Jews in Roman Turkey Jewish presence uncovered at Limyra, Turkey

Jews in Roman Turkey

Jewish presence uncovered at Limyra, Turkey

Megan Sauter   •  12/21/2015

Fragments of chancel screens with seven-branched menorahs and other Jewish symbols on them were uncovered in a Jewish building at Limyra—in Roman Turkey—by Martin Seyer and his excavation team. Photo: Courtesy Martin Seyer

Located on the coast of southwestern Turkey, Limyra has a long, rich history—although the site now lies in ruins. Occupied for more than a millennium, it served as the home for many different religious groups. A recent archaeological discovery at Limyra suggests that a Jewish community also lived there.

Martin Seyer of the Austrian Archaeological Institute explains the history of the site and shares an update about recent excavations at Limyra, Turkey, in his article “Mysterious Jewish Building in Roman Turkey” in the January/February 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Limyra, Turkey, was first settled in the sixth century B.C.E. During the fourth century B.C.E., it was the largest city in Lycia (a region on the southern coast of Anatolia). Limyra and its surrounding region have roughly 400 tombs divided among five necropoleis. This is the largest number of tombs of any Lycian city. The site also has temples from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Several centuries later, in the Byzantine period, Limyra served as the seat of a bishop. Three basilical churches, including the Episcopal (Bishop’s) Church from the late fifth or sixth century C.E., stood in the city at that time. 

---

 

Necropolis I is the most famous necropolis surrounding Limyra, Turkey. It has nine impressive Lycian tombs. Photo: Courtesy Martin Seyer

In the midst of these pagan and Christian influences, it appears that there was also a Jewish presence at Limyra, Turkey. In a building recently excavated by Martin Seyer, chancel screens withJewish symbols—menorahs, a shofar and a lulav(palm branch)—have been uncovered. In a later period, these screens were broken and reused as paving stones.

In the same building, close to the discovery spot of the chancel screens, is a water basin. With plastered walls and a floor of marble slabs, this basin was fed by rainwater. A low stone bench rests against one of the walls. Could this basin have served as a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath?

With its Jewish features, could this structure have been a synagogue? Martin Seyer clarifies that although it is not possible to create a precise stratigraphy for this building because of the high groundwater level, there are still some reasons to interpret this structure as a synagogue:

In short, it appears that this building had features of a synagogue in both an early and late phase. The chancel screens that were laid as paving in the vestibule indicate that the water basin can be viewed in connection with a Jewish structure. Even if these slabs were laid in secondary usage to raise the floor level against the gradually rising groundwater, they nevertheless indicate that a synagogue was once located in the immediate vicinity. These slabs are without doubt remnants of screens that separated the Torah shrine from the rest of the hall. Such chancel screens have been found in many synagogues near the Torah shrine. It is therefore not improbable that the building partially excavated in Limyra was itself a synagogue.

This building with its Jewish features is the only attestation of a Jewish community in Limyra, Turkey. Previous to its discovery, the only other indicator that there were Jewish inhabitants at Limyra was a solitary Greek inscription on a rock tomb that reads, “Tomb of Iudas.” The recently excavated building with Jewish features shows that there were enough Jewish inhabitants to justify a synagogue.

To learn more about Limyra, read the full article “Mysterious Jewish Building in Roman Turkey” by Martin Seyer in the January/February 2016 issue of BAR.

Jewish Timeline 2 - 1778 JUEDISCHE FREISCHULE "Jewish Free School" (Germany) - Draiman

1778 JUEDISCHE FREISCHULE "Jewish Free School" (Germany)

Was established by Isaac Daniel Itzig and his brother in law, David Friedlander(1750-1834). The school, which omitted Talmud and limited Hebrew studies, concentrated on math, German, French, and commercial courses. After 1806, non-Jewish students were accepted, and they soon became one-third of the student body. (Since Juedische Freischule was the the first Haskalah school established, many use this date to mark the beginning of the Haskalah (Enlightenment) Movement, whose initial aim was to "modernize" Judaism by opening it to European culture and specifically to a philosophy of rationality which was spreading throughout Europe. Jews were encouraged to adopt the manners, dress, and language of their host country. In the beginning there were Orthodox leaders who supported some of the educational aims of the movement. When it became apparent that the movement was leading to an anti-halachic and assimilationist direction, the Orthodox establishment banned the movement, and established its own educational response to it through Samson Rafael Hirsch and others.

1780 January 7, ASSEMBLY OF RHODE ISLAND (USA)

Cancelled the "rights and property" of three members of the Hart family for supporting the British. Isaac Hart was murdered for the same "offence." Although many Jews were supporters of the revolution, others were supporters of the Tory cause. Some like Isaac Touro (father of Judah) decided to find refuge in Jamaica and other parts of the British Empire.

1780 - 1852 Judah Bibas- Rabbi and “Dreamer of Zion” ( Gibraltar-Hebron)

Born in Gibraltar he later headed a Yeshiva there. He was appointed Rabbi of Corfu in 1832 where he reformed its educational system. Bibas also had a doctorate from Livorno Italy. He became a strong supporter of the “Teshuva” movement which believed that inner repentance had to be coupled with returning to Eretz Israel. During his travel around of Europe (1839-40) promoting his ideas, he met Judah Alkelai (1798-1878) of Sarajevo, who from then on considered himself Bibas’ student. He settled in Hebron in 1852 near the end of his life and is quoted as saying “ Jews must learn science and arms(weapons) so they can wrest the land of Palestine from the Turks”.

1781 March 6, GEORGIA (USA)

Governor James Wright ordered the Jews of the Georgia to leave, accusing them of being disloyal to his majesty by supporting the revolution. The order was never carried out.

1781 October 21, AUSTRIA 

Joseph II rescinded the law forcing Jews to wear a distinctive badge. The regulation had been in effect since 1267, more than 600 years.

1782 January 2, EDICT OF TOLERANCE (Toleranzpatent) (Austria) 

Guaranteeing existing rights and obligation of the Jewish population, was enacted by Joseph II of Austria, the son of Maria Theresa. Joseph II was influenced by Wilhelm von Dohn, a friend of Mendelssohn and beginning with this edict, followed a generally enlightened attitude toward the Jews. The Edict (with the final edict less liberal then the original), received mixed reviews by Jewish leaders including Ezekiel Landau and Moses Mendelssohn.

1783 March 31, HUNGARY 

Joseph II allowed Jews to live in the "Royal cities", including Pest. By 1787, 81,000 Jews lived in Hungary.

1783 MOROCCO

The Sultan expelled the Jews after they failed to pay an exorbitant ransom. This was the third time they were expelled within a number of years.

1784 January 10, LOUIS XVI (France) 

Abolished the poll-tax on Jews in Alsace-Lorraine. This tariff was the same tax paid for market animals. It was paid by Jews who wished to enter certain cities. The poll tax had been instituted in many countries in Europe and dated back as far as the Roman Emperor Domitian (93 C.E.), though it was only adopted in Europe in the 14th century.

1784 - 1885 (16 Av 5645) SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE (Italy-England) 

Sheriff of London and leading Jewish figure. Wealthy in his own right, he married into the Rothschild family and was extremely successful in his financial ventures. He retired at an early age (1824) and devoted his life to serving Jewish causes. He is noted for his numerous visits to Eretz Israel, contributions to many philanthropies, and intercessions into Jewish affairs. One of his greatest successes was his interference in the Damascus Affair (see 1840). He is credited with founding numerous agricultural settlements in Eretz Israel and the first Jewish quarter outside the old city walls (Mishkenot Shaananim). He added the top levels to the Kotel (Western Wall) to prevent Arabs from throwing garbage and stones on Jews praying at the Wall, and he rebuilt Rachel's tomb.

1785 - 1851 July 19, MORDECHAI MANUEL NOAH (Philadelphia, USA) 

Author, journalist, and diplomat, he became the United State's consul to Tunis. Noah dwelled upon the problem of a haven for Jewish refugees. He wrote about the importance of a revived Jewish homeland. In 1825, he decided to acquire Grand Island as a Jewish city of refuge. The plan and the city faded. After he failed to keep his position in the elections for Sheriff of New York, he was appointed Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall by Martin Van Buren. In 1837 he came to the conclusion that the best solution was for the Jews to have their own homeland in Eretz Israel.

1786 - 1837 LUDWIG BOERNE (Germany)

Political essayist. He believed that freedom for mankind and freedom of the Jews were bound together. Though he was later baptized, he still fought for Jewish rights. His famous Letters from Paris called for an end to injustice in Germany. Boerne, along with Heine, are considered major influences in German literature.

1787 November 12, JOSEPH II (Austria-Hungary) 

As part of his "Aufklarung" (Enlightenment)policy, he forced the Jews to adopt family names. This was part of the European movement (including the Age of Reason in France) which encouraged rationality and science over religion.

1788 PRUSSIA (Germany)

The poll-tax was lifted from the Jews.

1788 January 18, Botany Bay Australia

The first group of approximately 1300 men, women, and children landed in Australia from England on what was to become known as the first fleet”. Most were convicted of crimes in England and were sentenced to various terms of forced settlement. Among them were twenty – three Jews (including an infant).One of them was John Harris who, after being freed, became the first policeman in Australia.

1788 JEWS IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA

The number of Jews residing in Poland and Lithuania was estimated at well over 900,000.

1789 July 14, FRANCE

Fall of the Bastille. Jews viewed the fall of Bastille as a triumph although by and large they were not allowed to participate in the election of the Estates-General which became the Constituent National Assembly. Many of them enlisted in the National Guard. At the same time, more then 1000 Jews in Alsace were forced to flee during the Agrarian revolt there.

1789 WESTERN EUROPE

Approximately four hundred thousand Jews lived in Western Europe, three quarters of them in Germany.

1790 January 27, FRANCE

Active citizenship was extended to the "well born" Sephardic Jews of Bordeaux, who promptly bowed out of the fight for equal rights. They looked upon their poorer brothers in Alsace-Lorraine with contempt.

1791 May 3, POLAND 

While Austria and Russia fought against the Ottoman Empire and unrest mounted in Poland, King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatovski adopted a constitution turning Poland into a constitutional monarchy. The constitution itself did not change anything for the Jews, or even of the old class (feudalist) regime with the nobles rights remaining as they were. It was too little too late. Polish noblemen, who opposed the new constitution, invited Czarina Catherine II to send Russian troops which resulted in the second partition and the canceling of the constitution.

1791 September 27, FRANCE 

Jews were granted full rights and declared citizens. This is the first time that Jews were declared full citizens in a European country since the Roman Empire.

1791 December 23, CATHERINE II (Russia) 

Created the Pale of Settlement. Jews were squeezed out of the major cities and ports into the area known as White Russia. Even within the Pale, Jews were excluded from certain cities and Crown lands. The driving force behind the creation of the Pale were the merchants in Moscow, who demanded protection against Jewish competition.

1791 GODDARD (France)

Along with Jewish members of the National Guard, he pleaded effectively for equal rights for all Jews.

1793 (1 Shvat 5553) ROME (Italy) 

A tragedy was narrowly averted in the Jewish ghetto after a mob set fire to the ghetto gates. The riot was partially in reaction to the liberalism of the French Revolution and partly in response to a Jewish protest after two Jewish orphans were forcibly baptized. Only a fortunate downpour which put out the fire prevented the ghetto from catching fire. The day was celebrated as holiday by Roman Jews.

1794 September 17, THADDEUS (TADEUSZ) KOSCIUSZKO (Poland)

Praised the role played by Jews in his abortive revolt against Russia. Singling out Warsaw's Jews he wrote, "(they showed) to the whole world that when it comes to human rights they do not spare their blood". As part of his revolt he granted Joseph Aronowicz and Berek Joselowicz (see 1765) permission to form a Jewish legion. Five hundred men volunteered to a call to arms issued in Yiddish, and fought in Praga, a suburb of Warsaw.

1794 - 1925 KAJAR DYNASTY (Persia)

A fanatical Shiite dynasty which continued the policy of declaring non-Moslems impure and worthy of persecution. Many Jewish communities were either driven out (Tabriz c. 1797) or forcibly converted (Meshed 1839). Eventually (in the 1860's) European Jews, hearing about their difficulties, began to exert international pressure to alleviate their plight.

1795 THIRD AND FINAL PARTITION OF POLAND 

Russia, under Catherine II, defeated Kosciusco and swallowed what was left of the Ukraine and Lithuania. She then possessed 900,000 Jews. Prussia received Warsaw and its surrounding area while Galicia was given to Austria.

1795 - 1874 (5 Cheshvan 5634) ZEVI HIRSCH KALISHER (Germany-Prussia) 

The foremost developer of a nationalistic religious philosophy, which he expounded in his Dreishat Zion (The Seeking of Zion). Kalisher was a student of Rabbi Akiva Eiger and served as an unpaid rabbi in the town of Thorn (now part of Poland). He believed that the return to Zion should be brought about by acts, not by waiting for the Messiah (see 1862. Once the Jews returned to Zion, then the Messiah would come. Kalisher was instrumental in encouraging the idea of establishing agricultural settlements as well as having Jews guarding them.

1796 September 2, HOLLAND BECOMES THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC

And granted equality to its 50,000 Jews.

1796 - 1801 REIGN OF PAUL I OF RUSSIA

Due to the partitioning of Poland, he inherited most of the Jews in Eastern Europe. With the help of the nobility, Paul I initiated an investigation into the "problem" of the Jews. According to one of the proposals, Jews should be forced to accept family names, abandon distinctive dress, send all children to public schools after age 12, and be forbidden to participate in city government. The Jewish population of White Russia was to be evenly distributed within White Russia, with the rest transferred to other areas.

1796 - 1880 ADOLPH (ISAAC) CREMIEUX (France) 

One of the most brilliant Jewish orators and advocates of the Revolution of 1848. On many occasions, he used his influence in the government to help his fellow Jews. He also helped found the Alliance Israelite Universelle. His son, however, converted to Christianity.

1796 April 17, EASTERN POLAND

After falling to Prussia in the third partition of Poland in 1795, the government enacted "The Regulation" which removed a number of regulations regarding occupations and domicile restrictions for Jews. This still left many of the old regulations in place, including that of not being able to marry under the age of 25, and then only upon proof of a fixed income.

1797 April 17, EASTERN POLAND

After falling to Prussia in the third partition of Poland in 1793, the government enacted "The Regulation", which removed a number of regulations regarding occupations and domicile restrictions for Jews. This still left many of the old regulations in place, including the one about not being able to marry under the age of 25, and then only upon proof of a fixed income.

1797 August 28, PADUA (Italy) 

Four months after the entry of the French army, the provisional government decreed that "Jews are able to live in every part of the city." Jews enlisted in the National Guard and the main street in the ghetto was changed to Via Libera. Unfortunately, as in most parts of Italy, this newly won freedom only lasted until the arrival of Austrian troops 8 months later.

1797 CHARLES JERRAM

A British clergyman published ‘Scriptural Grounds for expecting the Restoration of the Jews,’ Jerram (1770–1853) believed that the Bible supports the restoration of the Jews to their homeland.

1798 February 15, ROME (Italy) 

After the occupation of Rome by General Berthier, the local republicans dethroned the Pope and Jews removed the yellow badge. Two days later, a tree of freedom was planted in front of the synagogue.

1798 July 1, SWITZERLAND

Special taxes on Jews were finally abolished.

1798 September 12, FRANCE 

In the wake of the French capture of Mayence (1792), the gates of the ghetto were torn down. The Jews of Mayence remained French citizens until the end of the occupation in 1814.

1798 - 1839 EDUARD GANS (Germany)

Jurist and one of the founders (along with Zunz and others) of the Verein fuer Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (Society for Jewish Culture and Science). Gans' contribution to jurisprudence was a series of papers concerning the Jews of Rome and Roman Law.

1798 - 1878 JUDAH ALKALAI (Sarajevo-Jerusalem)

Rabbi, author, and precursor of modern political Zionism. Alkalai studied in Jerusalem before returning to a post as Rabbi in Zemun(near Belgrade). At age 76 he returned with his wife to live in Eretz Israel. Alkalai wrote many books Darkhei No'am (Pleasant Ways), Shalom Yerushalayim ( Peace of Jerusalem)(1840), Goral la-Adonai (A Lot for the Lord),(1857) and Minhat Yehuda (offering of Judah) (1843) . In them he discussed the idea of Teshuva (return) both spiritually and physically and was greatly influenced by Judah Bibas. He called on Jews to help finance the purchase of land from the Turks, the establishment of agricultural enterprises and the renewal of Hebrew as a spoken language.

1799 February 25, NAPOLEON CAPTURED GAZA (Eretz- Israel) 

This was his first encounter with "Palestinian" Jews. It is said that he offered "the re-establishment of ancient Jerusalem" as a Jewish homeland in return for Jewish loyalty.

1799 ITALY

With the uprising of the counter-revolutionary forces against Napoleon, the Jews, who had risen to his banner, were attacked everywhere.

1799 April 20, NAPOLEON’S LETTER TO THE JEWISH NATION ( Eretz Israel)

As reported by Le Moniteur Napoleon called for Jews, as its “ rightful heirs”, to join him in freeing “Palestine”. Thus becoming the first (soon to be head of state) to propose the re-establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel.

1799 THE "DRY BAPTISM" INITIATIVE

Was proposed by David Friedlander as a compromise to help integrate into Christian society. Friedlander ( 1750-1884) was a successful banker, and considered to be the successor to Moses Mendelssohn. He proposed that Jews join the Lutheran church on a moral and ethical basis, without accepting the belief of Jesus as the messiah.

1801 BUCHAREST (Romania)

A blood libel led to the death and wounding of 128 Jews.

1801 - 1825 REIGN OF ALEXANDER I (Russia)

Though at first a liberal, he rapidly changed his perspective. However, he envisioned the eventual emancipation for the Jews and their absorption into Russian "Christian" culture and life.

1804 December 9, JEWISH STATUTE (Russia)

After two years of deliberation, Alexander I published legislation regarding the future of the Jews in Russia. Based on the premise that the Jews (especially those absorbed from Poland) were undesirable elements, it was declared that efforts should be made to transform them into "productive" citizens. On the one hand, Jews were allowed to attend university, open their own secular schools, and become involved in industry. On the other hand, in the villages they were severely restricted with regard to occupations and land ownership. This was part of his policy to cast blame on the Jews (rather then on the Polish nobles) for the exploitation of the peasants.

1805 June 29, BLACK SABBATH (Algiers)

Hundreds of Jews were killed in rioting following the assassination of Naftali Busnach. Busnach, a shipping magnate, was the head of the Jewish community. He had a monopoly on much of the trade and extensive influence on the treasury. The Turkish garrison, jealous of his power, blamed him for the shortage of wheat and had him assassinated.

1806 July 26, NAPOLEON (France) 

Formed the Conference of Notables to deal with the relationship of the Jews and the French State. It consisted of 112 deputies from all parts of the French empire. At the assembly, which was led by the financier Abraham Furtado and Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim, the delegates were confronted with a questionnaire on polygamy, usury, loyalty, and intermarriage. Pleased with their answers, Napoleon decided to re-establish the Sanhedrin under his careful direction, with representatives from all congregations. Even though the assembly was to be held on the Sabbath (some claim this was a loyalty litmus test), they decided to attend and not risk the wrath of the Emperor.

1807 May 14, BADEN (Germany)

Judaism was recognized as a tolerated religion. Although their rights improved, especially for the Schutzjuden (protected Jews), full emancipation would only be granted over 50 years later (see 1862).

1808 January 29, CANADA 

Ezekiel Hart (1767-1843), though elected to the Canadian parliament, was prevented from taking his seat because, as a Jew, he could not take the oath "on the true faith of a Christian." Though re-elected in May 1808 and in April 1809, he was prevented from being seated each time. Only in 1832 did legislation pass allowing Jews to hold public office and giving them full civil rights.

1808 March 17, INFAMOUS DECREE (Decret Infame) OF NAPOLEON (France) 

Cancelled any debt owed to Jews by those in military service, or by women if it was signed without the approval of their husbands or parents. It abolished the freedom of trade of the Jews by forcing them to acquire permits (which were almost never given) from the local prefects, and prevented Jews from settling in the area of the Upper and Lower Rhine.

1808 October 17, DUCHY OF WARSAW (Poland) 

With Napoleon's arrival, the new State parliament called for equal rights. Unfortunately, this did not include the Jews, whose rights would be postponed for 10 years "in the hope of eradicating all their distinctions which set them apart".

1808 December 1, JEROME BONAPARTE 

Granted full emancipation to the Jews in Westphalia.

1808 MOROCCO

Jews were ordered into ghettos (mellahs) by the ruler of Morocco, Mulay Suleiman (1792-1822). This affected the cities of Tetuan, Rabat, Sale, and Mogador.

1809 February 15, FOUNDATION OF THE 'LONDON JEWS' SOCIETY'

AKA 'The London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews'. This evangelical society’s main aim ( though meeting with little success) was to convert Jews to Protestant Christianity. In addition, they believed in the importance of restoring the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Known today as the CMJ (Church's Ministry Among Jewish People) they have constantly taken a pro Israel position.

1810 - 1904 HAYYIM SELAG SLONINSKI (Bialystok, Poland)

Known as "Hazas". Orthodox mathematician and science writer. His works included Kochva d'Shavit on astronomy, Toldot ha-Shamayim on the calendar and Yesodai Hochmat Hashiur (Founding of the Science of Calculation). He founded Ha'Zefira, a Hebrew newspaper on science. His writings were accepted even by Orthodox Jews.

