30 January 1933Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, is appointed Reich Chancellor in Germany. On 1 February 1933, he dissolves the Reichstag, which means the end of democracy.
28 February 1933The ‘Decree for the Protection of the People and the State’ (Reichstag Fire Decree) abolishes the most important civil rights in Germany and paves the way for dictatorship.
14 July 1933The ‘Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring’ is passed in Germany and comes into force on 1 January 1934. It forms the basis for forced sterilisation.
1936
3 January 1936In Germany, the Minister of the Interior points out in a circular that in Europe ‘apart from the Jews, only the Gypsies’ are regularly counted among the ‘alien races’.
1939
1 September 1939The Wehrmacht invades Poland in the early hours of the morning, marking the beginning of the Second World War.
1940
16 – 22 May 1940Sinti and Roma from the west and north-west of Germany are sent to transit camps in Hamburg, Hohenasperg near Stuttgart and Cologne and deported from there to the General Government, German-occupied Poland. The ‘May Deportation’ is the first deportation carried out family by family.
1941
22 June 1941Germany invades the Soviet Union and advances with its troops to just outside Moscow by the end of the year.
1945
8 May 1945The surrender, dated 8 May and signed on 9 May in Berlin-Karlshorst, marks the end of World War II and the National Socialist regime in Germany.
