crematory V opens at Auschwitz.

April 19-30 - The Bermuda Conference occurs as representatives from the United States and Britain discuss the problem of refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but results in inaction concerning the plight of the Jews.

May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allies.

May 19, 1943 - Nazis declare Berlin to be Judenfrei(cleansed of Jews).

June 25, 1943 - Newly built gas chamber/crematory III opens at Auschwitz. With its completion, the four new crematories at Auschwitz have a daily capacity of 4,756 bodies.

July 9/10 - Allied troops land in Sicily.

August 2, 1943 - Two hundred Jews escape from Treblinka extermination camp during a revolt. Nazis then hunt them down one by one.

August 16, 1943 - The Bialystok Ghetto is liquidated.

In August - Exterminations cease at Treblinka, after an estimated 870,000 deaths.

In September - The Vilna and Minsk Ghettos are liquidated.

September 11, 1943 - Germans occupy Rome, after occupying northern and central Italy, containing in all about 35,000 Jews.

September 11, 1943 - Beginning of Jewish family transports from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz.

October 4 - Himmler talks openly about the Final Solution at Posen.

October 16, 1943 - Jews in Rome rounded up, with over 1,000 sent to Auschwitz.

In November - The Riga Ghetto is liquidated.

In November - The U.S. Congress holds hearings regarding the U.S. State Department's inaction regarding European Jews, despite mounting reports of mass extermination.

November 3, 1943 - Nazis carry out Operation Harvest Festival in occupied Poland, killing 42,000 Jews.

November 4, 1943 - Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "It is actually true that the Jews have, so to speak, disappeared from Europe and that the Jewish 'Reservoir of the East' from which the Jewish pestilence has for centuries beset the peoples of Europe has ceased to exist. But the Führer of the German people at the beginning of the war prophesied what has now come to pass."

December 2, 1943 - The first transport of Jews from Vienna arrives at Auschwitz.

December 16, 1943 - The chief surgeon at Auschwitz reports that 106 castration operations have been performed.

January 3, 1944 - Russian troops reach former Polish border.

January 24, 1944 - In response to political pressure to help Jews under Nazi control, President Roosevelt creates the War Refugee Board.

January 25, 1944 - Diary entry by Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, concerning the fate of 2.5 million Jews originally under his jurisdiction - "At the present time we still have in the General Government perhaps 100,000 Jews."

In February - Eichmann visits Auschwitz.

March 19, 1944 - Nazis occupy Hungary (Jewish pop. 725,000). Eichmann arrives with Gestapo "Special Section Commandos."

April 5, 1944 - A Jewish inmate, Siegfried Lederer, escapes from Auschwitz-Birkenau and makes it safely to Czechoslovakia. He then warns the Elders of the Council at Theresienstadt about Auschwitz.

April 7, 1944 - Two Jewish inmates escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau and make it safely to Czechoslovakia. One of them, Rudolf Vrba, submits a report to the Papal Nuncio in Slovakia which is forwarded to the Vatican, received there in mid June.

April 14, 1944 - First transports of Jews from Athens to Auschwitz, totaling 5,200 persons.

In May - Himmler's agents secretly propose to the Western Allies to trade Jews for trucks, other commodities or money.

May 8, 1944 - Rudolf Höss returns to Auschwitz, ordered by Himmler to oversee the extermination of Hungarian Jews.

May 15, 1944 - Beginning of the deportation of Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz.

May 16, 1944 - Jews from Hungary arrive at Auschwitz. Eichmann arrives to personally oversee and speed up the extermination process. By May 24, an estimated 100,000 have been gassed. Between May 16 and May 31, the SS report collecting 88 pounds of gold and white metal from the teeth of those gassed. By the end of June, 381,661 persons - half of the Jews in Hungary - arrive at Auschwitz.

In June - A Red Cross delegation visits Theresienstadt after the Nazis have carefully prepared the camp and the Jewish inmates, resulting in a favorable report.

June 6, 1944 - D-Day: Allied landings in Normandy on the coast of northern France.

June 12, 1944 - Rosenberg orders Hay Action, the kidnapping of 40,000 Polish children aged ten to fourteen for slave labor in the Reich.

Summer - Auschwitz-Birkenau records its highest-ever daily number of persons gassed and burned at just over 9,000. Six huge pits are used to burn bodies, as the number exceeds the capacity of the crematories.

