1941

January 21, THE IRON GUARD (Romania) - Revolted against Antonescu and the army. During the short lived revolt, the Iron Guard attacked Jews in Bucharest, killing 120 people. Some of them were hung on meat hooks with a sign placed on them reading "Kosher meat." [111] (103)

February 6, The IG FARBENINDUSTRIE CHEMICAL CONCERN (Poland) - Decided to build a synthetic rubber plant in Auschwitz. The decision had been between locations in Norway or Auschwitz. They chose the latter due to better tax incentives.Tens of thousands of prisoners died working in the plant. Manpower turnover was 300%. Other major corporations like Siemens and Krupp also used Jewish slave labor to increase profits. The director of the plant, Dr. Walter Durrfeld was reelected to their Board of Governors in 1955 although he was sentenced at Nuremberg to eight years in prison. Otto Ambrose, another director who also ran the poison gas operations, was hired for a major position by J. Peter Grace, a major industrialist and leader of the U.S. Council of the International Chamber of Commerce. [111] (103)

February 22, AMSTERDAM (Netherlands) - First initial deportation, in which 389 Jewish hostages were sent to Buchenwald and then the quarrying camp at Mauthausen. This was ostensibly for resistance to the anti-Jewish riots organized by the Nazis. They were later joined by another 230 Amsterdam Jews. By 1942 only eight were alive and by the end of the war only one Jew, Max Nebig, who had managed to survive by volunteering for medical experiments. The actual deportations began in July of 1942 and almost all of them to Auschwitz and Sobibor. [111] (103)

March, ADOLPH EICHMANN (Germany) - Was appointed head of the Jewish Affairs section of the Gestapo, also known as Section IVB4. Within a few months, he was in charge of implementation of the "Final Solution" in all of its aspects. In 1944, Eichmann visited Auschwitz and proposed a method for speeding up the killings by twenty percent. Later that same year, Eichmann went personally to Hungary to oversee the deportation efforts. [111] (103)

April 17, YUGOSLAVIA SURRENDERED - To Germany and was divided between Italy, Germany, Hungary, and Bulgaria with the remainder becoming the new state of Croatia. The status of the Jews depended upon who controlled their area. There were 71,000 Jews in Yugoslavia before the war. About 10,000 survived, many of them from the Italian or Bulgarian zones which were usually less then enthusiastic about implementing German racial laws. [111] (103)

After German troops had occupied a part of the territory of Yugoslavia in the middle of WW II, a fanatical Catholic soldiery under their leader Ante Paveliç took over in neighboring Croatia. These Christian rebels called themselves the Ustashi. In just a few weeks they formed a terror regime which rivaled the German Nazi version. All religions except Roman Catholicism were persecuted, most of their followers were gathered in concentration camps. (104)

May, EINSATZGRUPPEN (Mobile Killing Units) (Germany) - Was officially established by Heydrich and army quartermaster Wagner. Although there were killing squads which operated in Poland as early as September 1939, the Einsatzgruppen was put into place in preparation for the attack on Russia which concluded the agreement between the Army and the SS as to the division of responsibilities. These mobile killing units consisted of about 3000 men. Most of them were professionals, including many lawyers and professional soldiers. There were even doctors and an opera singer. Each of the four main groups were assigned a different sector from north to south moving with the troops east. "A" moved into the northern sector and the Baltic states, "B" went through Bialystok and Vitbesk toward Moscow. "C" through Zhitomir, Kiev, and Krakow and "D" moved into the southern sector through Kaminetz, Odessa, and up to Stalingrad. [111] (103)

May 18, TWENTY THREE PALMACH FIGHTERS (Eretz Israel) - Set sail on the British boat HMS Sea Lion on their way to a mission in pro-Nazi Lebanon. They were never heard from again. [111] (103)

June 1 - IRAQ Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gailani completed a pro-German take over. More than 140 Jews in Baghdad and Basra were murdered. [111] (103)

June 2, GREECE - Was occupied and was broken into three zones German, Italian and Bulgarian. Germany occupied eastern Thrace, Salonika and Crete. Italy occupied "old Greece" ,and Bulgaria annexed western Thrace, Macedonia and the Ionian islands. Salonika which had been occupied by the Germans on April 9th immediately began to institute anti-Jewish measures. The areas occupied by Italy did not institute any harsh measures until the Nazi occupation ( see Sept. 1943) The Bulgarians only "cooperated" after strong German pressure and then only in Thrace and part of Macedonia (March 9, 1943). Thirteen hundred Jews, 300 of them former soldiers join the partisans. Out of Greek population of 70,000 Jews 58,000 were murdered. [111] (103) 

June 12, LUFTWAFFE BOMBED TEL AVIV AND HAIFA (Eretz Israel) - Twelve people were killed in a Tel Aviv old age home. [111] (103) June 22, HUNGARIAN ARMY - Joined Germany in its surprise attack on the Soviet Union. Hungary joined in the attack. Its regular army was accompanied by 50,000 Jews who were sent as forced labor battalions. Over 40,000 died. [111] (103)

