The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Honors Holocaust Remembrance Day 2008. Theme is "Do Not Stand Silent: Remembering Kristallnacht 1938"(background image is of Germans walking past Jewish-owned shops with broken store-front windows)

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1933 – 1939 Nazi Assault

Year Event
1933
  • Hitler and the Nazi regime rose to power
  • Hitler proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops
  • A law was passed against kosher butchering
  • First concentration camps opened in Munich, Weimar, and Berlin
  • Jewish children began experiencing restrictions in public schools
1934
  • In January, Nazis enacted 400+ laws to segregate and impoverish German Jews
  • In August, the German president died
  • Hitler assumed the Chancellorship of Germany
1935
  • In September, Nuremburg Laws formalized the unofficial and particular measures that were taken against Jews previously. The laws prohibited marriages and extra-marital intercourse between “Jews” (the name was now officially used in place of “non-Aryans”) and “Germans” and also the employment of “German” females under forty-five in Jewish households. Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and the law also introduced a new distinction between “Reich citizens” and “nationals.” See Nuremburg Laws for more information.
1936
  • Jews were prohibited from participation in parliamentary elections and signs reading “Jews Not Welcome” appeared in many German cities. (Incidentally, these signs were taken down in the late summer in preparation for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin).
1937
  • Aryanization of the economy: Jewish owners forced to sell their businesses considerably below the value of their goods. In January, Jews are prohibited from working in any office in Germany.
  • On July 16th, Buchenwald concentration camp opens.
  • In October, beginning of the systematic takeover of Jewish property.
  • On November 25th, political and military pact signed by Germany and Japan.
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