In July - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary, and proceeds to save nearly 33,000 Jews by issuing diplomatic papers and establishing 'safe houses.'

August 4, 1944 - Anne Frank and family are arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, then sent to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister Margot are later sent to Bergen-Belsen where Anne dies of typhus on March 15, 1945.

August 6, 1944 - Lodz, the last Jewish ghetto in Poland, is liquidated with 60,000 Jews sent to Auschwitz.

October 7, 1944 - A revolt by Sonderkommando (Jewish slave laborers) at Auschwitz-Birkenau results in complete destruction of Crematory IV.

October 15, 1944 - Nazis seize control of the Hungarian puppet government, then resume deporting Jews, which had temporarily ceased due to international political pressure to stop Jewish persecutions.

October 17, 1944 - Eichmann arrives in Hungary.

October 28, 1944 - The last transport of Jews to be gassed, 2,000 from Theresienstadt, arrives at Auschwitz.

October 30, 1944 - Last use of the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Late 1944 - Oskar Schindler saves 1200 Jews by moving them from Plaszow labor camp to his hometown of Brunnlitz.

January 14, 1945 - Invasion of eastern Germany by Russian troops.

January 17, 1945 - Liberation of Warsaw by the Russians.

January 18, 1945 - Nazis evacuate 66,000 from Auschwitz.

April 23, 1945 - Berlin is reached by Russian troops.

April 30, 1945 - Americans free 33,000 inmates from concentration camps.

May 2, 1945 - Theresienstadt taken over by the Red Cross.
Holocaust Statistics
May 7, 1945 - Unconditional German surrender signed by General Alfred Jodl at Reims.
1946 Return to Top of Page
May 9, 1945 - Hermann Göring captured by members of U.S. 7th Army.

May 23, 1945 - SS-Reichsführer Himmler commits suicide while in British custody.

ss, posing as a farm worker, is arrested by the British. He March 11, 1946 - Former Auschwitz Kommandant Hö testifies at Nuremberg, then is later tried in Warsaw, found guilty and hanged at Auschwitz, April 16, 1947, near Crematory I. "History will mark me as the greatest mass murderer of all time," Höss writes while in prison, along with his memoirs about Auschwitz.

October 16, 1946 - Göring commits suicide two hours before the scheduled execution of the first group of major Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. During his imprisonment, a (now repentant) Hans Frank states, "A thousand years will pass and the guilt of Germany will not be erased." Frank and the others are hanged and the bodies are brought to Dachau and burned (the final use of the crematories there) with the ashes then scattered into a river.
1960
December 9, 1946 - 23 former SS doctors and scientists go on trial before a U.S. Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Sixteen are found guilty, with 7 hanged.
1961
1947
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September 15, 1947 - Twenty one former SS-Einsatz leaders go on trial before a U.S. Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Fourteen are sentenced to death, with only 4 (the group commanders) actually being executed - the other death sentences having been commuted.

May 11, 1960 - Adolf Eichmann is captured in Argentina by the Israeli secret service.

April 11 - August 14 - Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Found guilty and hanged at Ramleh on May 31, 1962. A fellow Nazi reported Eichmann once said "he would leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction."

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Jump to: 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1933 January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000. February 27, 1933 - Nazis burn Reichstag building to create crisis atmosphere. February 28, 1933 - Emergency powers granted to Hitler as a result of the Reichstag fire.

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1. 22 june 1941 - 5 december 1941

2. nazis, hitler

3.  on June 22, 1941, over 3 million german troops invaded russia in three parallel offensives, in what is the most  powerful invasion force in history. nineteen panzer divisions, 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft, and 7,000 artillery pieces pour across a thousand-mile front as hitler goes to war on a second front.

4. the german invasion of russia became a massive failure.

soviet industry was deemed incapable of producing modern weapons. most importantly, russian troop numbers and fighting strength were continually underestimated, so that despite the losses inflicted in early encirclement battles, the germans always faced yet more reinforcements.

5. the failure of german troops to defeat soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war.

- by kyra lim

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1) 20 January 1942

2) Hitler, Nazi leaders

3) The Nazi Leaders met at the Wannsee conference to discuss and finalise plans to kill all the Jews of Europe. The deadliest phase of the Holocaust, or the 'Final Solution', thus began with Heinrich Himmler as its master planner.

