- January 30: Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
- March 23: The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, which gives Hitler dictatorial powers.
- April 1: The Nazis boycott Jewish businesses.
- April 7: The Nazis pass the Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service, which dismisses all Jewish civil servants.
- May 10: The Nazis burn books by Jewish and other "un-German" authors.
- September 15: The Nazis pass the Nuremberg Laws, which define who is considered Jewish and strip Jews of their citizenship and basic rights.
1938
- November 9-10: Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass." Over 1,000 synagogues are destroyed and over 7,000 Jewish businesses are looted.
1939
- September 1: Germany invades Poland, starting World War II.
1941
- June 22: Germany invades the Soviet Union.
- December 7: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into the war.
1942
- January 20: The Wannsee Conference is held, where Nazi leaders plan the Final Solution to the Jewish question.
- April-September: The Nazis deport over 1 million Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp.
1943
- January-March: The Nazis deport over 1 million Jews from the Łódź ghetto to the Auschwitz extermination camp.
- April-July: The Nazis deport over 430,000 Jews from the Kraków ghetto to the Auschwitz and Płaszów extermination camps.
1944
- May-July: The Nazis deport over 250,000 Jews from the Hungarian provinces to the Auschwitz extermination camp.
- July 20: An attempt to assassinate Hitler fails.
- August 1: The Warsaw Uprising begins.
- October 15-28: The Nazis deport over 65,000 Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto to the Auschwitz extermination camp.
1945
- January 17-27: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz extermination camp.
- April 30: Hitler commits suicide.
- May 8: Germany surrenders, ending the war in Europe.