1811 December 28, CIVIL RIGHTS (Germany) 

Were extended to Jews in Frankfurt.

1812 March 11, PRUSSIAN JEWS WERE GRANTED CIVIL RIGHTS (Germany)

Chancellor Karl August von Hardenburg with the approval of king Frederick William III (1770-1840) announced the full rights being extended to Jews of the Prussian Monarchy. Jews were still not allowed to be appointed to judicial and administrative offices. One of the other directives was that Jews now had to adopt family names. This directly led to the publishing of David Friedlander’s call for a radical change in synagogue service, including substituting German for Hebrew, and deleting most references of the destruction of out “ancient homeland”. “Prussia is out fatherland and German is out mother-tongue (Muttersprache)”

1812 December 4, ARGENTINA

Though the Inquisition would only officially be abolished the following year, President Bernardino Rivadavia (1780-1845) called for freedom of immigration and promised the preservation of Jews' basic human rights.

1812 NAPOLEON (France) 

Began his Russian campaign. Hasidim in Russia debated whether supporting Napoleon against the Czar would speed up the coming of the Messiah. In Western Europe many of the civil restrictions on the Jews fell wherever Napoleon conquered, although this did not take place in Russia.

1812 HANNAH ADAMS (1755-1831) (USA)

Wrote History of the Jews from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time. Adams, who was not Jewish, also included information on American Jewry and is considered one of the first woman professional writers in America.

1812 January 21, - 1875 MOSES HESS (Germany) 

Author, socialist, and forerunner of the Zionist movement. In his book Rome and Jerusalem (1862), he based German anti-Semitism on race and nationhood and advised Jews to accept the fact and revive their own state in Eretz Israel. Hess, a socialist, orginally worked with Marx and Engels but grew disillusioned with the idea that a "progressive society would eradicate anti-Semitism".

1812 June 18, WAR OF 1812

Was declared by Congress. During the war, John Ordroneaux, a naval commander, sank five British ships in one battle and was raised to the rank of commodore. In 1814, at the Battle of Fort McHenry, there were 30 Jews in the garrison. Its defense inspired the composition of the "Star Spangled Banner". Another Jew, Captain Mordecai Myers, became a hero when he saved more then 200 men, as well as most of the supplies from sinking boats. He later became one of the first Jews to settle in western New York.

1814 March 29, DENMARK

The king officially allowed Jews to find employment in all professions and made racial and religious discrimination punishable by law.

1815 March 6, LUBEK (Germany) 

With the defeat of Napoleon, new restrictions were imposed on the Jews all over Europe. In Lubek, the guilds demanded and obtained a decree expelling all Jews.

1815 June 8, NAPOLEON'S DEFEAT AT WATERLOO, CONGRESS OF VIENNA 

The immediate effect on the Jews of Napoleon's deposition was a return to their previous lack of freedom. At the Vienna Congress, Jews sent a Christian attorney, Carl Buchortz, to act on their behalf. An agreement was reached whereby "Jews were given rights in proportion to accepting the duties of citizenship." This was the first time that Jewish rights became a European political issue.

1815 - 1863 Civil rights lost (Corfu)

After enjoying full rights under the French (1797-1799 and 1805-15), Corfu became a protectorate of England . As a result Jews were forbidden to practice in the courts, and lost many of their rights. On June 2, 1864 Corfu was annexed to Greece and the Jews were officially granted equal rights, although in reality they were prevented from holding any public office and often attacked at polling stations.

1815 - 1863 Jewish civil rights lost (Corfu)

After enjoying full rights under the French (1797-1799 and 1805-15), Corfu became a protectorate of England. As a result Jews were forbidden to practice in the courts, and lost many of their rights. On June 2, 1864 Corfu was annexed to Greece. Officially Jews were granted equal rights, although in reality, they were prevented from holding any public office and often attacked at polling stations

1816 MUNICH (Bavaria, Germany)

Jews were allowed to bury their dead within the city limits. Until this time, all the Jewish dead had to be transported to Kriegshaber for burial. This marked the beginning of the official Jewish presence in Munich.

1816 - 1909 (29 Av 5669) SAMUEL SALANT (Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem) (Eretz Israel) 

The son-in-law of Joseph Salant. He arrived in Jerusalem in 1841 and proceeded to become one of the most influential figures in Eretz Israel. During his time as chief rabbi, the population of Jerusalem grew from 5000 to 30,000 Jews. Salant was behind the establishing of educational facilities which would include instruction of Arabic and Hebrew. He was one of the founders of Bikur Holim (Cholim) hospital and encouraged people to move into the "new" neighborhoods outside the old city walls.

1816 December 30, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EVANGELIZING THE JEWS (New York, USA)

Was formed in New York. Its founders included Joseph Boudinot, a former president of the Continental Congress, and John Quincy Adams, then secretary of state. Many other such societies were organized, leading the Jewish community to publish pamphlets and articles against these efforts. The first pamphlet, Israel Vindicated (1820) was published by Abraham Colins.

1817 - 1893 (28 Av 5453) NAPHTALI ZEVI YEHUDA BERLIN (the Netziv) (Belorus, Russia) 

Head of the Volozhin Yeshiva, which grew to over 400 students during his time. He was both a scholar and an organizer, and the yeshiva reached its zenith under his guidance. His works include Emek Davar, a commentary on the Torah, and Emek Hanatziv, a commentary on the Sifri. He was among the first religious leaders to encourage weekly study of the Torah portion. He joined the Hovevei Zion movement, which urged Orthodox Jews to support settlement in Eretz Israel. In 1892 the Russian government closed his yeshiva, and he felt that his place was with his community despite his great desire to go to Eretz Israel. His health rapidly deteriorated and he died shortly after.

1817 May 24, MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS (Russia)

Was set up by Alexander I. He appointed Prince Alexander Golitsyn, of the Russian Bible Society as its head. Golotsyn in turn created the Israelitish-Christian Society, offering financial incentives, free land ,as well as other privileges to those Jews who would convert.

1818 JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826) (USA)

Statesman and President. In a letter to Mordecai Manuel Noah, he wrote: "I wish your nation may be admitted to all the privileges of citizens in every country of the world." Regarding the re-establishment of a Jewish state, he wrote in the same year: "I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation."

1818 May 5, - 1883 KARL MARX (Father of Communism)(Germany) 

Converted to Protestantism as a child. He embraced Lutheran anti-Judaism and charged that the basis for Judaism is greed and that social emancipation could only be accomplished by freeing society from commercialism, which was associated with Jews. Although many Jews embraced Communism as a panacea, many fled to the haven of socialism or capitalism. Still, the Capitalists call the Jews Communists and vice versa. Marx's theories were published under the title Das Kapital in 1867.

1819 August 31, HAIM FARHI (Acre, Eretz Israel) 

Was murdered on the command of Abdullah Pasha. Farhi was the head of an important banking family, which had been influential in helping Abdullah come to power. Farhi had previously narrowly escaped death at the hands of Abdullah's predecessor, Ahmad al-Jazzar Pasha. During Napoleon's siege of Acre in 1799, Farhi refused Napoleon's offer of a promised Jewish independence and defended the city. Farhi was warned that his former backer had a change of heart but he refused to flee, fearing a backlash against the Jews in the Galilee. He was noted for his generous philanthropy, especially in Acre and Damascus.

1820 March 4, ALEXANDER I (Russia) 

Prohibited the employment of Christian servants by Jews.

1820 - 1880 SECOND WAVE OF JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA (USA)

The Jewish population of the United States rose from 10,000 to 250,000. (From 1830-1870 mostly German Jews arrived.)

1821 December 24, - 1891 LEON (YEHUDA) PINSKER (Russia)

Renowned physician and early Zionist. Pinsker's conduct during the cholera epidemic of 1848 earned him respect and admiration. His ideas on Zionism were set out in his pamphlet "Auto-Emancipation" (see 1887), which was the first textbook analysis of Modern Zionism. Pinsker believed in the purchasing of land and immigration of Jews as a first step in solving the problem of anti-Semitism.

1823 AFFAIR OF THE HATS (Tunisia)

The local bey (ruler) ordered all Jews, whether locals or foreigners, to wear a three corner cap. Despite the protests of European countries, the order was only rescinded seven years later when a new bey (Ahmad) came to power

1823 BAVARIAN GOVERNMENT

Owed more than 21% of its public debt to Jews.

1823 - 1892 ERNEST RENAN (France)

French philosopher, historian and Semitic Philologist. Some have considered him the "Father of anti-Semitic anthropology" for his description of Jews as selfish exploiters trying to entrap "honest Christians", and his belief that the Semites were " an incomplete race. " . This being said he did not belief that Jewish people constitute a biological racial entity.

1823 CZAR ALEXANDER I (Russia) 

Banned Jews from leasing farming lands and even living in small villages. Alexander, afraid the Jews would have undo influence on local peasants, decided to force them to move to larger cities where it would be easier to keep an eye on them.

1824 August 10, ALL FOREIGN JEWS WERE PROHIBITED FROM SETTLING IN RUSSIA 

Alexander I, after an initial period of liberalism, reverted to the anti-Jewish position of his predecessors. He began with forbidding Jews to have Christian servants and culminated just before his death with banishing all Jews from larger villages in the Mohilev and Vitbesk districts.

1824 DAVID D’BETH HILLEL (Lithuania- Eretz Israel- India)

A Jewish scholar, set out on a voyage, to discover and report on unknown Jewish communities of the East and the “Lost Tribes of Israel.” He left Safed where he had settled with followers of the Vilna Gaon around 1815. His book was entitled Travels from Jerusalem through Arabia, Kurdistan, Part of Persia and India to Madras 1824–32. He traveled though Syria, Kurdistan, Persia and India, studying the socio- economics, geography, and languages of Jews in far flung communities. He died on a second voyage to India in 1846.

1825 January 13, RUSSIA 

Prior to his death, Alexander I expelled all the Jews from Mohilev and Vitebsk.

1825 - 1855 REIGN OF CZAR NICHOLAS I, BROTHER OF ALEXANDER (1796-1889) (Russia) 

Made nervous by liberal developments in neighboring countries, he isolated Russia and banned Western ideas and liberalism. Half of the twelve thousand anti-Jewish laws passed between 1649-1881 originated during his reign. As an officer Nicholas had written in his diary that the Jews were "leeches who attach themselves to the populace and suck its blood."

1825 January 16, REFORMED SOCIETY OF ISRAELITES (Charleston, South Carolina, USA)

Was founded by forty seven members of the Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim synagogue after their petition to institute "reform" was rejected. This marked the beginning of Reform Judaism in North America. The movement received further support with the immigration of German Jews, including reform leaders, to the United States after the revolution of 1848 The Charleston community was one of the largest and wealthiest in North America at that time.

1826 August 20, POPE LEO XII

Prohibited Jews from leaving the Rome ghetto without a written permit from the Criminal Tribunal. Jews meeting Christians while outside the ghetto were forbidden from speaking to them in a "familiar way".He also rebuilt the ghetto in Ancona, which had been demolished by Napoleon.

1826 March 6, KAISER FRANCIS II (Austria)

In reaction to the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel, the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser (and last holy Roman Emperor ) passed a law forbidding secret immigration or the removal of funds from the empire.

1829 ISAAC JOST (Germany) (1793-1860)

Published the first history of the Jews by a Jew since Josephus, preceding Graetz by almost 50 years. As an educator and histographer, his approach was purely rationalistic, based on modern research and reflected his position of support for the Reform movement. Jost began his history with the Maccabees and ended in the nineteenth century.

1829 October 14, - 1884 EDWARD LASKER (Germany)

One of the first German Jews to enter politics. A defender of his people, he introduced the law which gave the Orthodox the right to establish their own school system.

1830 - 1831 MAZZINI'S YOUNG ITALY

This revolution - in which many Jews took part - was defeated.

1830 - 1831 POLAND

Revolted against Russia. Even during the revolt, General Chlopicki expelled the Jews from the National Guard at the insistence of the officers. The Jews formed their own unit called "the Beardlings".

1831 EMANCIPATION OF JEWS IN JAMAICA

Jews had been present in Jamaica since the time of the British conquest in 1655, yet they were not allowed to vote until this date. Within fifteen years, eight of the 47 members of the House of Assembly (which didn't meet on Day of Atonement) were Jewish.

1831 - 1896 BARON MAURICE DE HIRSCH (France) 

Banker and philanthropist, he tried at first to teach agriculture to Jews in Russia. When that failed, he established the Baron de Hirsch Fund of New York and later the Jewish Colonial Association (JCA). Both of these plans attempted to resettle the Jews in lands outside of Europe, especially Argentine rural areas, but both met with limited success. At the beginning of the 20th century the JCA also administered Baron Edmond de Rothschild's colonies in Eretz Israel. In 1873, Baron de Hirsch donated one million francs to the Alliance Israelite Universelle for its school system (see 1860).

1832 ITALY

Giuseppe Mazzini organized a new society called Young Italy which many Jews joined. Their goal was to unify Italy. Although they were defeated by the French, one of his followers was Garibaldi, who later played an important role in unifying Italy.

1832 CANADA

Granted political rights to Jews.

1832 November 3, JOACHIM LELEWEL (Poland)

A non-Jewish Polish revolutionist and historian. He called on the Jewish people to join in a revolution. He was influenced by Bartlomiej Beniowski, a Jewish Polish revolutionary into calling on Poles to help Jews to establish a homeland in Eretz Israel.

1833 October 29, HESSE-CASSEL (Germany) 

Was formally made part of the kingdom of Westphalia. All Jews, except for peddlers and petty traders, were granted civic equality. The other German kingdoms took nearly forty years to grant civic equality to their Jews.

1833 ENGLAND

Jews were allowed to be admitted to the Bar. Two years later in 1835 Francis Goldsmid became the first Jewish barrister.

1834 July 24, HEBRON MASSACRE

Ibrahim Pasha sent in troops to quell a local revolt against his rule. Despite the fact that the Jews had played no part in the revolt (and had been assured of protection), the troops were allowed 6 hours in which to plunder and attack the community and Synagogues. Witnesses reported five girls raped and murdered as well as seven men killed.

1835 CZAR NICHOLAS I (Russia) 

Similar to Catherine II, Nicholas ordered a Ukase (decree) which restricted the Pale even further banning Jews from living in a 25 mile zone along the western front as well as the cities of Kiev, Nikolaev and Sevastopol.

1835 March, BAB EL HOTA (Jerusalem)

A number of courtyards and houses near the Lions gate were purchased by Jews. Unfortunately, a local blood libel in 1838, although dismissed, created an environment of fear. This coupled with the distance from other Jewish houses and the decrease in the Jewish population after the epidemic of 1838-9, caused it to be abandoned.

1836 November 5, POPE GREGORY XVI

Refused to stop the special cancellation tax which the Jews had to pay in lieu of running naked through the streets during the Saturnalia winter carnival. The race had been initiated by Pope Paul II in 1466. Pope Gregory XVI ruled: "It is not opportune to make any innovations" and affirmed its continuation.

1837 January 1, GALILEE EARTHQUAKE (Eretz Israel) 

Registering approximately 6.5 (in today’s terms) killed an estimated two thousand Jews perished mainly in Safed and Tiberius . Numerous monuments and archaeological sites were damaged. The Alsheich synagogue and the southern wall (containing the torah scrolls) of the Abuhav Synagogue were not affected. Many of the residents chose to resettle to Jerusalem and Hebron rather than rebuild. This led to the Jews becoming the largest ethnic population in Jerusalem before the end of the decade.rn

1837 QUEEN VICTORIA (England)

Ascended the throne in England. During her reign there was a great increase in the number of Jews settling in England.

1837 - 1888 SAMUEL POLIAKOFF (Russia)

Railroad Baron. He built over 2500 Km of railroads as well as founding several banks. Though he refused to hire any Jews, he did, at the end of his life, play an active role in founding ORT and helped build the synagogue in St. Petersburg.

1838 June 30, SWEDEN

The Swedish government passed a law abolishing discrimination against Jews. Unfortunately, this law was repealed due to public objections. Another 30 years were to pass before Jews were given the right to vote.

1838 LETTERS ON EGYPT, EDOM AND THE HOLY LAND

Was published by Lord Alexander Lindsay (1821-1880) provided the first proposal by a major politician to resettle Jews in Palestine: The soil of "Palestine still enjoys her sabbaths, and only waits for the return of her banished children.

1838 July 5, SAFED ATTACKED

The Jewish community was attacked by Druze rebels. Ostensibly fighting against Ibrahim Pasha (see 1831), they attacked and defeated the Egyptian garrison outside Safed. The Jewish community was then singled out for 3 days of pillage. Many of the surviving Jews fled to Acre and Jerusalem.

1839 March 27, FORCED CONVERSIONS AT MASHHAD (Persia) 

Influenced by other anti-Jewish riots under Mohammad Shah Qajar (1808-1848), the local community attacked the Jewish quarter. The synagogue was destroyed, over 30 Jews were killed and the rest of the community was threatened with annihilation. Moslem leaders offered to prevent further riots on condition that the Jews convert, which they did. The Jews became known as jadīd al-Islām (Ar.) by Muslims and as /i> Mashhadis by themselves. In secret they continued to practice Judaism. Years later over than two-thirds of them left Mashad for Khurasan and Afghanistan, where they openly returned to Judaism

1839 CLOTHES TAXÒ (Lithuania)

A special Jewish clothes tax was imposed in order to encourage Jews to forgo traditional dress. The right to wear a kippa cost five rubles a year.

1839 CENSUS

Organized by Montefiore, it found , 6,408 people Jews living in the country. This differed with the figure of 9,000 the 9,000 Jews reported by the British consul at the same time.

1839 June 11, LETTER TO MONTEFIORE

Was sent by leaders in the Perushim and Sephardic communities. In it, they supported agricultural work by Jews. Lehren (see 1784) the director of the Halukah was against it, believing that Jews should concentrate on study, and that the land is supposed to remain desolate until the coming of the Messiah.

1840 February 5, DAMASCUS AFFAIR (Syria) 

A blood libel was started with the disappearance of Father Thomas, a Franciscan superior. After a "confession" was extracted from a Jewish barber, seven others were arrested, two of whom died under torture. The French consul Ratti Menton, accused the Jews of ritual murder and requested permission from Mahomet Ali to kill the rest of his suspects. Other Jews were arrested, including sixty three children who were starved to convince their parents to confess. Sir Moses Montefiore, Adolphe Cremieux, and Solomon Munk intervened on behalf of the Jews and in August the charges were dropped. This affair spurred early Zionist writers like Hess to promote the Zionist cause. The United States, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia also lined up against France, although this had as much to do with international politics as their desire to defend human rights.

1840 August 11, ENGLAND 

Lord Henry Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, in a letter to the ambassador in Constantinople wrote: "There exists...among the Jews...a strong notion that the time is approaching when their nation is to return to Palestine.... I instruct ... to strongly recommend to the Turkish Government ... to encourage the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine."

1840 September 25, LORD SHAFTESBURY (England)

Presented a paper to Foreign secretary Lord Palmerston (Henry John Temple). In it Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper) called for the “recall of the Jews to their ancient land”. He believed that the return of the Jews to the land of Israel was not only a Biblical prophecy but in the best interests of British foreign policy.

1841 - 1842 EL SALVADOR

After the revolution it became an independent republic, with Dr. Juan Lindo serving as its president. Lindo, a descendent of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, was the founder of the National University of El Salvador, and author of the second constitution. His strong stand regarding education is reflected in his law which required each town with more then 150 people to erect a school. He also served as the president of Honduras (1847-1852).

1842 January 27, LONDON (England) 

First English Reform synagogue was founded. It was known as the West London Synagogue for British Jews.

1843 RUSSIA

The Pale was further narrowed, displacing approximately 150,000 Jews. Sir Moses Montefiore traveled to Moscow in an unsuccessful attempt to intercede.

1843 October 13, B'NAI B'RITH (USA) 

Was founded under the leadership of Henry Jones at Sinsheimer's cafe on Essex Street in New York, to maintain orphanages and homes for the elderly and widows. It extended its work to many spheres of American Jewish life, including combating anti-Semitism (A.D.L.) and working with students on campus (Hillel). At the time of its founding, there were approximately 15,000 Jewsish in the United States. It was the first Jewish fraternal society in the world.

1843 September 29, POPE GREGORY XVI

Denied Klemens von Metternich’s (1773-1879) chief minister of the Austrian Empire appeal for Tolerance Towards Jews. The Pope replied that the restrictions placed on Jews have a sacred origin and cannot possibly be lightened. “the Jews are forbidden such ownership ( property) by the sacred Canons as a Nation of deicides and blasphemers of Christ,”

1844 December 31, BASKET TAX (Korobka) (Poland-Lithuania)

The right to collect the tax on kosher meat, and its by products (leather etc). Its origin is found in 17th century eastern Europe when it was established in some towns as a means to help their communities pay a special “Jews tax” to local authorities. Any funds left over were used to pay for the Rabbi’s salary and educational services. The right of collection of the Basket tax was auctioned off to the highest bidder. There was great opposition to this tax since it hurt the weaker levels of society making kosher meat prohibitive. In many places the “intelligentsia” and other “privileged” people received exemptions It was still in force until the 20th century.