June 22, OPERATION BARBARROSA (Russia) - Germany attacked Russia. Within a few weeks millions of Jews fell under Nazi rule. The official Soviet radios only reference to the German's successful incursion was to warn Jews to leave certain areas. Approximately 500,000 Jews fought under the Soviet flag and almost half of them were killed during the war. Many Jews served with valor and won 160,000 medals, including 145 "Heroes of the Soviet Union", the Soviet Union's highest award. [111] (103)

June 28, JASSY MASSACRE (Romania) - Romanian and German troops murdered thousands of Jews and deported the rest with the active participation of local residents. It is estimated that there were 12,000 victims. Jassy had been considered the capital of Romanian anti-Semitism during the late 19th century when Alexander Cuza, the Romanian nationalist and anti-Semite, taught at the university. After the Antonescu government seized power in November 1940, Jassy became the "capital of the Iron Guard." [111] (103)

July 21, - 1944 July 24, MAJDANEK/Maidanek (Lublin, Poland) - Concentration and death camp. It was originally established as a camp for prisoners of war and only became a death camp in the beginning of 1942. It was the largest concentration camp in the General Government and had one of the highest rates of natural deaths. At least 130,000 Jews were murdered in the camp, which was run by Anton Thumann. He was sentenced at the British Neuengamme Trials in March 1946 and executed October 8th 1946. [111] (103)

August 7, MARSHAL PETAIN (France) - Asked the Vatican for guidance regarding upcoming anti-Jewish actions. French Ambassador Leon Bernard consulted with Pope Pius XII, who quoted Thomas Aquinas: since Jews are destined to perpetual slavery, anti-Jewish measures may be enacted. The Vatican also had no desire to argue with the Vichy government over "the Jewish statute." [111] (103)

August 21, LEON TROTSKY (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) (Mexico) - Was murdered on Stalin's order. In his last years he had tried to set up an independent movement known as the Fourth International as opposed to the Third (Communist) International, but did not succeed. Trotskyism became tantamount to treason throughout the Soviet Union. [111] (103)

September 1, HUNGARY - Einsatzkommandos, with the help of some Hungarian militia, murdered 11,000 Jews. In August, Hungary had pushed 17,000 stateless Jews across the border to Kamenets-Podolski in the Ukraine. The German army protested that the large number of refugees interfered with the war effort and Hungary took a few thousand back as slave laborers, leaving the rest in the hands of the Germans. There were no survivors. [111] (103)

September 3, AUSCHWITZ (Poland) - The first test use of hydrogen cyanide, better known as Zyklon-B gas. The gas was produced in pellets by two companies: Dessauerworks and Kaliworks. The stabilizer for Zyklon-B was made by I.G. Farben. The gas was so lethal that 7.5 gm was enough to kill a 75 kilo person. (103)

September 3, DUBOSSARY (Moldavia, Romania) - In one of the first actions of its kind in the Dubossary ghetto, the Jewish underground run by Yankel Guzanyatsky (Guzinsky) killed the town's Commandant Kraft, and blew up an ammunition depot in retribution for his burning alive 600 old people in one of the town's synagogues. Guzanyatsky's unit had already been active since the summer and now he decided to leave the town and set up a partisan unit. General Kobpek's Partisans, located in that area made no effort to help. (Note: Although many small revolts took place we have little knowledge of them as there were often no survivors, furthermore in the Soviet Union, no research was allowed on "Jewish" revolts.) [111] (103)

September 8, SERBIA (Yugoslavia) - Felix Benzler and Edmund Veesenmayer, high ranking German officials, demanded that the Foreign Office help them get rid of the 8000 Jews in the Belgrade ghetto, proposing that they be sent down the Danube to Romania. Foreign Minister Ribbentrop replied that it was unacceptable to unload Jews on Romanian territory without their permission.

Martin Luther, the head of Special Department DIII also responded, telling them to handle it themselves as "the Military commander is responsible for the elimination of those 8000 Jews." In reality, over 2000 had already been killed. Each day groups of 100-300 Jews, were taken out to "work in the fields" near Jajinci and shot. In less then a year Serbia was "Jew Free." [111] (103)

September 9, SLOVAKIA - Over 270 anti-Jewish regulations were passed, including wearing the yellow star, forced labor and evictions. Deportation began six months later. Of more than 90,000 Jews in Slovakia before the war, only 15,000 survived. [111] (103)

September 10, 'WOMEN'S REBELLION' DUBOSSARY (Moldavia, Romania) - Broke out as the ghetto was being liquidated. The women demanded that they be allowed to die as families rather then the men being taken away on their own. The Germans unsuccessfully tried shooting children to break up the demonstration. They finally capitulated and by the end of the month the community ceased to exist. [111] (103)

September 28, JEWISH ROUNDUP IN KIEV (Ukraine) - Two thousand notices were posted around Kiev ordering all Jews to appear the next day with documents, warm clothes and valuables. These roundups were known as Aktions and referred to all forced gathering of Jews for the purpose of deportation or extermination.

