Timeline of the Holocaust 1940-45
The New England Holocaust Memorial Study Guide from Facing History and Ourselves
1940
February
Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland.
December
Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews at Treblinka.
1941
June
Germany attacks the Soviet Union. Mobile killing units begin the systematic slaughter of the Jews.
September
In two days, mobile killing units shoot 33,771 Ukrainian Jews at BabiYar--the largest single massacre of the Holocaust.
December
The death camp at Chelmno begins operation.
1942
January
Wannsee Conference: The Nazis coordinate the "Final Solution"--a plan to kill all European Jews through mass exterminations. Six death camps equipped with gas chambers soon begin full scale operation in Poland: Majdanek, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
During peak operations, thousands of people a day are murdered in these death factories.
1945
May
US and Allied forces defeat the Nazis and liberate the remaining concentration camp survivors.