1844 - 1910 KARL LUEGER (Austria)

Founder of an anti-Semitic Austrian Catholic party, the Christian Social Party (in 1893). He became mayor of Vienna in 1897 (see 1897) and was a strong supporter of Christian Socialism. When asked why some of his friends are Jews he replied “ I decide who is a Jew”. Although later praised by Hitler. in Mein Kamph, in reality during his administration, the Jews of Vienna did not suffer more than anywhere else in Europe at the time

1845 August 19, - 1934 EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD "Hanadiv Hayaduah" (France) 

Philanthropist and art expert. Known as the "Builder of Modern Eretz Israel". Rothschild's interest began as early as the mid-1870's after viewing a play by Alexandre Dumas, La Femme de Claude. This play promoted the return of the Jews to their homeland. But it was only after being approached by Rabbi Samuel Mohilever that he became active in supporting the new settlements of Zichron Yaakov and Rishon Lezion and helped establish Ekron and Rosh Pina. Rothschild at first did not wish to use his name and so the soubriquet "Hanadiv Hayaduah" (The well-known benefactor) was used instead. Although later there was tension between the settlers and Rothschild's managers, he single-handedly helped maintain the early efforts of the Zionist movement. Rothschild established PICA, the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, which acquired land and established industries. It is estimated that he spent over 50 Million dollars in supporting the settlements, as well as another half a million to help develop an electrical power station.

1846 June 24, HUNGARY

The residence tax was officially abolished. In order to have it cancelled the Jews had to pay a one time fee of 1,200,000 florins.

1848 March 20, BERLIN (Germany)

Riots and street fighting killed 20 Jews. Anti-Jewish riots spread to Bavaria, Baden, Hamburg, and many other cities.

1848 March 29, SARDINIA

Carlo Alberto granted full rights to the Jews.

1848 April 6, GERMANY 

In every part of Germany, excluding Bavaria, Jews were granted civil rights. As a result, Gabriel Riesser (a Jew and an advocate for Jewish emancipation) was elected vice-president of the Frankfurt Vor Parliament, and became a member of the National Assembly. It must be noted that for the most part, these freedoms existed only on paper and were not enforced.

1848 April 17, ITALY 

The gates of the Roman ghetto were pulled down. Although Pope Pius IX was in favor of considering the removal of the ghetto gates, a popular leader named Ciceruacchio led a group who tore down the gates Passover eve. The Jews in the ghetto at first thought they were being attacked and hid in their houses.

1848 December 31, DOV BERISH MEISELS (Austria)

Was elected to the Austrian Parliament. He was also elected to the Municipality of Cracow in the same year. A vociferous supporter of Jewish rights, he aligned himself with radicals because "Juden haben keine rechte" (Jews have no rights).

1848 LOUIS KOSSUTH (Hungary)

Led the revolt against Austria. Twenty thousand Jews were among the insurgents.

1848 - 1916 REIGN OF FRANZ JOSEPH I OF HAPSBURG (1830-1916) (Austria)

Considered to be one of the most enlightened monarchs of the 19th century. During his rule he cancelled many of the restrictions against the Jews and made them full citizens of the state in 1867. During the Mortara Case (1858) he tried in vain to bring about the release of the Jewish child. Franz Joseph was highly appreciated by the Jewish community, to the degree that anti-Semites referred to him as the "Judenkaiser."

1848 PIEDMONT, (Italy)

As a result of full emancipation given to the Jews, 235 joined the Piedmontese army. Among them was Enrico Guastalla who fought against Austria, and was promoted to Major. Guastalla joined Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy's most brilliant soldier of the Risorgimento (Reunification), in his campaigns and was elected to Parliament in 1865.

1849 June 5, DENMARK

Article 84 of the new constitution negated discrimination against "any person on the basis of religious grounds." The Jews originally received the rights of citizenship in 1814.

1849 July 28, HUNGARY 

First National Assembly, led by the revolutionary leader Kossuth, granted complete political and civil rights to the Jews in recognition of their loyalty.

1849 GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI (Italy)

Joined with Mazzini and succeeded in unifying Italy for the first time since the Roman Empire. Many Jews volunteered in the Civil Guard. Three Jews were elected to the National Assembly, three to the City Council and two to the Committee for Defense.

1849 July 22, - 1887 EMMA LAZARUS (USA)

American poetess whose poem "New Colossus" is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. She wrote many poems about the problems facing the Jews all over the world.

1849 July 29, - 1923 MAX NORDAU (Hungary-France)

Author, theater critic, physician and Zionist leader. Nordau had achieved international fame as a writer prior to meeting Herzl at the Neue Freie Presse. The Dreyfus Affair awakened him, as well as Herzl to anti-Semitism. Nordau became Herzl's first convert and together they formulated the goals for the Basel Program. Nordau was a proponent of aggressive political Zionism. His famous "Nordau Plan" called for the settling of five hundred thousand Jews in Eretz Israel as a means of acquiring a Jewish state (1920). Jabotinsky later (1936) adopted Nordau's plan as the basis for his Ten-Year Plan.

1849 - 1932 (19 Adar 5693) JOSEPH HAYYIM SONNENFELD (Slovakia-Eretz Israel) 

One of the foremost leaders of "the "old Yishuv" in Jerusalem. The term "Old Yishuv" refers to those Jews who lived in Eretz Israel prior to the Zionist movement. He was instrumental in establishing (along with Diskin) schools and orphanages. Sonnenfeld was a dynamic rabbinical leader who preached separation between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities. At the same time, he was a strong supporter of the resettlement of Eretz Israel and the use of Hebrew as the official language. His scholarly works include responsa on the Shulchan Aruch as well as on the Talmud.

1850 RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883) (Germany)

Published his first anti-Semitic article Das Judentum in der Musik. The composer attacked the Jews, denying the existence of Jewish cultural creativity. He accused all Jews of being money hungry and condemned them as the "demon causing mankind's downfall" (Untergang). Wagner proposed that they be either assimilated or removed from cultural life. He was a strong supporter of political anti-Semitism. Wagner's daughter married the English/French anti-Semite, Houston Stewart Chamberlain.

1852 June 4, BETH HAMEDRASH HAGADOL (New York, USA)

A congregation for Russian Jews was formed with the help of former German Jewish immigrants. This traditional congregation opened a school and soon became the center of Orthodoxy in the U.S. Abraham Joseph Ash, an halachic authority, was elected as its rabbi in 1860 and held the position until his death in 1888. So as not to be dependent on a community salary, he also tried his hand in business without much success.

1852 January 16, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL (New York, USA) 

The first Jewish Hospital in the United States (originally known as "Jews Hospital of New York") was founded by a group of mostly German Jewish immigrants. One of its founders was Samson Simson, one of the first Jewish lawyers in New York City who had studied under Aaron Burr. That same year, he also helped found the Beth Hamedrash Hagodal. Other contributors included Samuel Myer Isaacs, who helped found Maimonides College in Philadelphia, and Adolphus Simeon Solomons, who in 1881 helped Clara Barton found the Red Cross.

1852 February 21, POPE PIUS IX (1792 – 1878)

Protested the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II’s, decision allow them to live outside the ghetto. In his objection he wrote "Otherwise, it will open the door to requests for other civil rights for Jews and for other non-Catholics."

1853 KEREM AVRAHAM ("Abraham's Vineyard")

Was purchased by James Finn (1806-1872) the British council in Jerusalem . Its purpose was to train Jews in agriculture and other trades so as to become financial independent of the Halukah system. Today it is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem, near Geulah.

1854 - 1944 EMANUEL LOEW (Hungary)

Naturalist and botanist. His four volume work "Flora of the Jews" names and examines the nature of plant life in the Bible and the place of plant life in Jewish law and legend. He listed 117 names of plants in the Bible and 320 in talmudic literature.

1854 March 28, CRIMEAN WAR

Britain and France joined the Ottoman empire in the war against Russia. Although the immediate cause were the rights of the Greek orthodox church in the holy land, The real reason was the expansion of Russia at the expense of the weakened Ottoman empire. Jews fought on all sides, especially the Russian side. The outbreak of war led to the cessation of any transfer of funds to Eretz Israel, which in turn resulted in great hardships. One outcome of the war was the expansion of counselor offices and the renewed interest in the area.

1855 - 1881 REIGN OF CZAR ALEXANDER II OF RUSSIA 

Alexander became Czar after his father's death during the Crimean war. Although by no means a liberal, the disaster of the war and comparisons with the West prompted him to make certain changes which included revoking serfdom, establishing local councils (Zemstovs) and reforming the legal system in 1864). Alexander's rise to the throne gave hope to the Jewish population after the harsh policies of Nicholas I. Although he refused to do away with the Pale, he did abolish the forced abduction of Jews into the army and allowed Jewish merchants (for the first time) to temporarily live in Moscow.

1856 March, COMMITTEE FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE JEWS (Russia)

Was appointed by the Czar Alexander II to seek ways to help "fuse" the Jews into Russian society and separate them from the "historical solidarity" of the Jews among themselves.

1856 November 10, LONDON (England)

Jews College was opened by Rabbi Nathan M. Adler. Its main goals were to offer courses and training in both Jewish and secular subjects as well as to establish a Jewish secondary school. The secondary school only lasted about 20 years.

1856 - 1941 LOUIS BRANDEIS (USA) 

Liberal jurist and lawyer, he was known as "the people's attorney". He opposed monopolies and fought for higher wages and freedom of speech. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson nominated him to the position of Supreme Court Justice. Brandeis was an ardent Zionist, and in 1939 he resigned to devote himself to the Zionist cause. Although he disagreed with Weizmann regarding what he considered to be the economic and organizational inefficiency of the World Zionist Organization, he continued to be involved with the establishment of the Palestine Economic Corporation and the Palestine Endowment Fund. Brandeis fought the Peel Partition Plan of 1937, maintaining that the Jews had a right to all of Mandated Palestine. Kibbutz Ein Hashofet was named in his honor.

1856 June 12, BAN ISSUED AGAINST THE LAEMEL SCHOOL (Jerusalem)

The school had been established a month earlier by Eliza Herz n’ee Laemel and the poet Ludwig August Frankl (1810-1894), making it the first Jewish school in Jerusalem to combine religious and secular study. A ban against any school which would include secular subjects was issued by the Ashkenazi Jewish community in Jerusalem. One of the co-signatories was Rabbi Samuel Salant. Other Rabbis, including Yehiel Michal Pines (1849-1913) and David Friedman of Karlin (1823-1917) as well as members of the Sephardic community, declared the ban invalid, and demanded it be rescinded. In actually, it was reinforced later on by Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin (1818–1898) to include all Ashkenazi Jews anywhere in the land of Israel.

1857 September, TUNISIA

Under a direct threat from Napoleon III's troops, Muhammad al-Sadiq-Bey (1857-82) proclaimed the Pacte Fondamental which gave equal rights to Jews. It was enforced following the execution of a Jew, Batto Sfez, for allegedly blaspheming Islam. By 1864 the new constitution was abolished by the Bey due to pressure from the population.

1857 September 15, JAMES FINN (Eretz Israel) 

The second British Consul in Jerusalem, wrote to the Foreign Secretary the Earl of Clarendon offering a plan to settle Jews in agriculture in Eretz Israel to help the land prosper. He proposed "to persuade Jews in a large body to settle here as agriculturalists on the soil ... in partnership with the Arab peasantry”.

1858 June 23, MORTARA CASE (Bologna, Italy) 

Edgardo Mortara, a seven year old Jewish boy, was kidnapped by the Roman Catholic Church on the pretext that a servant girl claimed that she had baptized him. The Pope, Pious IX, refused to surrender him despite much protest. The combination of the Damascus Affair and this affair led to the unification of many Jews, and later to the establishment of the Alliance Israelite Universelle.

1859 April 14, GALATZ (Romania)

Jews were accused of taking blood from a Christian child (for the baking of matzos), though not of killing him. Fifteen "culprits" were arrested. The next day a mob broke into the synagogue. Tney killed some of the worshippers, destroyed some fifty scrolls, and demolished the synagogue. The fifteen were soon released with no convictions, yet the government refused to allow the synagogue to be rebuilt for nearly twenty years.

1859 GARIBALDI (Italy)

126 Jews joined Garibaldi's volunteers ("Red Shirts") in helping to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for the Kingdom of Italy. At this time, there were less than 30,000 Jews in all of Italy.

1860 May 17, ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE (Kol Yisrael Haverim) (France) 

Was launched by a group of French Jews under the direction of Adolphe Cremieux. It was designed to defend Jewish rights and to establish modern Jewish educational facilities throughout the world. The Alliance is considered to be the first modern Jewish organization. It became the prototype of other organizations of its kind. The catalyst for its creation was the Damascus Affair in 1840, the Mortara Case in 1858, and the growing need to protect Jews on an international basis. The Franco-Prussian War diminished its universality and separate organizations were formed in Germany and England.

1860 SPANISH-MOROCCAN WAR

Following an attack by the Spaniards, 400 Jews were killed in the city of Tetuan in anti-Jewish riots. During the war many Jews took refuge in Gibraltar.

1860 - 1935 RUFUS ISAACS, FIRST MARQUESS OF READING (England) 

The grand-nephew of Daniel Mendoza. He achieved unprecedented honor (for a Jew) in England. Starting as a lawyer rather late in life, he was soon renowned for his abilities and was later appointed Lord Chief Judge, as well as Attorney General and Queens Council. Although not active in Jewish affairs, he stated in 1915, "The Jews ought to have a place" and a government of their own."

1860 - 1941 SIMON DUBNOW (Russia) 

The most prominent Jewish historian of recent times. He wrote two separate histories: "History of the Jews" and "History of the Jews of Russia and Poland". He believed that the Jews had a cultural autonomy within other nations, and therefore should all speak Yiddish as a common language. Dubnow also encouraged Sholem Aleichem in his writing. Dubnov was killed in Riga in December 1941, allegedly by a Gestapo officer who had at one time been a student of his.

1861 - 1865 AMERICAN CIVIL WAR (USA)

Jews fought heroically on both sides. 10-12,000 Jews fought for the Confederates and 15-20,000 for the Union, including 9 generals, 21 colonels, 40 majors, and 205 captains. The majority, including Isaac Meyer Wise, sided with the North for moral reasons.

1861 - 1893 SHUKR BEN SALIM KUHAYL I (Sana'a, Yemen)

Was also known as Mari (Master) Shukr Kuhayl I. During a particularly difficult period for Jews in Yemen, this poor preacher, announced himself as the messenger of the Messiah. He soon upgraded his claim to that of the Messiah himself, and won many adherents in Yemen. Shukr was killed and decapitated in 1865 by local Arabs. Prior to his death he promised to reappear and a few years late was succeeded by Judah ben shalom ( see 1867)

1861 March 3, EMANCIPATION ACT (Russia)

In an effort to gain support of the liberals, censorship was eased on newspapers, and controls relaxed in universities. Serfdom was also abolished with about half of them owning some land. Ironically this worked to the detriment of the Jews. The serfs, now producers, began to see the Jewish merchant middlemen as standing in their way to attaining wealth. This would lead to mass participation in the pogroms of 1881.

1862 MOSES HESS (1812-75) (Germany) 

Wrote "Rome and Jerusalem". After his belief in the panacea of socialism waned, he came to the conclusion that anti-Semitism would not be cured by assimilation. Instead, he held that Jews should build their own nation and society in an independent Eretz Israel.

1862 December 17, GENERAL GRANT (USA) 

In issuing his infamous order 11, he ordered all "Jews as a class" expelled from his lines. In New York City 7,000 Jews marched in protest against his decision. Lincoln rescinded Grant's order.

1863 - 1941 MENACHEM MENDEL USSISHKIN (Russia-Eretz Israel) 

Zionist leader. He served as Hebrew Secretary at the First Zionist Congress and bitterly opposed the Uganda plan. His views were expressed in a pamphlet, "Our Program", which advocated group settlement based on labour. Ussishkin was President of the Jewsh National Fund for eighteen years, and he was the force behind large land acquisitions in Emek Hefer and in the Jezreel and Bet Shean valleys. He was one of the few Zionist leaders to actually settle in Israel.

1864 - 1867 MEXICO

Backed by French troops Emperor Maximilian, the archduke of Austria, ruled as emperor of Mexico. Many Jews from France, Belgium, and Austria arrived in his wake, helping to establish the modern Jewish community in Mexico. After his execution by republican forces under Benito Juarez, the situation for the Jews in Mexico did not change for the worse.

1864 - 1888 MOROCCO

During this period, 307 Jews were murdered by Moslems without one Moslem being put on trial for this crime.

1866 January 15, SWITZERLAND

Jews were finally granted equal rights. It took another seven years for the Constitution to be changed.

1866 GALANTZ (Romania)

City officials started a tug-of-war with Turkey over the Danube. In this case, the Jews were the rope. They were forcibly shipped across the river and told not to return. Turkey refused to accept them and shipped them back. This continued until Romania decided to drown them if they returned. Two people subsequently drowned and Turkey allowed the survivors to remain.

1866 ENGLAND

An act was passed which replaced the oath of admission to Parliament, paving the way for Jews to be admitted to both houses.

1866 WILLIAM VAN PRAAGH (1845-1907) (Holland- England)

Began pioneering experiments teaching lip-reading to deaf mutes at the Jews' Deaf and Dumb Home in London.

1866 ALEXANDER CUZA (Romania)

Was overthrown. Cuza had united Romania for the first time in 1859 and tried to prepare for the emancipation of the Jews. He was succeeded by Ion Bratinau who, together with his brothers, ruled until World War I. The 50 years of their reign was a time of government-led pogroms and harassment of Jews.

1868 December 3, SAXONY (Germany) 

One of the last German states to give Jews full legal equality. Jews had been living in Saxony since the 10th century in towns like Magdeburg, Halle, and Erfurt. It was only one year before the inauguration of the North German confederation that they were given equality.

1869 July 3, NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION WAS INITIATED (Prussia, Germany)

After the war of 1866 Prussia increased its territory to include Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Saxony, etc. Under the initiative of the Liberal Party, full rights were extended to Jews, including serving in public positions. By April 16, 1871, this became Imperial Law and was extended to the entire empire. Although later reaction revoked most of this freedom, discrimination never returned to the level existing in the Middle Ages - until the rise of Hitler.

1869 October 20, MICHAEL BAKUNIN (1814-1876) (Russia)

In the article published in Le Reveil du Peuple, he attacked the Jews as being a "Nation of Exploiters". Bakunin was a revolutionist anti-Semite and one of the founders of anarchism. In his many articles, he emphasized that Jews controlled most of the commerce and banking in Europe and were the enemies of the proletariat. He viewed Rothschild and Marx as being two sides to the same coin.

1869 KNIGA KAHALA (THE BOOK OF THE KAHAL) (Russia)

Was published. This anti –Semitic work was written by Jacob Brafmann, a former Jew who converted of Russian Orthodoxy. Brafmann was commissioned by the Holy Synod to foster Christianity among the Jews. He was appointed professor of Hebrew at the Minsk seminar in 1860. In his fictionalized account of the working of the Kahal, he accused the Jews as being “the enemy within”. Despite protests and refutations it was printed with public funds and distributed free to all government offices. In the same vein he also published “Local and Universal Jewish Brotherhoods”. Both of these works found themselves incorporated into what would become the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

1870 July 19, NAPOLEON III (France) 

Declared war on Prussia (Franco-Prussian War). A number of Jews, including Jules Moch and Leopold See, attained high rank in the French army. See later became Secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior. The war also marked the beginning of Rabbis serving as chaplains in the German army. After the War the region of Alsace and part of Lorraine became annexed to Germany. Many Jewish families preferred to emigrate rather than be under German rule.

1870 September 20, ROME (Italy) 

After the defeat of Napoleon, Victor Emanuel seized the Capital, breaking the power of the Papal State. On October 13 the Jews were proclaimed free while the Roman ghetto, one of the oldest and cruelest ghettos in Europe, was torn down and soon abolished. This was the last ghetto system to fall. It had lasted three hundred and fifteen years.

1870 October 24, ALGIERS

Under the leadership of Adolphe Cremieux, France granted Algerian Jews French citizenship. Up to this date they could only be naturalized individually. Approximately 35,000 Jews took advantage of this right.

1870 November 9, HORACE GUENZBURG AND HIS FATHER JOSEPH UZAL (Russia)

Were granted a baronetcy by the archduke of Hesse-Darmstadt. The title was later made hereditary by Czar Alexander II. The Guenzburgs were noted for their financial institutions in Russia which helped develop railroads and mines. The family was instrumental in trying to ease the plight of Jews in the Pale.

1870 SWEDEN

Jews and Catholics were allowed to run for public office, although in order to become a minister one had to be a member of the Swedish state church. This regulation remained in effect until 1951.

1870 EDICT OF POPE NICHOLAS III

The forcing of Jews to hear conversion sermons was abolished after almost six hundred years(1278).

1870 - 1953 HILAIRE BELLOC (England) 

Most prolific spokesman for English Catholicism. He generated the idea that Jews were only interested in money.

1870 October 24, CRÉMIEUX DECREE

Minister of Justice Adolphe Crémieux, granted full citizenship for the Jews in French-ruled Algeria.

1871 AUGUST ROHLING (Austria)

Arch anti-Semite, he published his Talmud Jude in which he claimed Jews were encouraged to cheat and attack Christians. It was often quoted in the ritual murder trial in Tiza-Eszlar (1882). He was the author of other anti-Semitic literature and was largely responsible for the outbreak of blood libels at the end of the century. In 1883 Rohling lost a libel suit against a Viennese Rabbi who accused him of not having the ability to even read the Talmud. Though Rohling was dismissed from his position at the University, his book continued to gain widespread popularity.

1871 - 1890 OTTO VON BISMARCK (Germany) 

Served as chancellor of Germany. Although liberal support brought him to power, he joined the reactionaries. He tried to suppress democracy and stood in the way of Jews who opposed him.

