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 20 December 1924, Hitler was released from Landsberg Prison.
On 2 December 1938, the first Kindertransport arrived in the United Kingdom.
On 8 December 1941, the first gas chambers started operating in Chełmno.
On 16 December 1942, a decree was passed stating that all German Roma and Sinti were to be deported to Auschwitz.
On 1 December 1943, Mussolini ordered the arrest and deportation of Italian Jews to concentration camps.
