One of the defining features of the Nazis’ regime was their apparatus of terror. This image shows the devastation of Kristallnacht, an antisemitic pogrom which took place in November 1938. Over the course of this pogrom alone, over 25,000 people were sent to concentration camps, over 7,500 businesses had their windows smashed, over 1,000 synagogues were destroyed and just under 100 people were murdered.
Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections.
The Nazis came to power in 1933, and were defeated at the end of the Second World War in 1945.
During their twelve years in power their ideology and actions shaped almost every aspect of life in Germany and the countries that they occupied.
This section will give an overview of the Nazis’ Third Reich.
On 22 June 1933, the Nazis banned the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
On 30 June 1934, the Night of Long Knives, a purge of the Nazi leadership by Hitler, took place.
On 28 June 1935, Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code was revised. This heightened the persecution of gay men.
On 22 June 1941, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.
On 9 June 1942, the Nazis liquidated the Czech village of Lidice in response to the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.
On 6 June 1944, British, Canadian, French and US troops landed on the beaches of German-occupied France. This became known as D-Day.