1871 March 28, (Easter Sunday) FIRST MAJOR ORGANIZED POGROM WITHIN RUSSIA (Odessa)

Organized by local Greek merchants, the Jews were accused of stealing a cross. Thousands of local inhabitants joined in, supported by the police and the local governor.

1872 April 22, BAVARIA (Germany)

Jews were granted civil rights as part of the constitution of the German Reich of 1871, though some of the special "Jewish taxes" were only abolished in 1880.

1872 RUDOLF MOSSE (Germany)

Founded one of the great Berlin Dailies, the Berliner Tagblatt to which many Jews contributed their talents, i.e. Wolff and Bernard.

1872 NEW YORK (USA)

Discrimination against Jews began in what is now City College of New York.

1873 July 12, PERSIA 

Shah Nasr-ed-Din and Adolphe Cremieux met to discuss the problems of oppressive social and economic discrimination against the Jews. The Shah agreed to encourage Jewish schools, and work to improve the Jewish condition. Unfortunately, despite his intentions, the government did little to prevent attacks against the Jewish population or to rescind many of the anti-Jewish regulations.

1873 EUROPEAN MARKET CRASH

Jews became the scapegoat for the over-speculation which occurred after the Franco-Prussian War.

1873 January 9, - 1934 CHAYIM NAHMAN BIALIK (Eretz Israel) 

Poet laureate of the Jewish national movement from his debut in 1892 (El Ha-Tsippor - To the Bird) until his death. Bialik wrote both essays and poetry in which he voiced the hopes, joys, and woes of his people. He believed that unfortunately only persecution would move people to accept Zionist aspirations. After the 1903 massacre in Kishinev, Bilalik was asked to visit the site. Afterwards he wrote Beit Ha-hareigah (In the City of Slaughter) where he condemned the cowardice of the local Jews. This served as a catalyst for the organizing of local Jewish defense units. Two of his greatest poems are Metei Midbar (Dead of the Desert) and Megillat Ha'esh (Scroll of Fire). Bialik also translated Don Quixote and William Tell into Hebrew and was president of the Hebrew Language Council.

1876 GEORGE ELIOT (England) 

Published Daniel Deronda. As a Christian, she envisioned her protagonist finding his Jewishness, which led him to establish a Jewish Eretz Israel. The novel had a profound influence both in England and the United States, portraying a real possibility of Jews returning to a viable homeland.

1876 - 1909 SULTAN ABDUL HAMID II (Ottoman Empire) 

Considered to be a benefactor to Turkish Jews, including Jewish refugees from Romanian persecutions. On the other hand, he disregarded his own constitution and was considered a tyrant when it came to anything which he felt would weaken his authority and rule, which also included Zionism.

1877 JOSEPH SELIGMAN (USA)

Was refused admission to the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs because he was Jewish. Seligman was a renowned philanthropist and helped the Union cause during the Civil War for which in recognition, President Grant had offered him the post of Secretary of the Treasury. Judge Henry Hilton ruled that it was bad for business to allow Jews to enter the resort. Though the Grand Union Hotel was not the first incident in the USA, it received a great amount of publicity.

1878 August 8, PETAH TIKVAH (Gate of Hope) (Eretz Israel)

A colony was established in Eretz Israel that was founded by a group of Orthodox Jews who wished to "work the land". It was abandoned in 1881 after Arab attacks and re-established a year later by people of the first Aliyah.

1878 June 13, BERLIN CONGRESS (Romania) 

At a summit of European powers discussing the Balkan region, civil rights were "guaranteed" for Romanian Jews. The Romanian populace and government soon ignored this order.

1879 ALBERT NEISSER (Germany) 

Discovered the bacillus of gonorrhea. Although he was baptized, he employed many Jews and encouraged them in their work.

1879 KUTAIS (Georgia)

Jews were accused of murdering a Christian girl for ritual purposes. In this, one of the last ritual murder cases, the defense council tried to prove that local Monks were behind the accusations and presented a social analysis of ritual murder cases.

1879 - 1923 VLADIMIR MEDEM (Russia)

A Russian Bundist. He advocated the treatment of the Jews as a nationality (like the Poles) based on socialism. Though he was baptized in infancy, he returned to Judaism and was one of the founders of the Bund.

1880 RUSSIA - ORT (Russian initials for Obstchestuo Resemes lenovo Truda)

The Society for the Encouragement of Handicraft was established by Baron Horace de Guenzburg. Its goal was to organize vocational programs for poor Jews throughout the world.

1880 October 5, - 1939 VLADIMIR JABOTINSKY (Odessa,Ukraine-Eretz Israel) 

Founder of the New Zionist Organization (1935), the Haganah (1920), the Jewish Legion (1917), Betar (Brit Trumpeldor) (1923), Revisionist Party (1925), and the Irgun (1937). Until he joined the World Zionist Organization, Jabotinsky was considered by Tolstoy and Pushkin to be one of Russia's most promising writers. He was soon recognized as a distinguished statesman, linguist (he wrote in over seven languages, translating Poe and Dante into Hebrew) and orator par excellence. In 1935 he split with the World Zionist Organization, accusing them of procrastinating and developing defeatist policies. He believed in 90% immigration and 10% politics, as well as the use of Hebrew only as a state language (the Establishment considered him unrealistic). In the 1930's he organized an aviation and navy school in Europe, while at the same time calling for the complete evacuation of Eastern Europe. One of the last of the hundreds of pamphlets he wrote was entitled The Eleventh Hour (1939) and it called for the immediate resettlement of 600,000 Polish Jews. He was branded an alarmist. He died of a heart attack while visiting Camp Betar in Hunter, New York.

1881 April 28, (Easter) KHERSON, ELIZABETHGRAD (Russia) 

A tavern dispute on blood libels spawned massive outbreaks against the Jews (in which soldiers often joined) in Kiev (May 12) and Odessa (May 15). In all, over a 223 pogroms occurred in Russia over the next two years. Ignatyev, the Minister of the Interior, insisted that the Jews caused the pogroms. General Drenbien refused to endanger his troops "for a few Jews".

1881 December 25, WARSAW (Poland)

Anti-Jewish riots began in Poland. In Warsaw twelve Jews were killed, many others were wounded, and some women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed. All of this led to an increase of emigration to the west.

1881 - 1897 ALGERIA

There were anti-Jewish riots throughout most of the country after Jews were granted citizenship.

1881 - 1914 RUSSIA

Mass emigration. Each year more then 50,000 Jews left Russia. By the beginning of World War I 2,500,000 Russian Jews had left. Some years the numbers reached well over 100,000.

1881 - 1900 USA

600,000 Jews entered from Russian and Romania.

1881 - 1920 NEARLY THREE MILLION JEWS (USA)

Arrived in the United States, mostly from Eastern Europe.

1881 - 1963 POPE JOHN XXIII 

The first Pope to speak out forcefully on behalf of the Jews. Pope John (1958-1963) followed the controversial Pope Pius XII who during the holocaust had never publicly condemned the murder of the Jews. Pope John was outspoken in his sympathy for those Jews slaughtered by the Nazi's. He composed a "Prayer of Repentance" in which he begged forgiveness for all that the Church had done to the Jews.

1881 March 14, REIGN OF ALEXANDER III (Russia)

Devoted to medievalism, he urged the return to a Russian civilization. Alexander III attacked and persecuted liberals and revolutionaries alike. He did not though revert to reestablishing serfdom or canceling many of the judicial reforms. The most influential person during his reign was Pobestonostov, his financier and procurator of the Holy Synod, who earned the title "the Second Torquemada". The newspapers in Moscow, Kiev, and Odessa began a campaign against the Jews. The outcome of the anti-Jewish pogroms, which were to continue almost unabated until 1905, sparked the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and its environs to the West.

1881 February 10, LA CIVILTA CATTOLICA

The official Jesuit publication (founded by Pope Pius IX) published an article justifying pogroms as a natural consequence of the Jews demanding too much liberty. The article was written by Father Giuseppe Oreglia di Santo Stefano, one of the journal's founders.

1882 January, COUNT NIKOLAI IGNATYEV (Russia) 

The anti-Semitic minister of the Interior. He was requested by Alexander III to set up local commissions of inquiry into the blame for the recent pogroms. Ignatyev determined that they were caused by "Jewish exploitation." This led to the publishing of the May laws. In his desire to rid himself of the Jewish population, Ignatyev allowed Jews to emigrate. This resulted in massive immigration to the west. Alexander himself commented upon hearing about the pogroms "And I, to admit the truth , am glad when the Jews are being beaten".

1882 April 1, TIZA-ESZLAR (Hungary)

A blood libel began when a servant girl went missing. Although not the slightest evidence was found that Jews were even remotely involved, the young son of the janitor of the synagogue was interrogated - whereby he described full details of the "murder." The Jews were then accused of having the girl kidnapped for ritual murder purposes. Fifteen people were brought to trial despite the protests of Lajos Kossuth (non-Jewish leader of the Hungarian Independence Movement) and the fact that the girl's body was found in the river. A year later all of them were acquitted.

1882 April 10, PODALIA (Russia)

A pogrom left 40 dead, 170 wounded, and 1,250 dwellings destroyed. Fifteen thousand Jews were reduced to total poverty.

1882 May 15, ALEXANDER III ISSUED THE MAY LAWS (Russia) 

Based on the "findings" of Count Ignatyev's commissions, the May or "Temporary" Laws were issued. Jews were banished from all rural areas and towns of less than ten thousand people, even within the Pale. Strict quotas were placed on the number of Jews allowed into higher education. As formulated by Konstantin Pobedonostev, the Russian statesman and anti-Semite, they were designed to "cause one-third of the Jews to emigrate, one-third to accept baptism, and one-third to starve". These laws remained in quasi-effect until 1914 and provided the impetus for migration to America as well as expanded interest in the settlement of Eretz Israel.

1882 July 31, RISHON LEZION - THE FIRST ALIYAH(Eretz Israel) 

Was founded by a group of 10 families. Later that year, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, in response to the Russian pogroms and a plea by Rabbi Samuel Mohilever, agreed to help the new Moshava. The settlement marked the beginning of the first Aliyah (going up) to Eretz Israel, and the beginning of Rothschild's deep involvement with settlement activities.The first Aliyah which lasted until 1904 came in three waves 1882-1884 comprising of Romanian and Russian Jews, 1890-91 from Russia and 1900-1903 from Russia and Eastern Europe. Most of the immigrants came due to harsh persecution and pogroms, economic disasters, the influence of the Hovevei Zion and the fact that there was in place a mass emigration movement throughout eastern Europe - although mostly to the United States. Around 30-40,000 Jews arrived during these periods bringing the Jewish population to 55,000.

1882 December 12, ROSH PINA (Eretz Israel) 

Was founded by 130 Romanian Jews. Ironically they arrived on a ship to Beirut named the Titus.. The settlement was originally founded by residents of Safed in 1878 who had named it Gei Oni ("Valley of My Strength) but was abandoned after less then two years.

1882 EDMUND MENAHEM EISLER (Slovakia) 

Wrote Ein Zukunftsbild which envisions a Jewish state ruled by a constitutional monarchy and divided into tribes with Hebrew as its national language. He described a modern exodus and predicted a Europe without Jews after anti-Jewish persecution that would be led for the most part by Germany. Eisler wrote his book 17 years before Herzl's The Jewish State.

1882 March 29, (Easter) BALTA (Ukraine)

During a local pogrom, the Jews succeeded in defending themselves until local police and soldiers disarmed and arrested many of them. During the night around 5,000 peasants arrived in the city. The local priest, Radzionovsky, with the help of some of the militia, held the crowed back for an hour until the arrival of the heads of the army garrison and the district police who directly ordered the soldiers to step aside. Forty Jews were killed, 20 women raped, 170 wounded, and 1,250 dwellings destroyed, leaving fifteen thousand Jews in total poverty.

1883 February 4, COUNT K.I. PAHLEN (Russia)

Was commissioned by Alexander III to "Study of the Current Laws Concerning the Jews" . His report, issued on May 24, 1888, recommended by a majority opinion "changing the system of laws and restrictions for a system of graduated laws of freedom and equality". They counted around 650 special laws concerning the Jews." The czar decided to accept the minority report by Count Dimitri Tolstoy, to continue the policy of preventing Jews from leaving certain areas and even instituted a quota for Jews at universities and secondary schools.

1883 HARTUV (Artuf) ( Eretz- Israel)

Land near the today’s town of Beit Shemesh, was purchased to set up an agricultural settlement by the Jewish Refugees fund”. Headed by Lord Aberdeen its purpose was to provide Russian refugees with work and to eventually convert them - it lasted 3 years. Twelve years later it was bought and settled by Jews from Bulgaria. rnrn

1884 BULGARIA

Anti-Jewish riots began and continued until 1904. Many Jews immigrated to Anatolia, Turkey.

1884 PERSIA

As a result of constant persecutions Jews began to emigrate to Eretz Israel.

1884 HECHLER PUBLISHED “THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS TO PALESTINE.”

William Hechler (1845 -1931) an Anglican minister, had traveled to Eastern Europe two years earlier to investigate anti-Semitism. There he met with Leon Pinsker who introduced him to modern Zionism. In Hechler's pamphlet, he called for the Jews to return to Eretz Israel. Hechler attended the first Zionist congress and formed a strong relationship with Herzl. He made great efforts to encourage close ties between the grand duke of Baden and Herzl and even tried to arrange a meeting between Herzl and the czar. His house was also a museum which included Montefiore's carriage, which he donated to the Eretz Israel museum upon his death.

1886 EDUARD DRUMONT (France)

Published his notorious anti-Semitic harangue La France Juive in which he attributed all of France's ills to the Jews. His writings helped provoke and maintain the Dreyfus Affair.

1886 - 1939 BELA KUN (Hungary) 

A young supporter of Lenin, he eventually became the head of the Hungarian government, forming a Soviet Republic. Kun refused to tolerate any opposition and his harsh line alienated the peasants. He was forced to flee after a series of disasters. Kun was killed by Stalin in 1939. Although totally alienated from Judaism he did appoint other Jews to governmental positions. After his collapse, anti-Jewish riots broke out. Approximately 7,000 were murdered.

1887 NEW RESTRICTIONS (Russia)

Although Jews were forcibly conscripted into the army, they were banned from all military schools. This was soon followed by Jews being prohibited from joining the army medical corps and military bands. At the same time, Jewish communities were severely fined if the quota of Jewish conscripts wasn't reached. In addition, new education restrictions were instituted: no more than ten percent of Jews in the Pale and five percent outside the Pale were allowed to attend University.

1888 June 3, JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA (JPS) WAS FOUNDED (USA) 

Its purpose was and is to publish books of Jewish interest in English. Among its hundreds of publications are Graetz's, Dubnow's and Baron's History of the Jews, and Ginsburg's Legends of the Jews. Other important authors included Israel Zangwill, Leo Baeck, Cecil Roth, Jacob R. Marcus, and Louis Finkelstein. They have also published the American Jewish Yearbook for nearly 100 years (1899).

1889 FINLAND

Jews were officially allowed to live in three cities: Helsinki, Turku, and Vyborg. Although there were already about 1,000 Jews in Finland, until this date all Jews were temporary residents and had to renew their permits every three months. They were only permitted to deal in second-hand clothes and were forbidden to leave their city of residence.

1889 JEWISH COLONIZATION OF ARGENTINA

First began. Although Jews had been living in Argentina since the beginning of the 17th century they only received rights in 1853. To a great extent this was achieved through the efforts of Baron de Hirsch's Jewish Colonial Association (JCA). A census taken two years earlier showed 366 Jews in Buenos Aires.

1889 RUSSIA

Jews were not allowed to practice law without a special permit.

1890 April 1, ZIONISM 

Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937) in his journal Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation) coined the term "Zionism". Birnbaum's idea was to change the philanthropic approach of the time towards the return of Jews to Eretz Israel to a more activist or political one. Although the idea of a return to Zion had been a foundation of Jewish thought and belief since biblical times, it only became a practical political movement at this time. This was later adopted as the Basel Program by the First Zionist Congress under Herzl (see 1897).

1890 IGNATIUS DONNELLY (USA) 

Published Caesar's Column, a utopian anti-Semitic novel showing the Jews (Israelites) as the international bankers and rulers of Europe.

1891 March 5, PRESIDENT HARRISON (USA) 

Was presented with a petition by prominent non-Jews requesting an international conference to consider and bring to a just conclusion the Jewish claims to Eretz Israel.

1891 March 28 - 29, (Passover) JEWS EXPELLED FROM MOSCOW (Russia)

Grand Duke Sergei, the Czar's brother who had just become governor of Moscow, ordered the expulsion of all Jews from the city. Permission to remain was only given to those who would convert or to women who were willing to become prostitutes. In addition, a few thousand former cantonists who were registered and wealthy merchants were allowed to continue residing in Moscow. In January 1892, in middle of a deep cold spell, the Jewish quarter was surrounded and Jews who had until then avoided expulsion were hunted by the police and firemen. In all, approximately 14,000 Jewish families were expelled to the Pale.

1891 September 11, JEWISH COLONIAL ASSOCIATION (France-England) 

Was officially established by Baron de Hirsch. Other shareholders included, among others, Rothschild, Cassel, and Goldsmid. De Hirsh himself donated two million pounds and incorporated the Association in London. His plan was to promote migration of Russian and European Jews and settle them in agricultural areas in countries around the world.

1891 April 1, Ritual murder accusation (Corfu)

Rubina Sarda the local Jewish tailor's 8 year old daughter, was found dead. Her father Vita was immediately accused of the crime by the local constable. Others, including police, spread a rumor that the girl was not Jewish but really a Christian by the name of Maria Desylla, and was killed for ritual purposes. The local Greek orthodox leader or metropolite refused to intervene and “disappeared” until the incident was over. Despite a declaration by her teacher, confirmed by the French consul at Corfu, that she was Jewish the local Jewish community was attacked with violence spreading to other parts of Greece. Approximately 5 of the 7,000 Jews of Corfu fled by boat with their property confiscated by locals. Some were thrown overboard. None of the perpetrators were punished.

1892 July 10, L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

The official Vatican Newspaper publishes an article supporting ritual blood accusation. The article claimed that there were many unimpeachable witnesses to the “fact” that Jews use Christian blood for preparing Matzo.

1893 March 26, CENTRAL SOCIETY OF GERMAN CITIZENS OF THE JEWISH FAITH (Germany)

Was created to defend Jews against anti-Semitic libels in Germany. After 1933 it provided legal advice to German Jews. It was closed down by the Gestapo in 1938.

1893 BUKHARA (Russia)

After the "May laws" were issued, many Jews decided to leave for Israel. The Bukharim set up their own community in Jerusalem.

1893 JUSTINAS PRANAITIS (St. Petersburg, Russia)

"Proved" that Jews used the blood of Christian children in the baking of matzos. In 1911 he was the "expert" witness in the Beilis trial.

1893 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN (USA)

Was created by German Jews to protect immigrant girls from white slave traders. Founded by Hannah Solomon, it also established educational, social, and cultural services for women. It was the first national women's Jewish organization in the United States.

1893 - 1965 MARGARETE SOMMER (Germany)

Catholic social worker. During the Holocaust, she helped protect Jews from deportation to death camps and hide them whenever possible. She was also a leader in the Catholic resistance circle of Berlin. In August 1942 she composed a report which was sent to Rome, regarding the deportation of Jews and the conditions in concentration camps. Sommer together with Konrad Preysing, the German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, made a major effort to get the Catholic Church to speak out and even drafted a statement for the Fulda Conference in 1943. The declaration would have condemned German atrocities, but they were stymied by Cardinal Adolf Bertram who chaired the conference. Yad Vashem recognized Margarete Sommer as Righteous Among the Nations.

1894 DREYFUS AFFAIR (France) 

Began in France. Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian captain, was accused of passing military secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus was not religious or even acknowledged as a Jew, yet he became the pawn of anti-Semitic and anti-Republic forces. The entire country became divided between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards. The subsequent trial and its anti-Semitic overtones served as an impetus for many Jews (i.e. Herzl) to become aware of their own Jewishness.

1894 - 1917 NICHOLAS II (Russia) 

Last of the Russian Czars. Nicholas was extremely anti-semitic. He continued Alexander III's policies against the Jews and carried them one step further by commissioning Sergei Nilus, a monk, to write something which would arouse hatred of the Jews. The result of this was the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion (see 1905). A weak ruler, he was influenced by everyone around him: Mescherski (editor of a Slavophilist newspaper), Pobednostav and especially his wife, Princess Alix (Alexandra Fedorovna.)

1896 April 6, THE FIRST MODERN OLYMPIAD OPENS (Athens)

Among the 6 Jews who won medals (8 gold), were two cousins on the German gymnastics team, Alfred and Gustav (Felix) Flatow. Alfred won three gold medals Gustav two. During WWW II they fled to the Netherlands. They were eventually deported to Theresienstadt where they both died, Gustav of starvation..

1896 - 1989 SALO BARON (Austria-USA) 

Historian and Scholar. Baron received doctorates in law, philosophy, and political science as well as rabbinical ordination. Although a prolific author, he is chiefly famed for his 17 volume A Social and Religious History of the Jews which relates to social history rather then concentrating on personalities.

1896 February 14, HERZL (Vienna, Austria) 

Published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). This was basically a revision of his Address to the Rothschilds. In it Herzl envisioned a Jewish state as the only solution to the "Jewish Question". This could be attained in two stages, firstly the establishment of a political base and then mass aliyah (immigration). Many Western European Jews rejected his thesis, but it had the effect of pushing him into the spotlight and thereafter he was regarded the leader of the Zionist movement.