4) This resulted in the mass killing of Jews, by 1942, the Nazis had built six death camps in Poland to expedite the mass killings of Jews. By the time world war II ended, an estimated two-third of the world's Jewish population was dead.

5) This event was significant as it caused the countless sufferings of many Jewish people as well as the rise of fear of the Nazis.

Isabella Yang 3C

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17 July - 2 August 1945 (Potsdam Conference)

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17 July - 2 August 1945 (Potsdam Conference)

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1) 17 July to 2 August 1945

2) President Henry Truman (United States), Churchill + Prime Minister Clement Attlee (Great Britain), Stalin (Soviet Union)

3) This conference was held to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The conferees discussed the substance and procedures of the peace settlements in Europe but did not attempt to write peace treaties. That task was left to a Council of Foreign Ministers.

4) Despite many disagreements, the British delegation, Stalin and Truman did manage to conclude some agreements at Potsdam. It was decided that Germany would be occupied by the Americans, British, French and Soviets. It would also be demilitarised and disarmed. This conference was held so that the Big Three could discuss about the immediate administration of defeated Germany, the demarcation of the boundaries of Poland, the occupation of Austria, the definition of the Soviet Union’s role in eastern Europe, the determination of reparations, and the further prosecution of the war against Japan.

5) This conference was significant because it contributed to the division of Germany through reparations of each allied sides occupation zones, and divisions of European countries between the US and the USSR. After the division between the free world and communist camps, Stalin brought down an Iron Curtain to keep invasions from the West out.

Website used: https://www.britannica.com/event/Potsdam-Conference

Done by: Chloe Soh (3G)

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Table of Contents

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Potsdam Conference, (July 17-August 2, 1945), Allied conference of World War II held at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. The chief participants were U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (or Clement Attlee, who became prime minister during the conference), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.

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The conferees discussed the substance and procedures of the peace settlements in Europe but did not attempt to write peace treaties. That task was left to a Council of Foreign Ministers. The chief concerns of the Big Three, their foreign ministers, and their staffs were the immediate administration of defeated Germany, the demarcation of the boundaries of Poland, the occupation of Austria, the definition of the Soviet Union's role in eastern Europe, the determination of reparations, and the further prosecution of the war against Japan. The amity and good will that had largely characterized former wartime conferences was missing at Potsdam, for each nation was most concerned with its own self-interest, and Churchill particularly was suspicious of Stalin's motives and unyielding position.

The Potsdam Conference's Declaration on Germany stated, "It is the intention of the Allies that the German people be given the opportunity to prepare for the eventual reconstruction of their life on a democratic and peaceful basis." The four occupation zones of Germany conceived at the Yalta Conference were set up, each to be administered by the commander-in-chief of the Soviet, British, U.S., or French army of occupation. Berlin, Vienna, and Austria were also each divided into four occupation zones. An Allied Control Council made up of representatives of the four Allies was to deal with matters affecting Germany and Austria as a whole. Its policies were dictated by the "five Ds" decided upon at Yalta: demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, and deindustrialization. Each Allied power was to seize reparations from its own occupation zones, although the Soviet Union was permitted 10-15 percent of the industrial equipment in the western zones of Germany in exchange for agricultural and other natural products from its zone.

Poland's boundary became the Oder and Neisse rivers in the west, and the country received part of former East Prussia. This necessitated moving millions of Germans in those areas to Germany. The governments of Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria were already controlled by communists, and Stalin was adamant in refusing to let the Allies interfere in eastern Europe. While in Potsdam, Truman told Stalin about the United States' "new weapon" (the atomic bomb) that it intended to use against Japan. On July 26 an ultimatum was issued from the conference to Japan demanding unconditional surrender and threatening heavier air attacks otherwise. After Japan had rejected this ultimatum, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The protocols of the Potsdam Conference suggested continued harmony among the Allies, but the deeply conflicting aims of the Western democracies on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other in fact meant that Potsdam was to be the last Allied summit conference.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Michael Ray.

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Potsdam Conference | Facts, History, & Significance

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Potsdam Conference, (July 17-August 2, 1945), Allied conference of World War II held at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. The chief participants were U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (or Clement Attlee, who became prime minister during the conference), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.

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3 October 1990 (Reunification of Germany)

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3 October 1990 (Reunification of Germany)

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1) 3 October 1990

2) Bundestag (Translation: Federal Assembly, refers to one of the two legislative chambers of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the People’s Chamber.

