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 13 September 1933, the Nazis made ‘racial science’ compulsory in every German school.
On 15 September 1935, the Reichstag passed the Nuremburg Laws, institutionalizing the Nazi's racist theories.
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting the Second World War.
On 21 September 1939, Heydrich issued the Schnellbrief, which ordered the creation of Jewish Councils in Polish towns.
On 3 September 1941, the first experimental gassings were carried out at Auschwitz.