1896 April 15, KAISER WILHELM II APPROACHED REGARDING THE ZIONIST IDEA

William Hechler, the Anglican minister who befriended Herzl, met with his friend the Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, ( the Kaisers’ uncle) and the Kaiser himself. He broached the idea of restoration of the Jews to their historic homeland. This led to a meeting between Herzl, the grand duke and Hechler on April 23, which in turn led to the later historic meetings between Herzl and the Kaiser.

1897 October 7, FIRST CONFERENCE OF THE BUND (Jewish Workers Union) (Vilna,Lithuania) 

It was the first Jewish Socialist party in Eastern Europe. At first decidedly anti-Zionist and pro-Yiddishist, it was organized as a union of Russian Jewish socialist groups. The Bund exerted a great influence on Jews in Europe and America.

1897 POLAND

Roman Dmowski, Jan Poplawski, and Sigismund Balicki founded the Endeks (National Democrats) which vowed to refuse Jews citizenship and expel them. They planned to have a "national state, not a state of nationals".

1898 April 24, SPANISH AMERICAN WAR BEGAN (USA) 

Fifteen Jews serving on the battleship the USS Maine were killed when it sank. Five thousand Jews served in the American Army, a ratio of 20% more than the general population including 30 army and 20 naval officers. The first person of Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders to reach the top of San Juan Hill was also a Jew - Irving Peixotto and the first to be killed was Jacob Wilbusky.

1898 October 1, KIEV (Ukraine) 

A decree by the Russian Czar (Nicholas II) explicitly barred Jews from living in major Russian cities. The action followed laws issued the previous May (the "May laws"), restricting Jewish settlement to the Pale of Settlement. In Kiev, alone, some 7000 Jews were forced to relocate.

1898 October 28, KAISER WILLIAM II (Germany) 

Visited Eretz Israel and met with Herzl. Herzl was disappointed by the lack of commitment on the part of the Kaiser. Much of this was due to the opposition to the Zionist enterprise of German liberal Jews, bankers, and his foreign minister, Bernhard von Buelow.

1898 CUBA

Jews were granted the previously forbidden right to build synagogues and worship publicly.

1899 - 1902 BOER WAR (South Africa)

A direct outcome of the war was the movement into the interior. Jewish settlements were established and strengthened in Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria. At the time there were approximately 25,000 Jews in South Africa.

1899 GAVRILA ROMANOVICH DERZHAVIN ( Russia)

The famed Russian poet (1743 – 1816) had been appointed by czar Paul I to investigate the famine in white Russia. In his report Opinion, he placed most of the blame on the "mercenary trades" of Jews.

1900 March 15, KONITZ (Germany)

A blood libel occurred after the death of a local student. Wolf Israelski was accused and arrested, while Count Plucker promoted riots against the Jews. After Israelski was proven innocent, two others, Moritz Lewy and Rosenthal, were arrested on the same charge. Rosenthal and Lewy were acquitted, but Lewy was sentenced to four years for denying he knew the victim. All the evidence was based on the testimony of a petty thief, Masloff, who later received only one year for perjury.

1900 July 31, INQUISITION DECIDES VATICAN CAN'T DECLARE JEWS INNOCENT OF BLOOD RITUALS

After debating the issue of Jewish innocence of blood libels the Holy Office of the Inquisition ruled that Vatican cannot issue any declaration that the Jews are innocent. Pope Leo XIII approved the conclusion. "Although nothing was found either in the Holy Office or at the Secretariat of State, where careful research was undertaken, bearing on this accusation ... ritual murder is a historical certainty....

1901 RELIEF SOCIETY FOR GERMAN JEWS (Hilsvereinder Deutschen Juden) (Germany)

Was founded. It was designed to help Eastern European Jews immigrate to Germany.

1902 HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY (USA)

Was organized in the United States by Russian Jews to serve as counselors, interpreters, attorneys, and an employment service, as well as to help them find their relatives.

1903 April 19, KISHINEV (Bessarabia)

Riots broke out after a Christian child, Michael Ribalenko, was found murdered (Feb. 16). Although it was clear that the boy had been killed by a relative, the government chose to call it a ritual murder plot by the Jews. The mobs were incited by Pavolachi Krusheven, the editor of the anti-Semitic newspaper Bessarabetz, and the vice governor, Ustrugov. Vyacheslav Von Plehve, the Minister of Interior, supposedly gave orders not to stop the rioters. During three days of rioting, forty-seven Jews were killed, ninety-two severely wounded, five hundred slightly wounded and over seven hundred houses were destroyed. Despite a world-wide outcry, only two men were sentenced to seven and five years and twenty-two were sentenced for one or two years. This pogrom was instrumental in convincing tens of thousands of Russian Jews to leave Russia for the West and for Eretz Israel. The child's real murderer was later found.

1903 May, CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK 

Wrote the poem In the City of Slaughter. In this poem Bialik chastised the Jews for not defending themselves in the massacre of Kishinev. Herzl was also affected by Kishinev and he decided to visit Russia and give consideration to the Uganda Plan. In America, groundwork was laid for the American Jewish Committee and American Jewry was cast into international prominence.

1903 August 23 - 28, SIXTH ZIONIST CONGRESS (Basle, Switzerland) 

Herzl proposed using territory offered by Britain, specifically Uganda, as a temporary shelter for Jews fleeing Eastern Europe and Russia. The Russian delegates, after a riotous debate, walked out and refused to return for the next congress unless the plan was dropped.

1903 September 1, GOMEL/HOMEL (Russia)

Von Plehve, the Russian Minister of the Interior who helped promote the Kishinev pogroms, instigated another pogrom. In spite of a vigorous defense, twelve Jews were killed and two hundred and fifty homes were destroyed. Thirty-six of the defenders were prosecuted, together with the perpetrators of the pogrom.

1903 - 1907 RUSSIA

During these 4 years, 500,000 Jews fled Russia, with 90% of them going to the United States.

1903 July, - August, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (London)

Rise of Lenin's group known as the Iskra (The Spark), named after their newspaper published in Switzerland. Vladimir Lenin headed the Bolsheviks (majority) while George Plekhanov headed the Mensheviks (Minority). Although Lenin was not to have a majority until 1917, he refused to relinquish the name. The Mensheviks included many Jews including Julius Martov, Raphael Abramowitz(Rein), and Fyodor Ilyich Dan (Gurvich). The two groups argued over organization and tactics with the Menshevicks believing it best to cooperate with liberals and wished to have a more "open" party. In general there were more Jews in the Mensheviks which better reflected Jewish liberalism and intellectuality. The congress refused to allow the Jewish delegates to participate in the revolutionary work while remaining an independent ethnic group which lead to the Bund seceding from the Social Democratic Party.

1904 July 15, VYACHESLAV VON PLEHVE (Russia) 

The Russian Minister of Interior, was assassinated. Von Plehve was responsible for the Kishinev massacres in which forty-seven Jews were killed, ninety-two severely wounded or crippled, and five hundred slightly wounded. His assassin was a member of the socialist revolutionary movement which had also suffered because of his policies. Czar Nicholas was frightened into making a few concessions. Unfortunately, he did not make enough to meet public demand.

1904 - 1905 RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

The Russian government accused the Jews of helping the Japanese and starting the war to help their "Kinsmen by race". Thirty thousand Jewish soldiers and 3000 Jewish doctors fought for the Russians. Two "orders of the day" recognized Jewish heroism; One on November 29 honoring Joseph Trumpeldor the other on July 25 1905 honoring Lazar Lichmaker both of whom coincidently fought without an arm

1904 - 1914 SECOND ALIYAH (Eretz Isreal)

With the fresh outbreak of mass pogroms in Eastern Europe, a second wave of immigration to Eretz Israel began. Unlike the First Aliyah, which believed in private agricultural enterprise, these formed the basis for the communal life and the foundation of the Kibbutz and Moshav movements. Approximately 35,000 new immigrants arrived bringing the population to about 90,000 before the outbreak of WWI. At the same time (between 1881 and 1914) 2.5 million Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe.

1905 April 24 - 25, (Easter) BIALYSTOK AND ZHITOMIR (Russia)

Were attacked by the Black Hundreds (League of the Russian People), an unofficial pro-Czarist terrorist force. This time the Jews tried to defend themselves. In Zhitomir, police prevented Jewish self-defense organizations from protecting their property. After two days, 15 Jews and one non-Jewish student who had volunteered to defend the Jews, were killed. The Governor did nothing to stop the mobs until a number of Jews broke into his office and threatened him. The hostilities ceased almost immediately.

1905 October 18 - 25, BLACKEST WEEK IN RUSSIAN JEWISH HISTORY

The Black Hundreds and other bands alleged that the Jews were responsible for their defeats in the Russian Japanese war and other Russian ills. In Odessa, the commander of the cadet school General Deryugin told his soldiers "Your on your way to massacre the Jews, You have my blessing for your work." In spite of many attempts at self defense, hundreds were killed, and thousands were wounded in more then fifty areas throughout Russia. In over 50 major pogroms over 40,000 homes and shops were destroyed, giving new impetus to immigration to both the West and Eretz Israel, with over 200,000 Jews leaving in one year.

1905 October 30, MANIFESTO OF NICHOLAS II (October Manifesto) (RUSSIA) 

Czar Nicholas II, after a nation-wide strike, issued a manifesto granting a constitution and a Duma (parliament) in which the Constitutional Democrats (Kadets) and Social Democrats would participate. The Social Democrats included both the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. In addition it promised to grant civil liberties including freedom of religion and freedom of speech.Another party the Octobrist's was also created and which supported a constitutional monarchy.As a party, they were often anti-Semitic and wished to ban Jews from the military, and continue enforcing the Pale.

1905 ALIENS IMMIGRATION ACT (England)

Slowed the number of Jews allowed to immigrate.

1905 MAXIM GORKY (1868-1936) (Russia) 

A Christian author and one of the founders of Soviet literature, he wrote letters of protest against the Black Hundreds in particular and anti-Semitism in general. Leo Tolstoy, one of Russia's greatest writers, joined him in defending the Jews.

1905 SERGI NILUS 

Published the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in his book Velikoe e Malom (The Great in the Small). The protocols deal with an alleged "secret" plot by the wise Jews to enslave the Christian world. In reality (as revealed by the London Times in 1921), the book was a plagiarized version of a lampoon on Napoleon by Maurice Jely published in 1864. Despite this, the book has been reprinted in almost every language. In Germany it was treated as the Gospel and British troops carried it into Eretz Israel in 1947. It was circulated in Poland (1966) and an Arab version appeared in 1967.

1906 February 3, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 

Was formed. It was headed by Judge Mayer Sulzberger, a leader in the fight for liberal immigration laws. Its aims included the protection of civil and religious rights of Jews all over the world. Among its founders were Dr. Cyrus Adler, Louis Marshall and Jacob H. Schiff.

1907 September 29, BAR GIORA (Eretz Israel) 

A Palestinian Jewish self-defense organization was formed to protect the settlements in Sejera (the lower Galilee area) from raiders. Two years later it was reorganized and broadened into HaShomer (the Watchman) by Israel Shochat. HaShomer was eventually transformed into the Haganah. Despite opposition from local Jews and the Baron's overseers, they persevered with the idea of Jews taking responsibility for their own defense.

1908 TURKEY

Granted Jews political rights.

1909 SMOLENSKY DISTRICT (Russia)

A Jew hunt was organized (one of many) to find Jews living outside the Pale. Ten were found in the city and 74 more in the neighboring woods. All were forced back into the Pale.

1910 WERNER SOMBART (Germany)

A Christian economist and historian, he published a treatise on the evils of capitalism, which he ascribed to the Jews.

1911 June 22, - 1913 BEILIS TRIAL (Russia) 

Took place after a Christian boy was found dead near a brick factory in which Mendel Beilis worked. He was accused of ritual murder by the government. The only evidence was the word of a drunken couple who claimed they saw a man with a black beard walking with the child. The Russian government actively took up the case after the assassination of Stolypin by a Jewish revolutionist. Professor Sikowsky, a neurologist, "proved" that Jews use Christian blood for ritual purposes. Beilis's lawyers, Margolin and Grusenberg, fought the government for two years until diplomatic pressure forced the Russians to drop the charges. Beilis then settled in the United States, where he died after a long illness in 1934.

1911 October 11, LIBYA 

Was conquered by Italy. Jews received equal rights and for the next 25 years (until the onset of fascist anti-Jewish legislation), the community flourished.

1912 April 11, Technikum (Technion) (Haifa, Eretz Israel) 

Was founded with the help of Paul Nathan of the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden ("Relief Organization of German Jews") and Jacob Schiff. The Technikum Institute of Technology, later to be known as the Technion,was struck the following year (see 1913), by both teachers and students when they tried to institute German as the school's language instead of Hebrew. Due to both the strike and the approaching war the school did not actually begin classes until 1924.

1912 RUSSIA

The fourth Duma was convened. Although a suggestion not to allow Jews to serve in the army was not accepted, it was decided that no Jew, converted Jew, or children of converted Jews were allowed to become officers in the Army.

1912 April 17, FEZ RIOTS

Began as a protest against the French protectorate in Morocco. After attacking the local French garrison in Fez, the local soldiers attacked the Jewish quarter. Almost 7,000 Jews took refuge in the Sultans gardens, some taking shelter in empty cages used for Sultan’s menagerie. The rebels attacked anyone that they believed to be European or Jewish, killing 66 Europeans, and 42 Jews. The French retook control also using an artillery barrage, killing some 600 Moroccans

1913 PRESIDENT TAFT (USA)

Under pressure from Congress, he abrogated the Russian Treaty of 1832 on the grounds of Russian discrimination and persecution of the Jews.

1914 August, RUSSIA UNDER BRUSILOV AND RUZSK

Carried the offensive into Eastern Prussia and Austrian Galicia. Jews were caught between both armies. Russia repeatedly attacked the Austrian army and although they could not proceed they managed to hold on to Galicia until 1917, The Austrians were forced into setting up refugee camps in Austria and Hungary.

1914 October 24, AMERICAN JEWISH RELIEF COMMITTEE (USA) 

Was established by Jacob H. Schiff, Louis Marshall, and Felix Warburg. It soon combined (November 27) with the Central Relief Committee founded by Orthodox leaders and the People's Relief Committee representing labor into one organization - the American Joint Distribution Committee. It campaigned and distributed funds wherever Jews were in need, especially in Eastern Europe. It is popularly known as the "Joint" or "JDC." During the First World War they spent almost $15,000,000 on relief efforts.

1914 RUSSIA

During the entire war, Yiddish was declared an illegal language, and wounded veterans were immediately shipped back to the Pale. Although around 500,000 Jews served in the army, they were branded by the government as cowards, traitors and spies.

1914 August 1, (Av 9) OUTBREAK OF WWI

In all, out of the 65,000,000 men who fought in WW I, 1,500,000 were Jews. The USA had 250,000 Jewish troops, 10,000 of them officers. Britain 10,000 with 1,300 officers (with a Jewish pop. of less than 300,000). France 55,000 including 14 Jewish generals. Germany with a Jewish population of 600,000 had 100,000 Jewish soldiers with 2,000 officers. 35,000 German Jews won medals including 2,000 pilots, among them Jacob Wolf the oldest German pilot (48). Austria - Hungary had 320,000 including 8 generals. Russia had approximately 500,000 Jews serving. Jewish dead were estimated at 120,000.

1915 March, GRAND DUKE SERGEI (Russia)

The Russian Commander-in-Chief began to expel all the Jews in the Pale on the pretext that they could not be trusted with the advancing Germans. Kovna, Lithuania, and Kurland were most affected. Over 500,000 Jews were forcibly evacuated, sometimes on forced marches. Until the arrival of the Germans, who prevented any more expulsions, over 100,000 died of starvation, disease and exposure.

1915 May 7, LUSITANIA 

An American ship was sunk by the Germans. This act eventually brought America into World War I. Roughly 250,000 Jews served in the U.S. Armed Forces, with an estimated 3,500 dead, and 12,000 wounded.

1915 December, GERMANY

Under General Ludendorff, reconquered most of Poland. The Jews in the occupied territory were generally fairly treated.

1915 KU KLUX KLAN (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

Was organized by William J. Simmons with a white Protestant American membership. During its heyday it delved into politics, organized boycotts and committed acts of violence against Jews, Blacks, Catholics, and anyone foreign born.

1915 - 2014 SIDNEY SHAPIRO aka Sha Boli (Brooklyn, New York- Beijing)

Author and translator. He arrived in china under the auspices of the U.S. military during WWII . He was one of the few Westerners to gain Chinese citizenship and become a member of the PCC a political advisory body. Among his works is a translation of a the 16th century Chinese classic Outlaws of the Marsh as well author of Jews in Old China, and his autobiography I Chose China.

1915 April 28, THE KUZHI INCIDENT (Lithuania)

A number of German soldiers on a reconnaissance mission entered the small village of Kuzhi for provisions and left. Soon after, the Russians returned and the Germans shelled the village. The Russian high command accused the Jews of giving information to the Russians, and despite the fact that the Kerensky commission found the accusation to be libelous, it was used as an excuse to begin the expulsion of 200,000 Jews most from the Kovno region.

1916 GERMANY

Jews were accused of evading active service despite the fact that approximately 100,000 Jews served in the German army, 12% higher then their population ratio.

1916 RUSSIA

Under Brusilov, returned to its offensive along the Polish and Galician borders. The Jews in those areas were accused of siding with the Germans.

1916 June 8, JEWS BANNED FROM PRAYING AT WAILING WALL

Turkish Syrian military Governor Ahmed Djemal Pasha (1872-1922), decided to ban Jews from praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem eventually cordoning off the area. Nine months later he offered to retract his ban upon payment of 100,000 Francs. He was later accused of helping oversee the Armenian genocide and was finally assassinated by Armenians while working for the Soviets in Tbilisi.

1917 February 3, IRAQ 

British troops occupied Baghdad. After suffering heavily from forced conscription, torture and extortion by the Turkish ruled government, local Jews celebrated their freedom by declaring it a holiday (Yom Ness). Their freedom lasted until 1929, when the British granted independence to Iraq and all Zionist activity was prohibited.

1917 February, RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 

Broke out in Petrograd. After three years of ruinous war the old regime collapsed. By March, a provisional government under Alexander Kerensky was set up. During the ensuing revolution the Jews were caught in the middle. Much of the conflict centered around the south and west, where over 3 million Jews lived. It is estimated that over 2000 pogroms took place, especially in the Ukraine, leading to the death of 100,000-200,000 Jews within the next 3 years.

1917 March 28, TEL AVIV-JAFFA (Eretz Israel)

As the war front came closer, the Turkish Governor of Jaffa ordered all Jews to leave the city, including Tel Aviv.

1917 April 6, UNITED STATES

Declared war on Germany. Approximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. army. Roughly 5.7% of the solders were Jewish, though Jews made up only 3.25% of the general population.

1917 November 2, ARTHUR BALFOUR 

British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he sent Lord Walter Rothschild a letter declaring the British government's sympathy and support for the Zionist cause. Cloaked in ambiguity, the meaning of the declaration was to be long debated; the Arabs insisted on an independent Arab state in Syria and Eretz Israel, the French on keeping to the Sykes-Picot Treaty. In spite of this, Britain felt that a Jewish state would: 1) provide a base between India and the Suez, 2) promote Jewish financial support in America for the British war effort , 3) create British support by the Jews in the Central Powers and 4) convince Russian Jews to keep fighting in the war

1917 December 6, FINLAND

1917 December 6, FINLAND

Became independent of Moscow and finally granted Jews civil rights. The implementation of the original law, passed in 1909, was delayed by the Russian government.

1917 December 15, RUSSIA CONCLUDED AN ARMISTICE

With the Central Powers. 350,000 Jews served in the Russian army and an estimated 70,000 of them were killed during the war.

1917 March 17, RUSSIA

The provisional government abolishes all restrictions against the Jews.

1917 March 26, PRINCE G.E. LVOV (Russia)

The first Prime Minister (and minister of the Interior) in the provisional government, sent a message to the Alliance Israelite Universelle promising that Russia would respect the beliefs and varied natures of its people. On that same day in Petrograd, a conference of Russian Jews was held which tried to find common ground in post-czarist Russia.

1918 CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Was founded with Thomas Masaryk as its first president and Eduard Benes as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. At first the Jews had trouble, but it soon resolved itself. Both of these men did their best to defend the Jews.

1918 November 20, - 1920 UKRAINIAN POGROMS

After the fall of the Czar there was a strong movement to establish an independent political entity. The Jewish parties voted against the severance, with Russia leading to direct attacks on the Jews. One of the first attacks was in Lvov where 72 Jews were killed and 443 wounded.

1918 - 1988 ABBA KOVNER (Lithuania-Eretz Israel) 

Resistance leader and poet. Kovner organized the United Partisan Movement in 1941, maintaining that Jews should not "go like sheep to the slaughter". He fought as a partisan leader until the end of the war. After liberation he was instrumental in establishing Beriha, which smuggled survivors to Eretz Israel and carried out revenge operations against Nazis and their collaborators. In Israel he joined a kibbutz and became a well known poet. He won the Israel prize for literature in 1970. Kovner helped establish the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv and the Moreshet Holocaust Institute.

