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 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor by President Hinderburg.
On 30 January 1939, Hitler announced 'the extermination of European Jewry' if war were to break out.
On 16 January 1942, the Nazis began the deportation of Jews and Roma from Łódź Ghetto to Chelmno extermination camp.
On 20 January 1942, Heydrich presented the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question' at Wannsee. Image courtesy of David Allthorpe.
On 27 January 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz camp. They found just 7,000 remaining prisoners.
