During World War II, the Nazi dictatorship persecuted Jews, Romanis, homosexuals, disabled persons, and other groups it deemed undesirable. This systematic genocide was known as the Holocaust. The persecution, incarceration, and death of millions of innocent individuals are documented in the Holocaust timeline through a succession of incidents.
The emergence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, the adoption of anti-Semitic laws and regulations, the building of concentration camps and death camps, and the final rescue of the survivors by Allied troops are some of these events. The Holocaust is still researched and remembered as one of the worst eras in human history, serving as a sharp warning of the perils of prejudice, intolerance, and totalitarianism.
| No. | Key Events | Years | Leaders |
| 1 | Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany | 1933 | Adolf Hitler |
| 2 | Dachau concentration camp opens | 1933 | Heinrich Himmler |
| 3 | Nuremberg Laws strip Jews of citizenship | 1935 | Adolf Hitler |
| 4 | Kristallnacht – Nazi attack on Jewish homes and businesses | 1938 | Reinhard Heydrich, Joseph Goebbels |
| 5 | Jews forced to wear yellow stars | 1941 | Adolf Hitler |
| 6 | Final Solution plan for genocide decided | 1941 | Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Eichmann |
| 7 | Wannsee Conference formalizes Final Solution plan | 1942 | Reinhard Heydrich |
| 8 | Deportations of Jews to extermination camps begin | 1942 | Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler |
| 9 | Warsaw Ghetto Uprising | 1943 | Mordechai Anielewicz |
| 10 | Allied forces liberate North Africa | 1943 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 11 | Liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto | 1944 | Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Eichmann |
| 12 | D-Day – Allied invasion of Normandy | 1944 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 13 | Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau | 1945 | Soviet Red Army |
| 14 | Death of Anne Frank | 1945 | Margot Frank, Otto Frank |
| 15 | Allied forces reach Berlin | 1945 | Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill |
| 16 | Hitler commits suicide | 1945 | Adolf Hitler |
| 17 | Germany surrenders | 1945 | Karl Dönitz |
| 18 | Nuremberg Trials begin | 1945-1946 | Allied powers |
| 19 | Founding of Israel | 1948 | David Ben-Gurion |
| 20 | Adolf Eichmann captured | 1960 | Israeli Mossad |
| 21 | Eichmann trial in Israel | 1961 | Israeli judiciary |
| 22 | Raul Hilberg publishes “The Destruction of the European Jews” | 1961 | Raul Hilberg |
| 23 | Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial opens in Jerusalem | 1967 | Israeli government |
| 24 | Elie Wiesel’s “Night” published | 1960 | Elie Wiesel |
| 25 | Simon Wiesenthal Center founded | 1977 | Simon Wiesenthal |
| 26 | President Reagan visits Auschwitz-Birkenau | 1984 | Ronald Reagan |
| 27 | Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” released | 1993 | Steven Spielberg |
| 28 | Operation Harvest Festival – Massacre at Majdanek | 1943 | Odilo Globocnik |
| 29 | Liquidation of the Bialystok Ghetto | 1943 | SS-Standartenführer Hermann Höfle |
| 30 | Sobibor extermination camp uprising | 1943 | Alexander Pechersky |
| 31 | Operation Reinhard ends | 1943 | Heinrich Himmler |
| 32 | Warsaw Uprising | 1944 | Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski |
| 33 | Liquidation of Lodz Ghetto | 1944 | Hans Biebow |
| 34 | Liquidation of Lviv Ghetto | 1944 | Friedrich Katzmann |
| 35 | Liquidation of Minsk Ghetto | 1944 | SS-Obergruppenführer Curt von Gottberg |
| 36 | Operation Bagration – Soviet offensive on Eastern Front | 1944 | Georgy Zhukov |
| 37 | Sonderkommando revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau | Apr-05 | Salmen Lewental, Zalmen Gradowski, and others |
| 38 | Forced march of prisoners from Auschwitz | Apr-05 | Heinrich Himmler, Richard Baer |
| 39 | Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau | Jan-45 | Red Army |
| 40 | Red Army liberates Warsaw | Jan-45 | Konstantin Rokossovsky |
| 41 | Allied forces liberate concentration camps in Germany | Apr-45 | Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and others |
| 42 | Suicide of Adolf Hitler | Apr-45 | Adolf Hitler |
| 43 | Liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp | Apr-45 | British Army |
| 44 | Death of Anne Frank in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp | Mar-45 | N/A |
| 45 | Liberation of Dachau concentration camp | Apr-45 | US Army |
| 46 | Nuremberg Trials begin | November 1945 – October 1946 | International Military Tribunal |
| 47 | Establishment of the State of Israel | May 14, 1948 | David Ben-Gurion |
| 48 | The United Nations adopts the Genocide Convention | Dec-48 | N/A |
| 49 | Eichmann Trial | April-August 1961 | District Court of Jerusalem |
| 50 | The construction of the Berlin Wall begins | Aug-61 | East German Government |