1919 January 3, SIMON PETLURA (Ukraine) 

Ukrainian nationalist and commander (Ataman) of the Zaporog Cossacks and Haidamaks armies, began his retreat from the Red Army. At the same time he accused the Jews of being supporters of the communist regime and encouraged a series of pogroms. Attacks began on a number of cities and towns including Berdichev, Uma, and Zhitomir. Although he denied responsibility for the "excesses" of his troops, three hundred seventy-two cities and towns were attacked in 998 major and 349 minor pogroms resulting in about seventy thousand killed and an equal number wounded. He was later assassinated in revenge (see 1926).

1919 January 8, HUNGARY 

Bela Kun (Kuhn), a communist dictator, was disposed of after a short period of time with the help of Rumania and Admiral Nicholas Horthy. Since Kun was a Jew, all the Jews were accused of being communists. During the riots that followed, known as the "White Terror", well over three thousand Jews were killed.

1919 January 26, POLISH ELECTIONS

Although the Jews won about 10% of the vote they were only allowed to elect 4% of the representatives due to the electoral system.

1919 March 3, EMIR FAISEL

Wrote a letter to Felix Frankfurter expressing his support for the Zionist cause. "We Arabs...look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist Movement....We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome."

1919 March, POLAND

An anti-Jewish boycott became a serious threat. Cooperatives were created to undersell Jews and numerous laws were passed to force Jews out of business and the legal and medical professions.

1919 April 5, PINSK (Poland)

35 well-known Jews were executed. They were taken from a legitimate business meeting of the Jewish Cooperative and accused of being Jewish Bolshevists. Others also arrested were told to dig their own graves and then released.

1919 June 10, COMITE DES DELEGATIONS JUIVES (Committee of Jewish Delegations) (France)

Submitted a proposal to the Paris Peace Conference requesting them to include in all treaties a provision for guaranteeing minority rights. The committee which didn't include the French and British delegations (who considered it too nationalistic), included dozens of Jewish organizations world wide and represented about12 million Jews. Among its resolutions were also that countries would be held responsible for pogroms committed on their soil, and another supporting the rights of the Jewish people to Eretz- Israel. The Committee dispersed in 1936 when it was replaced by the World Jewish Congress.

1919 June 28, TREATY OF VERSAILLES (France)

World War I ended with an Allied victory. Out of the estimated 1,506,000 Jewish soldiers in all the armies, approximately 170,000 were killed and over 100,000 cited for valor. In Germany alone over 100,000 Jews served with 12,000 killed. England saw 50,000 Jews serving with 10,000 causalities and 1,596 decorated for valor.

1919 August 1, HUNGARY

Limited the number of Jews in commerce, law, medicine and banking. The new definition of a Jew was someone who converted after August 1, 1919. An estimated 5,000 Jews converted to Christianity during the weeks before the law went into effect.

1919 August, GENERAL DENIKIN (Russia) 

Commander of the White Russian Army and supported by the United States, he attempted to overthrow the Bolsheviks. He temporarily succeeded in stopping both Petlura and the Bolsheviks. Like Petlura, he identified the Jews with communism and proceeded to carry out his own pogroms, allowing his troops to perpetrate over 213 pogroms, and killing upwards of five thousand Jews.

1919 - 1933 WEIMAR REPUBLIC (Germany)

Provided Jews with full equality yet ironically it gave birth to the greatest catastrophe to the Jews since the destruction of the Second Temple. The republic was divided by communists, national socialists, and monarchists all pulling in different directions. The runaway inflation, the defeat of Germany in World War I, and unemployment were all blamed on the Jews. During the republic over 430 anti-Semitic associations and societies were founded, as well as hundreds (700) of anti-Semitic newspapers, magazines and periodicals. By the end of 1920 the Protocols of the Elders of Zion had sold over 120,000 copies.

1919 August 31, JEWISH DEFENSE ORGANIZATION

Thirty five members of the Jewish Defense Organization were disarmed and shot after the Ukrainian National Army recaptured Kiev from the Bolsheviks. As an organized unit, the Jews had played an important role in the defense of Kiev.

1919 October 11, RIOTS ( Przemysl, Poland)

Broke out and the Jewish militia was disbanded after a rumor spread that Jews were machine gunning Poles. Rumors, no matter how absurd, served as a catalyst for a pogrom.

1920 January, GERMANY

Ripe for anti-Semitism after its defeat in World War I, the first translation of the Protocols was published. It was called The Secret of the Elders of Zion and was published by the Verband gegen die Ueberhebung des Judentums (League against Jewish Arrogance). Led by Ludwig Miller (von Hausen) AKA Gottfried zur Beek. They also published the periodical Auf Vorposten which blamed Germany's defeat on the Jews. The German Protocols was reprinted five times in 1920 alone.

1920 February 24, NSDAP (National Socialist) Party (Germany)

The Nazi party endorsed its own platform which consisted of twenty-five points. Seven of these points concerned the Jews. As part of their program they insisted that Jews could never be citizens or a part of the German Volk (people). That same year the German National Peoples Party (DNVP) also came out "against the predominance of Jewry in government and public life".

1920 April 4 - 5, JERUSALEM (Eretz Israel) 

Anti-Jewish riots. Five Jews were killed and two hundred and eleven wounded. Vladimir Jabotinsky and others were arrested for organizing a self-defense league.

1920 April 24, THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT SAN REMO (Italy) 

Assigned the British government the Mandate over Palestine, directing her to establish a national home for the Jewish people as presented in the Balfour Declaration. As part of their mandate the British were instructed to recognize "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country." In addition, Britain was to "facilitate Jewish immigration" and "close settlement by Jews on the land." The civil administration was established on July 1, 1920 with Sir Herbert Samuel as the first high commissioner.

1920 July 1, SIR HERBERT SAMUEL (England-Eretz Israel) 

A British statesman, he was appointed High Commissioner of Eretz Israel. His first official act was to grant amnesty to political prisoners, including Jabotinsky. He governed the British Mandate for five years - not without confrontation with Zionist ideology. He was knighted in 1937 and took the title Viscount Samuel of Mt. Carmel and Toxteth. During the 1930's he fought to allow more German Jews to immigrate to England and became a supporter of the State of Israel after its formation.

1920 POLAND

Jozef Pilsudski, the Polish statesmen and later first marshal, aligned himself with Petlura and decided to attack Russia in the midst of the Russian Civil Wars. During this attack, which reached as far as Kiev, the armies assaulted the Jewish quarters in each town. Although Pilsudski himself was not considered anti-Semitic, he only acted to stop them after foreign pressure was applied. Approximately thirty thousand Jews were systematically killed before Allied pressure slowed them down. This linked the idea of Polish nationalism with pograms in the mind of the Jews.

1920 TREATY OF TRIANON (Hungary)

Fifty-one percent of Hungary's Jews became citizens of Rumania and Czechoslovakia, yet remained loyal to Hungary. At the same time they were resented as aliens by their host countries. Many of the remaining Jews in dissected Hungary soon assimilated, yet despite this they were regarded as menaces and third class citizens.

1920 January 19, COMMISSION OF INQUIRY (USA)

Under Henry M. Morgenthau issued their report on the anti-Jewish riots in Poland. Morgenthau put much of the blame on Polish Jews stating that in order to "cure the evils of Poland... they must change their mode of life."

1921 May 2, JAFFA (Eretz Israel) 

Arabs rioted, killing forty Jews and wounding two hundred others. The riots soon spread to Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Kfar Saba, Hadera, and Rehovot. Though casualties were "relatively" light, the British decided to immediately suspend Jewish immigration and appease the Arabs by "redefining" the borders of the Balfour Declaration.

1921 YEVSEKTSIA (USSR)

The Yiddish arm of the Communist Party was created as a government tool to control the Jews. It was disbanded in 1929.

1921 - 1944 November 7, HANNAH SZENES (Senesh) (Eretz Israel-Hungary) 

Poet and freedom fighter. Born in Hungary, she immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1939 and joined kibbutz Sedot Yam. Her poem Halikha LeKesariya ("A Walk to Caesarea") is famous today as Eli Eli ( My God My God). In 1942 a call went out for volunteers for a special mission against Germany. She joined 32 other young Jews who were trained by the British to infiltrate behind enemy lines. While in Yugoslavia she wrote her famous poem wrote the poem Ashrei ha-Gafrur ("Blessed is the Match"). She was captured in June 1944 and executed November 7, 1944 . Six other parachutists lost their lives during their missions. Her diary and many of her poems were published after her tragic death. She was reburied in 1950 on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

1922 June 24, WALTER RATHENAU (Germany) 

The Jewish German foreign minister was assassinated by anti-Semitic nationalists who blamed Germany's defeat in World War I on the Jews.

1922 August, SHARON, CONNECTICUT (USA)

Chamber of Commerce urged land owners not to sell to Jews.

1922 September, HUNGARY

College enrollment for Jews was restricted. Hungary was the first nation to openly disregard the Minorities Rights Treaty adopted at the Paris Peace Conference which dealt with the basic civil, political, and religious rights of minorities.

1922 November 11, MUNICH PUTSCH (Germany) 

General Ludendorff and an Austrian corporal named Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) were arrested after a short parade proclaiming the overthrow of the government. Hitler was sent to Landsburg prison where he wrote Mein Kampf (My Battle), a vicious harangue against democracy, communism, the Versaille diktat and, of course, the Jews as the root of all evil. The book became the "Bible" of the Nazis, and was published in almost every major country. Hitler himself soon rose (1925) to become leader of the Nazi Party and chancellor of the German Reich in 1933. Hitler's compulsive hatred of everything Jewish, coupled with his pathological personality, led him to become the first person in history to systematically conceive and implement the extermination of European Jewry.

1923 BURTON HENDRICK (USA)

In his book The Jews in America, he called for the barring of further Jewish immigration.

1923 January 30, SOL BLOOM (1870-1949) (USA)

Was elected to Congress, and would serve until his death in 1949. Bloom was born into a poor Orthodox family yet succeeded in amassing a small fortune enabling him to retire early and enter politics. Bloom was a strong supporter of Roosevelt and was appointed as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the beginning of the war. Although he made an effort to increase the number of Jews allowed into the United States, he did little to antagonize the administration and supported the State Department's positions. After the war, he became a supporter of Israel.

1924 JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE

The Joint agreed to donate funds to help the Russian government resettle Jews in the Ukraine. Fewer than fifteen thousand were actually resettled.

1924 JOHNSON ACT (USA)

Immigration quotas were reduced to two percent of the number of foreign born persons of each nationality that was present in 1890. As a result, immigration was reduced to a trickle. Between 1933-41 the same amount of German Jews (157,000) entered the USA as entered in 1906.

1924 - 1930 FOURTH ALIYAH (Eretz Israel)

Was comprised mainly of older Jews who feared conditions in Europe and were barred from the United States by its closed door policy (the Johnson Act). Nearly half of the 62,000 immigrants were from Poland. Due to an economic slump, 11,000 of the immigrants subsequently left the country.

1925 April 30, PARIS (France) 

The Revisionist Party (Brit Ha-Tzionim Ha-Revisionistim) was founded by Zev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky adhered to the Herzlian concept that Zionism is basically an ideological movement. He demanded a more aggressive policy toward the British, believing that only world-wide pressure would force the British to abide by the Mandate. The revisionists believed that the highest priority of the Zionist movement should be in bringing the greatest number of Jews to Eretz Israel in the shortest possible time.

1925 AUSTRIA

Deans of all Austrian universities decided to deny Jews positions in higher education.

1926 - 1995 (16 Cheshvan 5755) SHLOMO CARLEBACH (Germany-USA) 

Singer and composer. Reb Shlomo, as he was known, is considered "The Father of Modern Jewish Music". He successfully synthesized the American folk idiom with traditional and Hasidic music, creating a following in both the observant and non-observant Jewish communities around the world. During the 1960's he established the "House of Love and Prayer" in San Francisco, which served as a magnet for many non-committed Jews. It was the only Jewish presence in Haight-Ashbury, a gathering point for young seekers in the 1960's and 1970's. Reb Shlomo's activities in Israel and the USA helped spur the Baal Teshuvah movement which brought many Jews back to Jewish observance.

1927 June 30, HENRY FORD (USA) 

The automobile magnet was forced to publicly apologize for libel against the Jews. Aaron Sapiro, a lawyer, had accused Ford and his Dearborn Independent of the libel. Although the case was a personal one, the newspaper's anti-Semitic propaganda figured heavily in the case. Ford was forced to retract some of his accusations and apologize.

1929 August 16, ERETZ ISRAEL

Although warned by the Zionist Executive that the Arabs were preparing to attack the Jews of Jerusalem with massive riots, High Commissioner Sir John Chancelor refused to cut his vacation short, declaring that relations between the two sides were improving. The day after the ninth of Av, after Friday prayers, two thousand Arabs attacked Jews praying at the Western Wall. One Jewish youth was stabbed in the back. The British Government refused to condemn the attack, leading the Arabs again to believe that the British supported their riots.

1929 August 23, ERETZ ISRAEL 

Arabs began to riot throughout pre-state Israel after Moslem Friday prayers. The next day, the riots spread to Hebron where over 60 Jews were killed and over 50 injured. During the week of August 23-29, 113 Jews were killed and 339 wounded. As a result, Sir Walter Shaw headed a commission which urged the banning of Jewish immigration and absolved the Arabs and the Mufti of guilt. Another commission led by Sir John Simpson declared that the entire Zionist operation was unsound and undesirable. Both of these commissions were under the auspices of Lord Passfield, the British Colonial Secretary.

1930 October 20, LORD PASSFIELD (Eretz Israel) 

Issued his "White Paper" banning further land acquisition by Jews and slowing Jewish immigration. Weizmann, who had always toed a pro-British line, resigned in protest.

1931 - 1934 ENGLEBERT DOLFUSS (Austria)

An anti-communist who served as chancellor. He soon convinced the president to appoint him dictator (1933). Although he persecuted the Nazis, he considered all Jews communists and treated them as such.

1931 - 1939 FIFTH ALIYAH (Eretz Israel)

One hundred thousand Jews came to Eretz Israel, most of them from Germany.

1931 MANDATORY GOVERNMENT (Eretz Israel)

Decided that the Western Wall area was part of the Temple Mount and belonged to the Moslem Wakf. Therefore Jews would henceforth not be permitted to blow the Shofar as part of prayers services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

1932 HERBERT HENRY LEHMAN (USA)

Was elected New York's first Jewish governor. From that time on, Jews formed a pact with the Democratic Party.

1933 March 10, DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP (Germany)

Was established. It was the first of the SS run imprisonment camps. A month earlier Germany passed a law which would allow people to be imprisoned for an unlimited period of time if they were deemed hostile to the regime. Soon after other camps were set up to hold such prisoners. Often factories were set up near the camps and paid for the "use" of laborers. Although not a "death or extermination camp" per se, Dachau and other camps like it practiced daily murder, starvation, and sadistic medical experiments on their inmates. Forty thousand Jews probably died in Dachau. Other camps included Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Ravensbrueck (for women). Several of the camps had crematoria to get rid of the large number of corpses. According to an agreement with Himmler, the Gestapo were the ones to make the arrests while the SS ran the camps. Only in 1941 were the special death camps or extermination camps created.

1933 March 20, VILNA (Lithuania) 

At the initiative of the Jews of Vilna, an anti-Nazi boycott began. It eventually spread all over Poland and to many countries in Europe. Yet within 6 months Poland itself signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler which called for the cessation of all boycott activities.

1933 March, BRESLAU (Germany)

Jewish lawyers and judges were attacked by the Nazis. This was the first official violence against Jews.

1933 April 7, BEGINNING OF ANTI-JEWISH LEGISLATION (Germany)

The Civil Service Law prohibited Jews from holding public service jobs. These included the civil service, army, labor service, commerce, teachers and lawyers.

1933 April 11, NICHTARIER ("non-Aryan") (Germany)

Became a legal classification, known as the Arierparagraph (Aryan Clause). According to this, anyone who had a Jewish grandparent was considered Jewish even if the person had converted. This made it "legal" to discharge Jews from their position in the universities, hospitals, and legal professions. In some countries under later NAZI occupation (Italy, Bulgaria, etc.) this definition was modified so that it didn't include the children of converts or converts who were married to local Christians.

1933 April 26, THE GESTAPO (Geheime Staatspolizei) (Germany)

Secret State Police was established. After a short time Hermann Goering was appointed as commander and changed its character to one of a political police force. Within a year Goering agreed to transfer the Gestapo to Heinrich Himmler where it came under the jurisdiction of the SS. The Gestapo was in charge of investigating, along with the S.D. all enemies of the Reich of which the Jews figured prominently. In addition the Gestapo eventually played a major role in planning and the carrying out of the "Final Solution". Although the S.S. for the most part ran the concentration camps, the Gestapo was responsible for rounding up the Jews as well as overseeing the Einsatzgruppen or Special duty groups. In 1936, Reinhard Heydrich became head of the Gestapo and Heinrich Müller, its chief of operations. Müller took over after Heydrich's assassination in 1942. He disappeared near the end of the war and was never caught.

1933 April 26, BISHOP WILHELM BERNING AND MONSIGNOR STEINMANN

Special envoys from the Pope met with Hitler, who proposed that he was "doing Christianity a great service" with his policy regarding the Jews. The Vatican representatives described the meeting as "cordial and to the point."

1933 May 17, NORWAY

Vidkun Quisling established the Norwegian Fascist Party. About 1,800 Jews lived in Norway.

1933 July 26, REVOCATION AND ANULLMENT LAW (Germany)

Was passed, providing the Nazis with a "legal" tool to revoke the naturalization of Eastern European Jews living in the Reich.

1933 August 25, TRANSFER (Haavara) AGREEMENT

Negotiated between the German Zionist Federation, the Jewish Agency and the German Finance Ministry. The agreement encouraged the emigration of German Jews. Although forced to leave their assets in Germany, they received partial payment through the Jewish agency which in turn imported and sold German goods for the same amount of capital although it was forced to accept a far lower rate of exchange. Levi Eshkol (later prime minister) was sent to Berlin to run the company. The agreement was strongly criticized by Jabotinsky and those Jews trying to organize a boycott of German goods. In all, $40,419,000 was transferred to Germany by 1939, while almost 60,000 German Jews were able to leave to Eretz Israel.

1933 POLAND

Members of anti-Semitic political organizations (Endeks and Naras) attacked Jews in the streets.

1933 - 1939 BRITAIN

Admitted 75,000 Jews.

1933 July 25, JACOB ROSENHEIM (Germany)

President of Agudat Israel in Germany pleaded with Lord Melchett of Britain and British Chief Rabbi Hertz not to boycott German goods, calling it "a near crime against humanity". Agudat Israel was afraid that such actions would become provocations and goad Hitler to pursue a harsher policy against the Jews.

1934 March 23, LAW REGARDING EXPULSION FROM THE REICH (Germany)

Was passed. It became the basis for the deportation of Eastern European Jews.

1934 May 1, DER STÜRMER (Germany) 

The Nazi periodical, run by Julius Streicher, reminded people that Jews were accused of ritual murder of Christian children during the Middle ages.

1934 May 2, LOUIS T. MCFADDEN

A congressman from Pennsylvania who attacked the Jews in Congress. This was the first act of political anti-Semitism in the United States.

1934 AFGHANISTAN

Two thousand Jews were expelled from towns and cities and forced to live in the wilderness.

1934 July 2, THRACE POGROMS (European part of Turkey)

Which had begun a few weeks earlier with a boycott of Jewish owned businesses, soon included actual attacks on Jewish property. They occurred after the passing of the Turkish Resettlement Law (which proposed forceful assimilation of non-Turkish minorities), and a recent visit by the inspector general of Thrace, Ibrahim Tali Ongoren. He was quoted as stating publicly “The Jew of Thrace is so morally corrupt and devoid of character … worships gold, and knows no love of the homeland.” Approximately 10,000 Jews fled to Istanbul and other areas, before calm was re-established. No reparations or efforts to restore stolen property were made.

1935 September 15, NUREMBERG LAWS (Germany)

"The law for the protection of German Blood and Honor" was instituted. As part of these laws, it became a capital offense to marry or have intimate relations with a Jew. The law was more specific than the 1933 laws regarding mixed or Mischlinge Jews, which defined as a Jew as anyone with one Jewish grandparent. The racial law was based on that Nazi belief that the basic freedoms of individuals were superseded by "racial or national characteristics" which were supposed to make some people inferior to others. As part of the "Reich Law", Jews were no longer citizens (with rights) but rather subjects of the Reich. These were among the 2,000 laws enacted against Jews which included the revoking of German citizenship, the prohibition against serving in the public sector, owning or editing newspapers, or immigrating to Germany.

1936 March 18, MASS PROTESTS (Poland)

By Jews and Polish workers against anti-Semitic violence. Despite the tens of thousands who joined, the effect was insignificant.

1936 February 29, CARDINAL AUGUST HLOND (Poland)

Newly appointed Primate of Poland. He declared in a pastoral letter that since Jews are usurers, slave traders and frauds, Poles should boycott their businesses.

1936 April 21, BEGINNING OF THE 36-39 RIOTS (ME'ORAOT) (Eretz Israel)

Arab headquarters called for a general strike and a rebellion against the Mandate in an effort to prevent Jewish immigration. Initially 80 Jews were murdered and 308 wounded. By the fall of '39, over a hundred Jews had been killed in Arab attacks. The official Zionist policy at the time was havlagah (self-restraint).