3) The Reunification of Germany was the process in 1990 by which the German Democratic Republic became part of the Federal Republic of Germany to form the reunited country of Germany. A treaty was ratified in September and went into effect on October 3, 1990.

4)The German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic as five additional Länder (The five new Länder were Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia), and the two parts of divided Berlin became one Land. Due to Soviet objections to East Germany being absorbed into the NATO alliance, an agreement was reached which allowed a reunified Germany to remain a part of NATO on the condition that NATO troops were not to be stationed in East German territory. In addition to allaying Soviet concerns, Chancellor Kohl was able to convince the leaders of the United Kingdom and France that a unified Germany would represent no threat to its neighbours by tying German reunification with the tighter integration of Germany into the European Union.

5) Two months following reunification, all-German elections took place and Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunified Germany. Although this action came more than a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, for many observers the reunification of Germany effectively marked the end of the Cold War. Without reunification, Germany would have chosen the path of a federal Europe where continental institutions were more important than ethnic nationalism. Hence it was very significant.

Website used: https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-reunification-of-Germany

Done by: Chloe Soh (3G)

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The swift and unexpected downfall of the German Democratic Republic was triggered by the decay of the other communist regimes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The liberalizing reforms of President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union appalled the Honecker regime, which in desperation was by 1988 forbidding the circulation within East Germany of Soviet publications that it viewed as dangerously subversive. The Berlin Wall was in effect breached in the summer of 1989 when a reformist Hungarian government began allowing East Germans to escape to the West through Hungary's newly opened border with Austria. By the fall, thousands of East Germans had followed this route, while thousands of others sought asylum in the West German embassies in Prague and Warsaw, demanding that they be allowed to emigrate to West Germany. At the end of September, Genscher, still West Germany's foreign minister, arranged for their passage to West Germany, but another wave of refugees from East Germany soon took their place. Mass demonstrations in the streets of Leipzig and other East German cities defied the authorities and demanded reforms.

In an effort to halt the deterioration of its position, the SED Politburo deposed Honecker in mid-October and replaced him with another hard-line communist, Egon Krenz. Under Krenz the Politburo sought to eliminate the embarrassment occasioned by the flow of refugees to the West through Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. On the evening of November 9, Günter Schabowski, a communist functionary, mistakenly announced at a televised news conference that the government would allow East Germans unlimited passage to West Germany, effective "immediately." While the government had in fact meant to require East Germans to apply for exit visas during normal working hours, this was widely interpreted as a decision to open the Berlin Wall that evening, so crowds gathered and demanded to pass into West Berlin. Unprepared, the border guards let them go. In a night of revelry tens of thousands of East Germans poured through the crossing points in the wall and celebrated their new freedom with rejoicing West Berliners.

The opening of the Berlin Wall proved fatal for the German Democratic Republic. Ever-larger demonstrations demanded a voice in government for the people, and in mid-November Krenz was replaced by a reform-minded communist, Hans Modrow, who promised free, multiparty elections. When the balloting took place in March 1990 the SED, now renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), suffered a crushing defeat. The eastern counterpart of Kohl's CDU, which had pledged a speedy reunification of Germany, emerged as the largest political party in East Germany's first democratically elected People's Chamber. A new East German government headed by Lothar de Maizière, a long-time member of the eastern Christian Democratic Union, and backed initially by a broad coalition, including the eastern counterparts of the Social Democrats and Free Democrats, began negotiations for a treaty of unification. A surging tide of refugees from East to West Germany that threatened to cripple East Germany added urgency to those negotiations. In July that tide was somewhat stemmed by a monetary union of the two Germanys that gave East Germans the hard currency of the Federal Republic.

The final barrier to reunification fell in July 1990 when Kohl prevailed upon Gorbachev to drop his objections to a unified Germany within the NATO alliance in return for sizable (West) German financial aid to the Soviet Union. A unification treaty was ratified by the Bundestag and the People's Chamber in September and went into effect on October 3, 1990. The German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic as five additional Länder, and the two parts of divided Berlin became one Land. (The five new Länder were Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.)

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Germany - Reunification, Berlin Wall, Cold War

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Germany - Reunification, Berlin Wall, Cold War: The swift and unexpected downfall of the German Democratic Republic was triggered by the decay of the other communist regimes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.