Timeline of the Holocaust: 1937 - 1939

1937

July 2 - Many Jewish students expelled from German schools and universities.

July 19 - Buchenwald concentration camp opened.

November 16 - Jews contained in Germany by act making Jewish passports invalid for international travel.

1938

March 12 - German annexation of Austria. German anti-Jewish laws take effect in the subjugated country.

October 28 - 15,000 Jews herded into Poland at gunpoint.

November 9 - Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," begins. These government-sanctioned riots resulted in incredible destruction of Jewish property in Germany.

November 15 - All Jewish students expelled from German education.

1939

August 23 - Russia and Germany sign a non-aggression pact.

September 1 - Hitler declares war on Poland.

September 3 - World War II begins.

October 12 - Trains begin shipping Austrian Jews to camps in Poland.

November 23 - Law mandates that Polish Jews wear a yellow star as identification.

November 28 - The first ghetto is set up in Protrkow, Poland.