1936 June 4, PRIME MINISTER FELICJAN SLAWOJ-SKLADKOWSKI (Poland)

Endorsed an "economic war" against the Jews

1936 December 5, IRGUN ZVAI LEUMI (Etzel)(Eretz –Israel) 

Signed an agreement with Vladimir Jabotinsky. The Irgun, which was known at that time as Haganah Bet, was under the command of Abraham Tehomi who had split with the Haganah five years earlier. The agreement was that Tehomi would be the commander under Jabotinsky's political guidance. Tehomi rejoined the Haganah a year later and took 30% of his forces with him. The Irgun believed that armed force was a prerequisite for the creation of a Jewish state, that Arabs who attacked Jews should expect retaliation and that no one had a right to prevent Jews from immigrating. The relationship between the Irgun and the Haganah was usually stormy, though they did have periods of cooperation.

1936 POLAND

Edward Smigly-Rydz (Pilsudski's immediate successor) ordered Jews to be segregated in university classrooms. He was part of what was known as the anti-Semitic "colonels" clique." (see 1937)

1937 March 14, POPE PIUS XI 

Criticized the Nazis for interfering with Catholic education in the Third Reich. Although he denounced Nazi racism and totalitarianism, he also mentioned that the Jews were guilty of deicide. This was one of the few times the Vatican came out publicly against the Nazi regime. The next pope, Pius XII, did even less.

1937 June, BRAZIL

The ministry of Foreign Affairs distributed a secret memo urging all Brazilian consuls not to grant visas to Jews. In spite of this, between the years 1933 and 1945 almost 100,000 Jews made their way to Latin America.

1937 October 20, POLAND

In response to discrimination policies, Jews, assorted liberals and students went on strike. Within a few weeks the government succeeded in putting down the strike and enforcing its decrees.

1937 LOUIS DARQUIER DE PELLEPOIX

Founded and headed the Rassemblement anti-Juif de France. His program included promoting the "Protocols" and his own magazine, La France Enchaines, as well as calling for the expulsion or extermination of the Jews. During the war he became Commissioner General for Jewish affairs and helped deport nine thousand foreign Jews to German camps.

1937 February 7, BOLESLAW PIASECKI (Poland)

Head of the Oboz Narodowo-Radykalny National Radical Camp – ONR) a facist Polish party which supported 'Catholic totalitarianism', called for the expulsion of all Jews from Poland

1938 January 21, ROMANIA

Jewish citizenship was revoked. Miron Cristea - patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church and successor to Goga - declared: "The Jews are sucking the marrow from the bones of the nation."

1938 March 13, HITLER ENTERED AUSTRIA (the Anschluss) 

To the greetings of the Church and Cardinal Innitzer. All Catholic Churches flew the Nazi flag and rang bells in honor of Hitler's troops. Dr. Arthur Seys-Inquert, who later achieved infamy as a mass murderer of Jews, was appointed chancellor. Austria was annexed to Germany and with it the Austrian Jews.

1938 June 1, MASS ARRESTS (Germany)

Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Gestapo, also known as the Secret Police, ordered the arrest of thousands of German Jews. Most were sent to Buchenwald which soon had to be enlarged. Others were sent to Dachau and Sachsenhausen. In Dachau the prisoners were told to make lots of yellow stars in preparation for a new influx of prisoners.

1938 June 29, SHLOMO BEN YOSEF (Shalom Tabachnik) (Eretz Israel)

Was hung for alleged terrorist activities. Ben Yosef a member of Betar, along with Abraham Shein, and Sholom Djuravinand attacked an Arab bus in retaliation for the murder of 6 Jews. Although no one was killed in the attack, he was tried, convicted and despite world wide protests, hung by the British. His last words were reportedly "Restraint (Havlaga) is fatal".

1938 July 5, EVIAN CONFERENCE (France) 

Was called by President Roosevelt, eleven days after Hitler annexed Austria, to discuss what to do about the Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi Germany (It took three months to arrange). Delegates of thirty-two nations attended and decided they could do very little. The Dominican Republic and Costa Rica were the only countries willing to take in Jews fleeing Europe - and then only for payment of huge amounts of money.

1938 July 25, DEFINITION OF PROTECTIVE CUSTODY (Germany)

Was extended to "Persons … endanger the existence of …State" As such, anyone falling into the above category could be incarcerated without legal redress - particularly communists and Jews.

1938 August 1, EICHMANN ESTABLISHED THE CENTER FOR JEWISH EMIGRATION (Vienna, Austria) 

Eichmann (1906-1962) was so successful in forcing Jews to emigrate and confiscating their property that the Center later served as a model in Prague and in Berlin. Eichmann had joined the SS in 1933 and served in Dachau. His promotions were partly due to friendship with Ernest Kaltenbrunner who later commanded the Reich Security Head Office (R.S.H.A.) and partly due to his total association with Nazi ideals. Eichmann was compulsive about details and in preparation even learned some Yiddish and Hebrew. He eventually came to head Gestapo's Section IVB4. Eichmann's fanaticism in carrying out the "Final Solution" even came at the expense of the German war efforts. Eichmann was captured by Israeli agents in Argentina in May 1960 and put on trial in Jerusalem. A year later he was hung, his body cremated and his ashes strewn into the sea.

1938 August 8, MAUTHAUSEN (Austria)

Was established. It was the first Austrian concentration camp and one of the most notorious of all the camps. Run by the SS, it was originally for Austrian anti-Nazis taken under the "protective custody law" of 1936, but it soon contained Spanish Republicans, "enemies of the state" and Jews. Situated near a quarry, its victims were forced to carry heavy loads up over 150 steps. Most of the prisoners (Jews and non-Jews) were classified as "return not desired." A gas chamber was later installed and satellite camps were opened. Franz Ziereis served as its commandant from the beginning until he was captured and shot in May 1945. 122,767 out of an estimated 335,000 prisoners were murdered.

1938 August 18, - December, SWITZERLAND

Closed its borders to Jewish refugees who could not produce valid entry visas. Despite this, Paul Gruninger, the local police chief of St. Gallen (near Austria) permitted 3,600 Jews to enter Switzerland. In December 1938, he was suspended and charges were later brought against him. Found guilty of insubordination, he was sentenced a stiff fine and lost his position and pension. In 1971, he received recognition from Yad Vashem as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations".

1938 October, GERMANY

Forcibly deported 17,000 Jews to Poland. Poland refused them entry, forcing them to remain in No Man's Land. Germany continued to expel small groups, often using force to prevent them from reentering Germany after they were turned away at the Polish border by the Polish police.

1938 November 9, KRISTALLNACHT (Germany) 

Goebbels called vom Rath's murder "a Jewish conspiracy" and a nation-wide pogrom was organized by the German government. Fifty thousand Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps, five hundred synagogues were destroyed and the Jewish community of Germany was forced to pay one billion reichmarks ($400,000,000) for the damage.

1938 November 28, APPEARANCE DECREE (Germany)

Jews were banned from certain districts and the hours of any public appearance were restricted.

1938 December, RUSSIA

By this time Yiddish was spoken by less than one quarter of the Russian Jews.

1938 November 17, ANTI JEWISH LEGISLATION (Italy)

Was passed confiscating Jewish property and banning Jews from all positions in the civil service. All Jews who became citizens after January 1, 1919 were deprived of their citizenship and were commanded to leave Italy no later than March 1939.

1938 August 13, L'Osservatore Romano

The Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, reported on the churches “protective” measures for Jews. “But if Christians were forbidden to force Jews to embrace the Catholic religion, to disturb their synagogues, their Sabbath and their festivals, the Jews, on the other hand, were forbidden to hold public office, civil or military; and this prohibition extended even to the children of converted Jews. The precautionary decrees concerned the professions, education, and business positions”.

1939 October 8 - 12, GERMAN PARTITION OF POLAND

Hitler divided Poland into various districts (gauen). He incorporated into Germany two districts: Danzig (Gdansk) and what became known as the Wartheland which included the provinces that had been lost in the First World War plus the Lodz district. All Jews were ordered to leave the Wartheland except for those in the Lodz ghetto where Reich Jews would also be interned. Before the war, Lodz had 233,000 Jews - one-third of the population. The district had 390,000 Jews. The ghetto was totally liquidated by the end of August 1944.

1939 January 1, GERMANY

As part of what was known as the compulsory aryanization process, all Jewish retail businesses were eliminated. All Jewish owned stocks were forbidden to be traded on the free market but had to be sold to a German competitor or association. This edict was signed just a month earlier by the Economic and Justice ministries. In addition, Jews were also forbidden to drive automobiles and their licenses had to be turned in.

1939 March 3, CARDINAL PACELLI 

A long time semi-supporter of the German government, became Pope Pius XII. In October 1941 Harold Tittman, a U.S. delegate to the Vatican, asked the pope to condemn the atrocities against Jews; Pius replied that the Vatican wished to remain "neutral." In September 1942 the Popes Secretary of State,Luigi Maglione in a reply to a query stated "that the rumors about genocide could not be verified" that same year he commented that that the Vatican was "unable to denounce publicly particular atrocities". This policy of refusal to publicly condemn Nazi atrocities continued throughout the war. Albeit, after the war Pius called for forgiveness for all, including war criminals.

1939 May 5, HUNGARY

Two-thirds of Hungary's Jews who became citizens after 1914 were denaturalized. The bill was first presented by ex-Prime Minister Bella Imredy. Jews had to leave all government related positions before the end of the year.

1939 May 15, RAVENSBRUCK (Germany) 

A women's concentration camp was opened near Mecklenburg. The camp originally took in political prisoners and Gypsies and eventually resistance fighters and Jews. Many of the prisoners were used for "medical" experiments. The camp was active until April 1944 when the Red Cross negotiated the release of the survivors. Of the 132,000 women who were sent to Ravensbruck 92,000 died.

1939 June 21, BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA

The status of the Jews was classified by Konstantin von Neurath, the Reich Protector, in agreement with German legislation. This was always the first step with any German takeover. After Jews were "appropriately" defined it was only a small step to confiscation of property and deportation. Out of the 90,000 Jews in the protectorate only 10,000 would survive.

1939 September 1, GERMANY ATTACKED POLAND

Beginning of World War II. Out of the 3,351,000 Jews in Poland, 2,042,000 came under Nazi rule while 1,309,000 came under Soviet rule. Within two days the British and French declared war on Germany. During the war a million and a half Jews fought on the side of allied forces: 555,000 for the USA; 500,000 for the Soviet Union; 116,000 for Great Britain (26,000 from Palestine and 90,000 from the British Commonwealth); and another 243,000 for other European nations.

1939 May 14, GERMAN LINER ST. LOUIS (Germany-Cuba-USA)

Set sail from Hamburg with 930 Jewish refugees with American quota permits and special permission to stay temporarily in Cuba. Cuban President Frederico Bru declared all but 30 of the permits worthless due to new regulations. Despite exhaustive efforts by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the depositing of half a million dollars in a Havana account, President Bru refused to budge. The U.S. also refused to take in any refugees and sent Coast Guard boats to prevent passengers from jumping overboard. After all efforts failed, The St. Louis was forced to return to Europe. The German Press gloated: "We say we don't want Jews while the democracies claim they are willing to receive them." A Gallup poll reported that 83 percent of Americans opposed the admission of a larger number of Jewish refugees.

1939 July 27, CENTRAL OFFICE FOR JEWISH EMIGRATION (Prague)

Was opened by Adolph Eichmann. As in other offices of this kind, Jews were forced to register for emigration,and had to turn over their property as part of a "Jewish emigration tax." For the next 15 months until emigration was banned 26,629 Jews succeeded in fleeing.

1939 October 12, VIENNA (AUSTRIA) AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA

First deportation of Jews to Poland.

1939 October 27, POLAND

Forced labor was instituted by Hans Frank for all Jews between the ages of 14 through 60.

1939 December 11, BRITAIN CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS (Eretz Israel)

To join the British army. Most of the Jews boycotted the call since the British refused to allow Jews to serve in combat units.

1939 September 21, REINHARD HEYDRICH (Germany)

Invited 15 people (including Eichmann) to a conference to determine policy regarding the Jews and the Einsatzgruppen (special action groups). Their resolution (although it didn't go into details) made use of the words "First steps in the Final Solution". Heydrich ordered the segregation of all Jews into ghettos and the formation of local Jewish councils (Judenrats). The Judenrat was in Heydrich's words" made fully responsible for the exact and punctual implementation of all instructions released or yet to be released." These councils or Judenrats were designed to force the Jews to be part of the system of their own destruction by letting them think that they could save some Jews by agreeing to forget about some of the rest. Some people considered the Judenrat as collaborators and others viewed them as continuing pre-war communal work. There were 128 Judenrats in Nazi occupied Poland (or what was known as the General Government). Some heads of the Judenrats cooperated with the Nazis hoping to save the remainder. Others (about 40 of them) preferred to commit suicide rather than turn over Jews for deportation.

1939 December 21, DEPARTMENT IV OF THE RSHA (Germany)

Was established by Reinhard Heydrich as the center for handling the evacuation of Jews from the Eastern territories. Himmler and Heydrich named Adolf Eichmann to head this department.

1939 December 31, ERETZ ISRAEL

During the year 1939, 34 immigrant boats tried to break through the British blockade. Seventeen new settlements were founded and more than 100 Jews were killed by Arab terror.

1939 - 1941 AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE (JDC or JOINT)

And HICEM, the European affiliate of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, rescued approximately 30,000 European Jews. Despite this, or maybe because of this, the U.S. Office of censorship, in a memo dated March 1942, stated that they should be viewed with suspicion since they could be used by the Nazi's to bring in spies.

1939 September 8, GERMAN TROOPS OCCUPIED LODZ (Poland)

With over 230,000 Jews living there. By the time the Russians arrived on January 19, 1945 they found less then 10,000 Jews left.

1939 September 9, BEDZIN (Poland)

In a special operation, the Einsatzkommandos (The Nazi Special action groups which served as Mobile Killing Units) began to burn down synagogues. In Bedzin, the synagogue was set on fire and fire fighters were not allowed to put it out. The fire extended to the Jewish area and the Jews were not allowed out of their houses. Hundreds burned to death.

1939 September 17, RUSSIA

Invaded Poland. Within ten days the Polish army surrendered. Tens of thousands of Jews fled from teh German zone to the Soviet zone.

1939 September 23, GERMANY

Jews were forbidden to own radios.

1939 September 27 - 28, POLAND SURRENDERED 

Warsaw fell. Poland's capital, home to 350,000 Jews, surrendered to German troops after a three-week siege. Out of over 90,000 Polish Jewish soldiers, 32,216 were killed and another 61,000 captured, most of them dying in captivity. The first stage of surrender was the forcing of all Jews into large cities and the establishing of local Jewish councils. The second stage was ghettoization (May 1940) - total separation from other populations, and the final stage (December 1941) was annihilation. At the outbreak of the war there were 3.3 million Jews in Poland. Less than 300,000 would survive.

1939 September 28, GERMANY AND RUSSIA DIVIDED POLAND

Russia absorbed the Baltic States. Over the next 6 months, these would include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and parts of Bessarabia, Galicia, Belarus, and Bukovina. This added 2,170,000 Jews to Russia's population of 3 million Jews. Russia would give some of the Baltic States only a vague semblance of independence which created resentment and prepared the way for their eventual welcoming of the Germans in June 1941. Around 1 million Jews were later killed in those areas, many of them by local special police who were active participants in their murder.

1940 September 6, KING CAROL RESIGNED (Romania) 

Bowing to German pressure. This left the way for Ion Antonescu, the former minister of defense, to take power. Now a National Socialist state with the Iron Guard, its police force began anti-Jewish programs. The Iron Guard was similar to the SS and served as a political police force. Many Romanian guards joined the SS and took part in the mass killings of Jews. In Romania approximately 300,000 people (50% of the Jewish population) were murdered. rnrnrn

1940 October 7, ALGERIA

French citizenship was withdrawn from all Jews by the Vichy government. They rescinded the Crémieux Decree which had secured them French citizenship since October 1870. Although two years later the allies recaptured Algeria, it took almost another full year and the personal intervention of President Roosevelt, for the Crémieux Decree to be reactivated on October 20, 1943.

1940 October 28, BELGIUM 

The German military occupation defined Jews according to the Nuremberg laws and demanded that they all register. In all only 42,000 registered and between 10,000 -15,000 either refused or went into hiding. Despite the local fascist movement, the Rexists, most of the Belgium people did not support Nazi persecution of the Jews. The military Governor General Alexander Von Falkenhausen and his deputy Eggert Reeder, although unenthusiastic about Nazi racial policies, never the less cooperated with the Security office especially when it came to foreign born nationals.At their trial in 1951. although guilty of departing 25,000 Jews. They were sentenced to 12 years but ended up only spending three weeks in prison.

1940 November 15, GHETTOS SEALED (Poland) 

The Warsaw ghetto, with more then 400,000 Jews, and the Krakow ghetto, with 70,000 Jews, were sealed off.

1940 August 30, "VIENNA AWARDS" 

Under pressure by Germany and Italy, Romania was forced to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary, which put 150,000 more Jews under Hungarian control. Parts of Slovakia had been added to Hungary earlier and parts of Yugoslavia (Bacska) were later added as well, adding approximately 318,000 Jews to the 450,000 already living in Hungary. One of Hungary's motivations in signing a pact with the Germans was to gain back all its territory lost in World War I.

1940 July, ARMEE JUIVE; AJ (Jewish Army) (France) 

A Jewish underground resistance movement was formed by David Knout and Abraham Polonski. Originally called the Movement des Jeunesses Sionistes (M.J.S.), it eventually metamorphasized into the Organization Juive de Combat (O.J.C.) and carried out almost 2000 actions against the enemy. Many Jews fought in other units as well, often in leading positions. Among them were: Jean-Pierre Levy the founder of the Franc Tireurs, Jacques Bingen, Ze'ev Gustman and Joseph Epstein (Colonel Gilles). Jews constituted almost 15% of the underground although they were less then 1% of the population.

1940 October 3, VICHY REGIME "The Free Zone" (France) 

Published the Statut des Juifs which eliminated freedom for French émigré Jews in the Free Zone. This Nazi initiated, but French enacted regulation served as the basis for the denial of all foreign born Jews to French nationality or protection under French law including those who had formally become naturalized citizens (see July 22, 1940). In all, 30,000 in the occupied zone and 25,000 in the Free Zone lost their rights.

1940 October 4, VICHY REGIME "The Free Zone" (France)

The Vichy government agreed to the internment of all foreign-born Jews, who were declared stateless. 25,000 thousand German and Austrian refugees were taken to the Gurs, Les Milles or Rivesaltes concentration camps (all operated by the French) where many of them died from hunger and disease.

1940 December 24, LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NATION (Bulgaria) 

Was passed by Parliament (Sobranie) and then signed into law by King Boris. Unlike Germany, the definition of a Jew did not include native Bulgarian Jews who converted, which led to many fictitious conversions. Although Bulgaria's Prime Minister Bogdan Filov, and Minister of Interior Ivalio Gabrovski were eager to please the Germans, especially when it came to anti-Jewish measures, they were met with partial opposition by the Church, other politicians, and many common people. This did not apply to Jews in Macedonia and Thrace. Many German measures had full effect, including confiscation of property, ban on travel and eventual deportation. Of the 64,000 Jews in Bulgaria, 14,000 were murdered. Almost all were from Macedonia and Thrace.

1940 February 8, LODZ (Poland) 

Nazi Germany ordered the setting up of the Lodz Ghetto. Before the war, Lodz was the second largest Jewish community in Poland with 233,000 Jews, one-third of the city's residents. As the Germans arrived around 75,000 fled the city. By May 1st, 160,000 Jews were funneled into the ghetto renamed Litzmannstadt. Of the more than 200,000 who were to live in the ghetto, only about 10,000 would survive. The reality that Lodz was annexed by Germany and isolated from the rest of the city, and the fact that people thought that the work camps may keep them alive, all contributed to the lack of any attempt at revolt.

1940 February 12, GERMANY 

First deportation of German Jews into occupied Poland.

1940 February 26, CONSULTIVE POLITICAL COMMITTEE (London) 

Was formed, which in effect served as the government-in-exile that was also known as the PKP. Part of their job was to coordinate all anti-Nazi efforts in Poland. Many of the delegates - who represented various political parties - were distinctly unfriendly to the Jews.

1940 April 27, AUSCHWITZ (Poland) 

Under Himmler's orders, work began on Auschwitz. The first and smallest camp was used for German criminals. Later it was used for Polish prisoners as well. It only began taking in massive numbers of Jews in March 1942. Auschwitz was to become the main killing center for European Jewry. In May, its first commandant, Rudolf Hoess, was appointed. He eventually constructed the camp at Birkenau and developed an assembly line system for murder. At its peak, Auschwitz was able to "process" 10,000 people in 24 hours. Hoess was later captured by the British and hung on April 16, 1947 on the one-person gallows outside the entrance to the gas chamber.

1940 April 27, H. F. DOWNIE (England)

The British Head of the Middle East Department of the Colonial Office stated that "the Jews are enemies just as the Germans are, but in a more insidious way", and that "our two sets of enemies [Nazis and Jews] are linked together by secret and evil bonds." A year later (March 15, 1941), he wrote " one regret[s] that the Jews are not on the other side in this war."

1940 April 30, LODZ GHETTO (Poland) 

Was surrounded with barbed wire, wooden fences, and outposts making it the first ghetto to be sealed off. In the previous 8 months, more than 70,000 Jews had left the city, with 164,000 remaining in the ghetto.

1940 May 14, NETHERLANDS FALLS 

Just four days after the German invasion and one day after Queen Wilhelmina fled to London, the country surrendered to the Germans. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian lawyer who had played an important role in the Anschluss, was appointed Reich commissioner. Almost all of Holland's Jews lived in three cities with 60% in Amsterdam alone, making it very easy for the Germans to concentrate their efforts. Out of Holland's 140,000 Jews, 80% would perish in the Holocaust. Seyss-Inquart was later hung after the Nuremberg trials.

