June 22nd

On this day - June 22 1941 - Germany invades USSR in "Operation Barbarossa

Unternehmen Barbarossa was the code name for the Nazi-Germany attack on the Soviet Union during world war 2. The background for the attack was Adolf Hitlers desire of conquer Soviet territory. The massive attack started as a success for Nazi Germany who initially won several important territories from the Soviet Union. However, the German attack was stopped and pushed back outside of Moscow, much due to weather and the limitations of the German supply line. The failure of Operation Barbarossa turned the tide in the war, but millions of lives were lost during the five months the operation lasted.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1974-099-19 / Kempe / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, 

June 12th

On this day - June 12th 1942 - Anne Frank received her diary as a birthday present 

Ann Franks diary, also known as "the Diary of a Young girl" which describes her life in hiding during World War 2 is probably one of the best known books in the world. The book is based on the diary 13-15 year old Anne Frank wrote as they were hiding during Germanys occupation of the Netherlands. She had received the diary on June 12th after showing it to her father in a shop window a few days earlier. The book was read and white with a small lock on the front. It was original an autograph book, but Anne Frank decided she wanted to use it as a diary and started writing immediately. The family moved into hiding on July 6th and stayed there until August 4th 1944 when the German Police stormed their hiding place. The family was deported to Auschwitz where Anne Frank and almost all of her family was murdered. Only Anne Franks dad, Otto Frank survived, and it was he who published her diary in 1947 after reading about her dreams of becoming a writer.

June 6th

On this day - June 6th 1944 - Battle of Normandie (D-day)

The first day of the battle of Normandie, France, is often referred to as D-day. The allied countries invaded Normandie in an operation called "Operation Overload", and operation which had been planed since 1943. It was the biggest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion and battle was essential in the allies victory over Nazi Germany during the second world war because the allied gained a foothold in Europe which they could expand.

May 27th

On this day  May 27th 1941 - the sinking of the battleship German "Bismarck"

Bismarck was a battleship built by the German army and first launched in 1936. It is named after the former German chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck. She was one of the largest battleships owned by the German army. The ship was heavily hit in an attack on May 26th by torpedo bombers when it was on its way to occupied France after the Battle of  the Denmark Strait. The ship was further destroyed in an bombardment by the British fleet. The ships port rudder got stuck and the ship was unable to steer. Eventually the ship was sunk by the British fleet, and over 2000 Germans died with it. Only 114 people were rescued. The ship wreck was found in 1989 at a depth of 4791 meters.

Source: Bundesarchive

Illustration by Ken Marschall

April 10th

On this day – April 10 – 1944 escaped the authors of the Auschwitz notebook from the camp

The Auschwitz notebook, also known as the Vrba–Wetzler report, was 40-page report on the mass killings in Auschwitz. The authors, Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler were two Slovak Jews who escaped the camp on the 10th of April in 1943. Their notes from Auschwitz together with notes from prisoners from three other camps helped convince the allies that the mass killing rumours were in fact true. The notes from Auschwitz were the most detailed notes on the mass killings to be published at the time. Vrba and Wetzler escaped the camp together by hiding in a pile of wood between the inner and outer fence in the prison. They scattered tobacco infused with gasoline around their hiding place to fool the dogs and stayed hidden there for the next three days. They left their hiding place on the 10th of April in 1944.

Their whole notebook can be read on: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/auschproto.html

Alfred Wetzler

Rudolf Vrba 

April 9th

On this day - April 9th 1940 - Vidkun Quisling and Nazi-Germany occupied Norway

Norway was occupied by Germany in the early morning of April 9th 1940. The Germany attack happened both by air and sea and since Norway's military defense was rather poor at the time was the occupation an easy quest for the much stronger German army. The Norwegian army and resistance managed to sink the German ship Blücher and the government managed to get escape. The occupying German forces had expected Norway to surrender, but after much discussion decided the government that they would not give into German demands. Germany and Quisling decided thereafter to start a military coup and Quisling announced himself as the new Prime Minister over Norwegian radio. Norway was occupied until the end of the war, when Quisling was sentenced to death for his betrayal. You can read about his death sentence on October 24th here.

If you want to know mor about the events during the occupation and the resistance against Germany recommend we the movie "Max Manus: Man of War (English Subtitled)". The movie tells the story of one of the most important resistance fighters in Norway, Max Manus , and his fight against the German occupation.

March 23rd

On this day - March 23rd 1933 - The passing of the "Enabling Act" made Hitler a dictator

The enabling act, or Ermächtigungesetz, which was passed in 1933 was an amendment to the German constitution. The act gave the German Cabinet the power to enact laws without the approval of the Reichstag. Effectively this act gave Adolf Hitler the power to create whichever law he saw fit. The law was passed in the Reichstag, led by Hermann Göring on March 23rd 1933, after ruls of procedures were changed to make it easier to pass the act.

This act, together with the limitations of civil rights after the Reichtags Fire Decree passed in February 1933, made Hitler into the de facto dictator of Germany. The Enabling act was to last for four years before it had to be re-instated by the Reichstag, which was done in

Hitlers speech after the act was passed. From the Bundesarchive. 

March 14th

On this day - March 14th 1943 - the Krakow Ghetto was liquidated

The Krakow ghetto was a Jewish ghetto in Poland. The ghetto was established in 1941 when the Jews in Krakow had to move into the ghetto. The liquidation of the ghetto started in June 1942 and lasted until March 14th 1943. The former inhabitants were sent to concentration camps where most of them met their death. In the final liquidation of the ghetto on the 13th and 14th of march was 8000 Jews who were deemed fit for work sent to Plaszow labour camp. Those who were considered unfit for work, about 2000 people, were killed. Those who was capture was sent to Auschwitz. The ghetto commander Amon Göth was hanged as a war criminal after the war ended. The ghetto is portrayed in the movie Schindler's List.