In this case, although rumors were rife that the Jews were being rounded up to be sent to a labor camp, the result of this aktion was the Babi Yar massacres in which, according to German records, 33,771 Jews were slaughtered in a ravine outside of Kiev. The massacre is immortalized in Yevgei Yevtushenko's poem "Babi Yar." The monument placed on the site does not mention Jews. After WWII a dance hall was erected on the site of the massacre despite international protests. Flooding caused by severe storms washed away the dance hall before it could be opened, and caused many skeletons of the massacre's victims to be unearthed. [111] (103)

October, GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN DEPORTATIONS Began. Jews were sent east to Polish ghettos. Out of the 240,000 Jews living in the Greater Reich in September 1929, only 30,000 survived. Many of those had been considered "privileged" and had been sent to Theresienstadt. [111] (103)

October 13 - 14, DNEPROPETROVSK (Ukraine) - In one of the largest massacres of its kind, 37,000 Jews were shot by machine guns and placed in tank ditches. [111] (103)

October 16, ODESSA (Russia) - Was occupied by the fourth Romanian army. Romanian troops, with a little help from Einsatzgruppe D (Action Unit D), (see May 1941) killed 8,000 Jews, about ten percent of the Jews living there. [111] (103)

October 16, WERNER SCHARFF (Germany) - A Jewish electrician began his campaign against the Nazi regime. Scharff was active in helping Jews with hiding and changing identity. He was arrested twice and each time succeeded in escaping, even from Theresienstadt. Together with Frieda Wiegal he formed a group called "Union for peace and liberty" which, as the outcome of the war became evident, tried to encourage other Germans to join against the Nazi regime. Scharff was betrayed by an informer. Though tortured he refused to reveal any information and was shot at Sachsenhausen on March 16 1945 - six weeks before the end of the war. [111] (103)

October 19, GENERAL FRANZ BOHME (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) - The German military governor, ordered 100 civilians to be executed for each of the twenty one German troops that had been killed by Serbian partisans. He specifically chose 1500 Jews from the Belgrade ghetto. This marked the first time that a Wehrmacht general initiated a mass execution. Bohme killed himself in 1947 rather than stand trial. [111] (103) October 22, ODESSA (Russia) - After a partisan explosion in the Romanian military building, Ion Antonescu ordered that 200 people be killed for each officer killed and one hundred for each soldier. Although only several dozen Romanian were killed, 19,000 Jews were doused with gasoline in the city square and burned alive. An additional 16,000 were massacred the next day by Romanian officers. [111] (103)

October 23, BISHOP KONRAD VON PREYSING (Germany) - Was arrested by the Gestapo when overheard praying for "non-Aryan Christians and Jews". He was imprisoned for two years and died when he was about to be sent to Dachau. [111] (103)

November 24, THERESIENSTADT, (Czechoslovakia) - A ghetto was set up in the old barracks and then in the walled town itself. All the 3,700 local inhabitants were moved out. Although Theresienstadt was set up as a "model settlement," its death rate reached fifty percent in 1942 through starvation and epidemics. During an investigation by the Red Cross in June 1943 the Germans changed the external appearance of the town and deported many so that there would be less overcrowding. All the interviews were carefully orchestrated and immediately after the visit most of those interviewed were deported. In all, 140,937 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt, of whom 33,529 died in the ghetto and 88,196 were deported to death camps. There were 17,247 persons left in the ghetto when it was liberated. [111] (103)

November 28, HAJ AMIN al-HUSSEINI - MUFTI OF JERUSALEM (Berlin) Met with Hitler and called him the "Protector of Islam." Hitler promised the Mufti that, after a certain objective was reached, "Germany's only remaining objective in the region would be limited to the annihilation of the Jews living under British protection in Arab lands." [111] (103)

December 7 - 9, RIGA (Russia) - Within two days 80% of the Jews living in the ghetto (25,000 people) were shot including the famous historian Simon Dubnow. On December 8, at age 81, Dubnow was shot by a former student of his, now a Gestapo officer. His dying message to fellow Jews was: "Yidn, shreibt un farshreibt!" ("Jews, write and record!"). [111] (103)

December 8, 1945 January 18, CHELMNO/KULMHOF (Poland) - The first camp to be created specifically as a death camp was opened using the exhaust from mobile vans. Herbert Lange was the first commandant, followed by Hans Bothmann. Approximately 340,000 people were murdered there. Death camps or extermination camps were created for one purpose - to kill Jews and dispose of the bodies as efficiently as possible. The Nazi need to find more direct ways to implement their goal of a "Jew Free" Europe increased as a result of the influx of Jews from the East. In addition to Chelmno, there were five other main death camps: Belzec, Sobibor, Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Treblinka. Other smaller death camps were established near Vilna, Riga, Minsk, Kovno, and Lvov. In 1963, twelve of the camp's SS officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging form 1 to 20 years. Bothmann hanged himself in April 1946 after his arrest. There is no information on the whereabouts of Lange. [111] (103)