MAY 16, 1940

NAZIS ORDER POLISH LEADERS KILLED

Hans Frank, the Nazi administrator of occupied Poland, orders the arrest and execution of Polish leaders (politicians, state officials, professionals, intellectuals--even priests). The Nazis seek to terrorize the Polish population and prevent them from resisting Nazi policies. More than 3,500 Poles are arrested and massacred. Despite the terror, the resistance movement in Poland continues.

JUNE 10, 1942

GERMANS DESTROY SMALL CZECH TOWN

In reaction to the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (the governor of Bohemia and Moravia) by Czech partisans, the Germans decide to destroy Lidice, a small village outside of Prague. Many of the residents are killed. Almost 200 women are deported to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in Germany and almost 100 children to other institutions. The town is then razed to the ground, the houses burned or demolished.

MARCH 24, 1944

SS MEN MASSACRE ITALIANS NEAR ROME

Units of the SS (the elite guard of the Nazi state) shoot more than 300 Italians in the Ardeatine Caves, south of Rome, in reaction to a partisan attack on German soldiers. Ten hostages are shot for every German soldier killed. The SS blow up the caves after the massacre.

JUNE 10, 1944

SS UNIT MASSACRES VILLAGERS IN FRANCE

The entire population of Oradour-sur-Glane, a small French village in southern France, is massacred by an SS unit. More than 600 men, women, and children are forced into the village church, which is then set ablaze. There are no survivors. Following the Allied landings in Normandy, France, there was an increase in anti-German partisan activity in occupied France. The massacre of men, women, and children in Oradour-sur-Glane was undertaken ostensibly in retaliation for such partisan activity.