1939

MARCH 15, 1939
German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

JUNE 1939
Cuba and the United States refuse to accept Jewish refugees aboard the ship S.S. St. Louis, which is forced to return to Europe.


APRIL 18, 1939
Anti-Jewish racist laws passed in Slovakia

AUGUST 23, 1939
Soviet-German Pact signed by Molotov and Ribbentrop.

SEPTEMBER 1, 1939
German army invades Poland - beginning of World War II.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1939
Britain and France declare war on Germany

SEPTEMBER 17, 1939
Invasion of Eastern Poland by the Soviet Army.

OCTOBER 1939
Hitler extends power of doctors to kill institutionalized mentally and physically disabled persons in the "euthanasia" program.

SEPTEMBER 21, 1939
Ghettos to be established in occupied Poland each under a "Judenrat" or Jewish Council, by order of Heydrich.

NOVEMBER 1939
Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum convenes a conference in Warsaw with representative of underground parties in order to discuss provision of aid to Polish Jews.

OCTOBER
The Jewish Community of Palestine demands participation in the war against Nazism: 26,000 join the British Army.

NOVEMBER 23, 1939
Distinctive identifying armband made obligatory for all Jews in Central Poland.

NOVEMBER 28, 1939
Directive by Hans Frank to establish Judenrats (Jewish Councils) in General Government. First Polish Ghetto established in Piotrkow.

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