January 30, 1933

The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader (Führer) Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government of "National Renewal". The Nazis and the German Nationalist People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei; DNVP) are members of the coalition.

February 4, 1933

Decree for the protection of the German people increases restrictions on freedom of press and assembly

February 27, 1933

On February 27, 1933, the German parliament (Reichstag) building burned down due to arson. Though the origins of the fire are still unclear, in a propaganda maneuver, the coalition government (Nazis and the German Nationalist People's Party) blamed the Communists. They exploited the Reichstag Fire to secure President von Hindenburg's approval for an emergency decree. The impact of propaganda and terror on existing fears of a Communist takeover convinced many Germans that Hitler's decisive action had saved the nation from "Bolshevism."

March 1933

Establishment of Dachau concentration camp

March 5, 1933

Adolf Hitler listens to a radio broadcast of the results of German parliamentary elections. The Nazi Party wins 43.9%, the Nationalists (DNVP) 8%, for a majority between them; after the Communist deputies are arrested or forced underground the Nazis themselves have a majority. Also on this date and following, German radio is purged and broadcasters replaced by Nazis.

March 12, 1933

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcasts his first "fireside chat"

March 13, 1933

Creation of Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels

April 1, 1933

Goebbels delivers a speech to a crowd in the Berlin Lustgarten urging Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. He defends the boycott as a legitimate response to the anti-German "atrocity propaganda" being spread abroad by "international Jewry."

May 10, 1933

On the night of May 10, in most university towns, right-wing students march in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit." Scripted rituals call for high Nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students throw pillaged and unwanted books into the bonfires with great ceremony, band-playing, songs, "fire oaths," and incantations.

June 7, 1933

New regulations give major tax advantages to films exemplifying the Nazi spirit

July 14, 1933

Germany declared a one-party state under Nazi rule

September 22, 1933

The Reichskulturkammer (Reich Culture Chamber) is established for the Gleichschaltung ("coordination") of the media. It includes Joseph Goebbels, President; Walther Funk, Vice-President for ideological, political, social, and economic control of the entire cultural life of the nation; Max Amann (Reich Press Chamber); Horst Dressler-Andress, (Reich Radio Chamber); Hans Friedrich Blunck (Reich Writers Chamber); Fritz Scheuermann (Reich Film Chamber); Otto Laubinger (Reich Theatre Chamber); Richard Strauss (Reich Music Chamber); Eugen Hönig (Reich Artists Chamber).

October 4, 1933

Editor's law forbids Jews and those married to Jews from working in journalism

November 10, 1933

To make mass radio reception possible, "politische Radiogeräte" (political radio equipment) are developed in Germany. The first of these is the Volksempfänger. The Volksempfänger (People's Radio) is also known as the VE 301, which refers to January 30, 1933, the date Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The People's Radio can receive only long wave, meaning that it cannot receive broadcasts from most foreign radio stations.

August 2, 1934

German President von Hindenburg dies; Hitler becomes president of Germany

August 19, 1934

Hitler merges the positions of chancellor and president, declaring himself Führer of the German Reich and People.

September 1934

Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) shot at the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally in 1934. German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl initially rebuffed Hitler's commission for the film, but relented when she received unlimited resources and full artistic license for the picture. Triumph des Willens, with its evocative images and innovative film technique, ranked as an epic work of documentary film-making, and is widely regarded as one of the most masterful propaganda films ever produced.

September 15, 1935

Reproduction of the first page of an addendum to the Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935. This is the first of thirteen addenda to the original legislation issued from November 1935 to July 1943 in order to implement the policy aims of the Reich Citizenship Law. The Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, two legislative acts promulgated at a special session of the German parliament in Nuremberg during the annual Nazi Party Rally in 1935, become known as the Nuremberg (Race) Laws. They serve as the basis for the exclusion of Jews from German society and for all subsequent anti-Jewish legislation enacted during the Third Reich.

August 1, 1936

In August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship scores a huge propaganda success as host of the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The Games are a brief, two-week interlude in Germany's escalating campaign against its Jewish population and the country's march toward war. The regime camouflages its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Softpedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, Nazi Germany exploits the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

July 15, 1937

Buchenwald concentration camp is opened near the city of Weimar

November 8, 1937

Joseph Goebbels and other Nazi officials are greeted by saluting Germans as they proceed toward the Bibliothek des Deutschen Museums in Berlin for the first opening of Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) exhibition in Munich. Germany, November 08, 1937.

March 11-13, 1938

Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss

March 12-13, 1938

Germany invades and annexes Austria

September 12-29, 1938

Crisis over the Czechoslovak Sudetenland ends in Munich Agreement

November 9-10, 1938

In a nationwide pogrom called Kristallnacht ("Night of Crystal," more commonly known as the "Night of Broken Glass"), members of the Nazi Party and other Nazi formations burn synagogues, loot Jewish homes and businesses, and kill at least 91 Jews. The Gestapo, supported by local uniformed police, arrests approximately 30,000 Jewish men and imprisons them in the Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald concentration camps.

November 12, 1938

German government issues decree on the elimination of Jews from economic life

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