January 18th

On this day - 18th January 1943 - The beginning of the Warsaw ghetto uprising

The Warsaw ghetto uprising was an uprising by the Jews in Poland against the nazi policy of removing the Jews from the ghetto to the extermination camps. It was one of the largest uprising of the Jews during the second wold war.  On January 18th started Germans their second transportation of the Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. It was this event that led to the first armed conflict between the German nazi police and the Jews in the ghetto. Both sides took causalities in this first armed conflict, and the transportation of the Jews was halted for a few days. The resistance groups inside the ghetto built up their defense and on April 19th started a new armed conflict between the nazi police and the resistance groups inside the ghetto. The resistance lasted until 16th may 1943. 13.000 Jews died in the uprising, most of them in the burning of the ghetto which the German SS had ordered. A movie about the events were created in 2001.

December 7th

On this day – 7^th December 1941 – Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was an American navy base in Hawaii.  The Japanese forces attacked in an effort to keep the US to stay out of Japanese expansion in Asian territories. 2403 Americans were killed in the attack and only 64 Japanese died. The Japanese attack on Perl Harbor was a significant event during the Second World War. This attack led the US to declare war on Japan and thereby they got involved in World War II. Germany declared war on the US on December 11^th, a declaration that the US shortly after reciprocated. The attack removed all American support non-intervention in the war. The involvement of the US helped the allied forces to win the war in 1945. The attack of Japan on American soil also got dire consequences for Japan, who are still the only country to have experienced the impact of nuclear bombs, when two of them were dropped over major Japanese cities in an American effort to end the war.  

Several fictional movies and stories have been made about the events at Perl Harbor. 

Pearl Harbor from 2011 is probably the most famous

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November 20th

On this day – 20^th November 1945 – The beginning of the Nuremberg trials

The Nuremberg trials were a series of trials against 23 of the most prominent Nazi-Germany leaders during the Second World War. The trials were held in Nuremberg in Germany, thereby the name. They lasted from the 20^th of November 1945 to the 1^st of October 1946. On the 16^th of October in 1946 were those who were sentenced to death, hanged. Lesser war-criminals were tried and sentenced later, in a different trial. The trial was agreed to, and arranged, by the allied forces (UK, USA. Soviet). Out of the 24 prosecuted were 12 sentenced to death. Those who were sentenced to prison served their time in Spandau Prison in Berlin. This prison was destroyed after its last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, committed suicide in 1987. Nuremberg trial was the first international war trial. The main criticism against the trials were that the crimes were only defined as crimes, after they were committed, creating a "victors justice".

The accused from the trial in Nuremberg

november 17th

On this day – 17^th of November 1939 – 9 students were executed in Prague (International students day)

A Czech student, Opletal, was killed in an anti-Nazi demonstration on the 11^th of November, and his funeral led to huge student demonstrations in Prague. This again led Nazi-Germany to storm the universities in Czech and close them down. Nine students and professors were executed, without trial, on the 17^th of November, while another 1200 Czech students were sent to German concentration camps. Today the 17^th of November is celebrated as the International Students Day in many countries in remembrance of the events in Prague.  The day was first marked in 1941 by the International Students Council in London. On November 17th 1989 was a huge demonstration held in Prague in memory of the events 50 years earlier. The demonstration and the aftermath helped spark the “velvet revolution” in Czechoslovakia. 

Jan Opletal, the murdered student whos funeral led to more demonstrations

November 8th

On this day - 8th November 1923 - The Beer Hall Putsch 

The Beer Hall Putsch that is also known as the Munich Putsch, was a failed coup-attempt by by the Nazi party. The idea was to seize power in Munich in the state of Bavaria. The attempt was two thousand men that gathered in the center of Munich. In the city center they confronted the police. The confrontation led to sixteen Nazis deaths and four policemen. Hitler himself was wounded in the confrontation. The coup attempt was inspired by Mussolini's successful attempt in Rome in October. Two days after the attempt Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason, some of his conspirators were arrested, while some fled to Austria. Hitler was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He only served 9 months of the sentence and Hitler saw three benefits with the failed attempt. The first benefit was the attention, the second benefit was that he used the time in prison to write "Mein Kampf" and the final benefit was that Hitler realized that the path to power was trough legitimate means.

Bundesarchiv, Bild 119-1486

October 24th

On this day - 24th of October 1945 - Vidkun Quisling was executed 

Quisling is mostly known for being the head of state during the German occupation of Norway. Quisling also met Hitler several times both before and after the ware broke out. Quisling announced over the radio that his political party, "Nasjonal Samling"(Norwegian national nazi-party) had seized power and that he was to be prime minister. His role as the prime-minister only lasted one week, since neither the Germans nor the Norwegians approved of him. Quisling got a second shot at political power in 1942 when he was appointed Minister President of Norway. Quisling had to, however, share his power with the German Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Quisling was not a well liked man, he was not even liked by the Germans or even his own political party. After the war Quisling turned himself over to the police and his trial was set the 20th of August where he was found guilty of treason among other charges. On the 10th of September he was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad. His last words were "I'm convicted unfairly and I die innocent." His legacy is that his name Quisling is a synonym with traitor and collaborationist.

Quisling og Terboven