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 5 March 1933, elections were held for the German Reichstag. The Nazis used violence to increase their vote share.
On 22 March 1933, the first Nazi concentration camp was established in the town of Dachau.
On 24 March 1933, the Enabling Act was passed, allowing Hitler to make laws without the approval of the Reichstag.
On 17 March 1935, 700 pastors of the Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazis, were arrested.
On 15 March 1938, following the German annexation of Austria three days earlier, Hitler gave a speech in front of the palace in Vienna.