1940 June 15, LA MER ET L'ENFANT (Paris, France) 

Became the first social welfare organization in occupied France. Under the guidance of David Rapoport, "Mother and Child" helped thousands of Jews. Rapoport and his wife were arrested by the Nazis in June 1943 and deported to Auschwitz where they perished. The La Mere et l'Enfant was originally founded at a day camp known as the Colonie Scolaire which was located at 26 Rue Amelot. There were also known by some as the Rebels of the Rue Amelot.

1940 June 22, FRENCH ARMISTICE (Compiégne, France) 

Was signed. France was divided into two sections; an occupied zone under direct German rule and an unoccupied "free" zone in Vichy. It was estimated that of the 350,000 French Jews, less than half were native born. Approximately 90,000 were murdered.

1940 June 26, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE BRECKINRIDGE LONG (USA) 

Six months after he entered his position as head of the Visa Division, he sent a memo to State Department officials with practical ideas for hampering the granting of U.S. visas. Long was a close friend of Roosevelt, and under orders to block any special efforts to help Jews, he succeeded in cutting those granted visas by half. Long (and many others) believed that any special help for the Jews would detract from the war effort. His policy was to "delay and effectively stop immigration." Long was helped by reports from Laurence Steinhardt, U.S. attorney and diplomat, who considered Jewish refugees undesirable. Ironically this same Steinhardt, later ambassador to Turkey, was effective in trying to save the remnant of Hungarian Jews through the War Refugee Board.

1940 June, - 1942 November, LE CHAMBON SUR LIGNON (near Lyon, France) 

Pastor Andre Trocme encouraged the inhabitants of this small village to help as many Jews as possible. An estimated 5,000 Jews were given refuge. Trocme is one of the over 19,100 people honored as righteous gentiles at Yad V'shem in Jerusalem.

1940 July 22, VICHY GOVERNMENT (France) 

In its first anti-Jewish decree, it revoked the citizenship of naturalized Jews.

1940 July 31, - August 28, CHIUNE (SEMPO) AND YUKIKO SUGIHARA (Kaunas, Lithuania) 

The Japanese Consul-General began issuing travel visas to Japan through Russia so that Jews could get to Curacao and Dutch Guiana where one would not need entrance visas. Despite the Japanese official policy to deny any such visa to Jews, Chiune and his wife Yukiko, sat for many hours writing and signing visas by hand. They issued 300 visas a day which would normally take one month's worth of work for the consul. After the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania he was forced to move on to Germany. It is estimated that he saved well over 3,000 lives. Both were later honored by the Israeli government at Yad Vashem as righteous gentiles.

1940 July 3, MADAGASCAR PLAN (Berlin, Germany) 

Adolph Eichmann prepared a detailed plan for the transfer of four million Jews to Madagascar to be paid for by Jewish confiscated property. The idea was to rid Europe of its Jews and at the same time use them as "hostages" to insure the "correct behavior" of world Jewry. The plan itself dates back to the German anti-Semitic nationalist Paul de Lagarde in 1885. The Germans needed French acquiescence which was predicated on a peace treaty which in turn depended on the end of hostilities with England. On February 1, 1942 the plan was discarded and replaced with the Endloesung, or the"Final Solution".

1941 September 28, ROUNDUP OF JEWS 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 by SS Colonel Paul Blobel. 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.rn

1941 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.

1941 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.

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."

1941 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.

1941 March 29, COMMISSARIAT AUX QUESTIONS JUIVES (France) 

The Commissariat of Jewish Affairs was established. Headed by Xavier Vallat, it became the main authority behind anti-Jewish measures. Surprisingly, when the Germans decided to force the Jews to wear the yellow star in the Vichy zone in June of 1942, he refused to agree to this measure believing it was against French interest and was replaced.

1941 April 10, CROATIA 

Declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Ante Pavelic, head of the Ustache party, initiated anti-Jewish measures within a few weeks, and held wealthy Jews for ransom. His troops, together with a Bosnian Muslim division, took part in the destruction of synagogues and cemeteries. The Muslim division was personally blessed by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the former mufti of Jerusalem. Within a month he established his country's first concentration camp at Danica.

1941 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.

1941 May 14, PARIS (France) 

Thousands of foreign-born Jews were arrested by French police.

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 June 22, FINLAND 

Joined Germany and invaded its old nemesis, Russia. In the following months, Himmler tried to induce the Finns to deport their 2000 Jews. The Finns and their Foreign Minister Rolf Witting flatly refused.

1941 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.

1941 June 27, BIALYSTOK (Poland) 

Was occupied by the Nazis. Some 50,000 Jews lived in the city, which was a major textile center. It was this factor that led the head of the Judenrat, Ephraim Barash, to believe that Jewish work was too important to the German war effort for them to be annihilated. An underground was formed, with the tentative backing of Barash. It was totally disunited.

1941 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."

1941 June, JOSIP BROZ TITO (1892-1980) (Yugoslavia) 

Revolutionary and statesman, he began his revolt against the Germans once they attacked Russia. About 2000 Jews fought together with Marshall Tito including one of his senior lieutenants, Mosa Pijade. The head of his Russian Battalion was a Jew, Pyotr Oransky.

1941 July 18, COMMUNIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE (Russia) 

Issued its first proclamation calling for partisan action against the Germans although in reality it was the following May that partisan action became operational. Until that time most Jewish partisan units operated at their own initiative and alone. It is estimated that 20 - 25,000 Jews joined various partisan units in the German occupied areas during the war.

1941 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.

1941 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."

1941 August 16, AUXILIARY BISHOP VINCENTAS BRIZGYS (Lithuania) 

Filling in for the ailing archbishop, forbade the Lithuanian clergy to help the Jews in any way.

1941 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."

1941 November, GERMANY INVADED THE BALKANS 

6,000 Jews of Saloniki were deported along with 85% of the Jewish Greek population totaling 65,000 Jews.

1941 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.

1941 December, JEWISH PARTISANS IN BELGIUM 

Formed their own groups calling it "The Committee for Jewish Defense." Aside from anti-German actions, they campaigned against voluntarily appearing for deportation to "work camps" which were published by the Judenrat, and saved Jews by hiding 3000 children and 10,000 adults.

1941 December 31, ERETZ ISRAEL 

Due to the war and British restrictions, only 4,600 Jews made it to Israel (the lowest number in 10 years) and only five new settlements were established.

1941 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!").

1941 October, VAAD EZRA V'HATZALAH (Hungary) 

The Relief and Rescue Committee was established by Joel Brand, Samuel Springmann, and Rudolf Kasztner. Later, in January 1943, the organization took on a more official role and Otto Komoly became its chairman.. Their goal was to find ways to save Jews (usually though bribes). Under Komoly they also began to organize non-Jewish protests, against Nazi policies in Hungary, especially among the clergy and politicians. Komoly was murdered in 1945 by members of the Hungarian fascist movement, the Arrow Cross.

1941 November 29, UNION GENERALE DES ISRAELITES EN FRANCE (UGIF) (France) 

Was founded. The UGIF was to function similarly to the Judenrats in Poland and Germany. Officially the Jewish administrative body, its real purpose was to make it easy for the Nazis to keep track off all the Jews in preparation for their deportation to the east.

1941 November 15, - December 5, GERMAN ATTACK ON MOSCOW (Russia) 

One of the turning points of the war. Many Jews played important roles in Moscow's defense, including Jacob Kreiser who attained the rank of general.

1941 October 23, BERNHARD LICHTENBERG (1875 -1943) (Germany) 

A Catholic priest was arrested by the Gestapo. Up until his arrest, Lichtenberg continued to publicly pray from his pulpit in the St Hedwig Cathedral for the both Jews and Jewish Christians, as well as other victims of the Nazi regime . He was imprisoned in May 1942 and offered a deal to be freed in return for his ceasing of all preaching in favor of the Jews – he refused . While being deported to Dachauconcentration camp be became ill and died on November 5, 1943. rn

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 October 15, POLAND 

As part of its plan to concentrate all Jews in one region, a regulation was enacted enforcing the death penalty for anyone leaving any district of the general government.

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 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."

1941 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.

1941 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.

1941 August 24, MOSCOW (Russia) 

A meeting with "representatives of the Jewish world" was called to encourage Jews all over the world to help the Soviet Union in its fight against Hitler. This eventually led to the establishment of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in April of the following year.

1941 August 21, - 1944 August 17, DRANCY CONCENTRATION CAMP (France) 

Drancy served as the main French internment /Assembly camp (Sammellager). It was located near Paris and originally established late in 1940. Until its liberation on August 17, 1944, more than 61,000 Jews were sent onto various concentration camps, the vast majority to Auschwitz. In July of 1943, the camp was taken over by the infamous Alois Brunner. A day after it was totally reserved for Jews, the first escape attempt was made. During its two years, 41 inmates successfully escaped.

1941 June 23, Lithuania

Archbishop Juozapas Skvirecks (1873-1959) the papal prelate, sent a public greeting and prayer to “the German forces and Adolf Hitler”. When asked to intercede in the ongoing massacres of Jews by Lithuanians - he refused. Within 24 hours of the German invasion over150 Jewish communities were destroyed by locals, before German forces even arrived. There were 200,000 Jews were living in Lithuania when the Germans invaded. Less than 10,000 survived, making it one of the highest victim rates in Europe.

1942 January 20, WANNSEE CONFERENCE (Berlin,Germany) 

This conference was meant to coordinate the activities of the ministries involved with the Nazi Party and SS agencies in carrying out the "Final Solution". The conference was convened by Heydrich and assisted by Eichmann. Heads of the Gestapo and other government offices worked on the bureaucratic details of the methods and logistics needed in carrying out the "Final Solution". Included in the discussions were plans for the mass sterilization of Jews who had mixed marriages, as well as the most efficient methods of mass killings. Their target was the Jewish population in 34 countries which they put at 11 million.

1942 March 26, AUSCHWITZ, POLAND 

The first Jewish transport arrived under the command of Rudolf Hoess, containing 1000 Jews from Slovakia and 1000 women from Ravensbruk. According to a conservative estimate, from March 1942 until the liberation on January 27, 1945 over 750,000 Jews were gassed within its gates. Hoess himself estimated it at 1,135,000.

1942 August 25, RESISTANCE IN THE SARNY GHETTO (Ukraine) 

Was organized after being informed that deportations would soon begin. On the day of the revolt, the Judenrat ordered the organizers to cease all activities, claiming that resistance would be harmful since they would only be deported for work camps. Most of the inhabitants allowed themselves to be convinced, and the revolt was postponed. Between August 27-29, most of the 14,000 Jews were murdered. Only a few succeeded in escaping to the forest.

1942 April 13, SERGEANT ANTON SCHMID (Lithuania) 

Serving in the Wermacht was executed by the Nazis. Schmid was accused of disobeying orders after saving over 250 Jews near Vilna. In 1964 he was awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Israeli government. In May 2000, the German government renamed a military base, Feldwebel Anton Schmid Kaserne, in his honor.

1942 April 20, ZDZIECIOL GHETTO (Dyatlovo, Belarus) 

Alter Dworetsky and all the members of the Judenrat were forced to flee after their activities on behalf of the partisans became known to the Germans. Dworetsky tried to organize an attack on the Germans in the city but the Russian partisans refused to join them and later killed him. Dworetsky's efforts paid off when 800 people succeeded in escaping the ghetto and joined the Orlinski detachment of Russia partisans as a Jewish unit under Hersch Kaplinski. Dyatlovo was the birthplace of Israel Meir HaCohen (the Chafetz Chayim) as well as Jacob Wolf Kranz of Dubno (the Dubno Maggid). By August there were no Jews left.

1942 April 10, PARTISAN UNIT (Minsk, Belarus) 

Was set up by Israel Lapidus who fled the ghetto with 20 men. His unit, known as the Kutuzov detachment, became very active in the area, bombing German supplies even in Minsk itself. Two weeks later, another group under Nahum Feldman also fled the ghetto establishing the Budyonny detachment, of whom many of its guides were 10 -13 years old. All of the units set up became mixed with non-Jews, although many Jews remained in command. The main force behind these efforts was Hersh Smolar (Smoliar), a Communist activist from Bialystok who managed to survive the war and later immigrated to Israel. All of them received direct help from local Belarusns. It is estimated that out of the approximately 10,000 Jews who succeeded in fleeing the Minsk ghetto, more than half survived.

1942 January 16, SENITSA VERSHOVSKY (Ukraine) 

The mayor of the city of Kremenchug was shot for protecting Jews. Kremenchug had over 30,000 Jews before the war, who made up over 40% of the population.

1942 January 31, ESTONIA 

Franz Stahlecker, commander of Einsatzgruppe A , in a report to Himmler, affirmed that there were no more Jews in Estonia and only a few thousand left in Latvia. By the end of the war, 90% of all Jews in the Baltic countries had been eliminated. Stahlecker was killed by Estonian partisans two months later.

1942 January, HUNGARIAN TROOPS (Yugoslavia) 

Massacred several thousands Jews in the Bacska region of Yugoslavia under their control. Although this was not official policy, the perpetrators were able to flee to Germany.

1942 February 1, VIDKUN QUISLING (Norway) 

The head of the pro-Nazi National Union Party (Nasjonal Smaling) was appointed prime minister by Josef Terboven, the Nazi commissioner. Quisling initiated anti-Jewish measures including confiscation of property and the establishing of labor camps. Half of Norway's 1,600 Jews were deported to Auschwitz on October 25, 1942.

1942 July 23, - 1943 October 14, TREBLINKA II (Poland) 

Death camp went into operation with the first transport of Warsaw's Jews. (Treblinka II was different from Treblinka I which was a labor camp and also housed political prisoners). Over 750,000 Jews were murdered there. The camp was closed and dismantled after a revolt.The camp was organized by Odilo Globocnik. Those that ran it included Joseph (Sepp) Hirtreiter and Kurt Franz, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Franz Stangl, who was caught in Brazil and sentenced in 1971 to life imprisonment but died the same year.

1942 February 16, COMMITTEE FOR A JEWISH ARMY (New York, USA) 

Led by Hillel Kook (alias Peter Bergson) took out an ad in the New York Times: "For Sale to Humanity, 70,000 Jews, Guaranteed Human Beings at $50 a Piece." Written by Ben Hecht, a famous Jewish playwright, it brought to the forefront the plight of Jews in Romania and demanded that the United Nations play a role in the rescue of European Jewry. The following week, Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado echoed the demand.

1942 March 2, - 1943 April, BELZEC (Poland) 

The second death camp (and former labor camp) became operational. Over 600,000 Jews, mostly Polish, were murdered in the camp before it was closed by the Germans. Odilo Globocnik was its first commandant. Globocnik was appointed by Himmler to be in charge of the European sector of the "Final Solution" and was involved in organizing Belzec, Sobibor, Majdanek, and Treblinka. He took poison in May 1945. Christian Wirth, another commandant, was killed by Tito's partisans. When the camp was abandoned, local villages were attracted to the site and dug for valuables. In order to obliterate the site, the Germans plowed it over and turned it into a farm run by one of the Ukrainian guards.

1942 March 14, S. BERTRAND JACOBSON (USA) 

The chief representative in Eastern Europe for the Joint, held a press conference. He estimated that the Nazis had already killed 250,000 Jews in the Ukraine and that the Jews of Slovakia would probably begin to be deported very soon. Their deportations actually began within a few weeks.

1942 March 14, VATICAN (Italy) 

Sent a letter to a Slovak official protesting the deportation of Slovakian Jews. The reply by Foreign Minister Vojtech Tuka assured the Vatican that the Jews were being settled in labor camps and that their conditions were "humane." Eichmann and his lieutenant, Dieter Wisliceny, organized "letters" from those deported, to be sent upon their arrival to Auschwitz. They also organized an "inspection" by Fritz Fiala, a pro-Nazi Slovak editor whose report and pictures (censored directly by Himmler) were published in the Slovak and Romanian press.

1942 March 16, The PALESTINE POST (Eretz Israel) 

Printed a small article at the bottom of the page entitled "Warsaw Jews Threatened, Quarter million Jews massacred." Most papers in Eretz Israel refused to print the reports, considering them exaggerated. They also did not wish to "alarm the world."

1942 March, - 1945 January 17, AUSCHWITZ (Poland) 

The largest concentration and death camp began to take in Jews. Auschwitz was divided into three camps. Auschwitz I held both Jews and non-Jews. Auschwitz II, better know as Birkenau, was the main extermination camp. Auschwitz III was used for Jewish slave labor. Over 1,000,000 Jews were exterminated in Auschwitz.

1942 May 15, SLOVAKIA 

Passed legislation exempting any Jew who converted prior to March 14, 1939 (the date of the establishment of the Slovakian state) from being deported. During the previous year, thousands of Jews had tried to convert, hoping that despite the Nuremberg Laws, their conversion would save them.

1942 May 27, YELLOW BADGE (Belgium) 

The Belgium administration refused to disseminate the order for Jews to wear the yellow badge, and the Germans were forced to do it themselves.

1942 June 7, YELLOW BADGE (France) 

Jews were ordered to wear a yellow badge in the occupied section of France. Many Jews marched down the streets of Paris wearing their war medals together with the star and were applauded by the crowds. Xavier Vallat, Commissariat of Jewish Affairs, told the Germans that he would not enforce the regulation and was replaced by Darquier de Pellepoix . A month later, Jews were banned from public places and only allowed one hour a day for shopping.

1942 June 22, GENERAL ERWIN ROMMEL (Egyptian border) 

With Rommel's approach from the south, a general draft was instituted in Eretz Israel. Twenty thousand Jews joined the army.

1942 June 25, ARTUR SAMUEL ZYGELEBOYM (London, England) 

And his compatriot, Dr. Ignacy Schwartzbart, arrived in London and released the most comprehensive account of confirmed massacres to date. Known as the Bund Report, it gave detailed information according to date and location. The report estimated that 700,000 Jews had already been murdered and concluded that the Germans planned to "annihilate" all the Jews in Europe. The Boston Globe published the information the next day, making it the first American newspaper to carry the report.

1942 July, VICHY FRANCE 

Pierre Laval, the new premier of Vichy France (April 1942), agreed to a German request to expel 100,000 Jews from France. Laval conditioned it on limiting it to "foreign born Jews" further stating that neither was he concerned with their children. Within a month, 50,000 foreign born Jews were handed over to the Germans for deportation. Laval was executed for treason October 15, 1945 in France.

1942 July 16 - 17, LARGEST AKTION OF FRENCH JEWS (Paris, France) 

12,884 people, among them 4,051 children, were arrested and imprisoned in the Paris Velodrome d'Hiver cycling stadium. The action had been postponed so as not to conflict with Bastille Day. People were kept there for five days without almost any food and water. In general, the French police would only participate in roundups of foreign Jews, while the Gestapo itself would act against French Jews.

1942 July 19, - October 6, OPERATION (AKTION) REINHARD (Poland) 

Was ordered by Himmler and carried out by Odilo Globocnik. It included mass deportations of Jews within what was known as the General Government in Poland, from small towns to 7 major ghettos. All this was to make it easier for their eventual deportation in the "Final Solution."

1942 July 22, ARMED RESISTANCE IN NESVIZ (Belarus) 

A small town in former Russian territory with less then 6,000 Jews prior to the war. Four thousand had been killed on October 30, 1941 after which the head of the Judenrat, Magalif, began to work with the underground. When the final Aktion came, all those left attacked the Germans with knives, hatchets, sticks, and home made incendiary devices. They then set the ghetto in fire. Only 25 Jews succeeded in reaching the forest and joining the partisan units. Over 40 Germans were either killed or wounded. Many similar incidents occurred in small ghettos in this region, such as Kletsk (on the same day), where 400 people broke out of the ghetto.

1942 July 22, THE GREAT LIQUIDATION (Warsaw, Poland) 

Began. Each day, between 5-6,000 Jews were brought to the Umschlagplatz (literally 'transshipment square')on Stawki street and sent to Treblinka in cattle cars. This continued until September 12, 1942.

1942 June 31, BELGIUM 

Four Jewish partisans dressed as Gestapo officers entered the Judenrat known as the Association de juifs de Belgique (AJB) and destroyed the records and lists of Jews, thus hampering the German effort at deportation.

1942 July, DEPORTATIONS BEGAN IN THE NETHERLANDS 

Jews were first sent to two transit camps, Westerbork and Vught and from there to Auschwitz and Sobibor. Approximately 13,000 Jews were successfully hidden by both Jews and non-Jews. Out of 140,000 Jews before the war, only 35,000 survived.

1942 August 5, THE GHETTO SPEAKS (USA) 

A publication of the Jewish Labor Bund in the United States disclosed information on the murder of 700,000 Jews at Chelmno. Neither the American press - nor for that matter the Jewish press - were prepared to believe the reports.

1942 August 9, MIR REVOLT (Belarus) 

Only 850 Jews were left in the town after the Nazis killed 1500 on November 9, 1941. They were transferred to the old Mirski fortress where many began to plan a revolt. Informed of an impending Aktion, two hundred young people decided to escape and join the partisans rather than try to fight the Germans in the town. Over 15,000 Jews fought under the Russians partisans alone. A few days later, on August 13, all those who were left were murdered.

1942 August 11, MOSCOW RADIO BROADCAST (Russia) 

Described how Jews were forced to dig their own graves in the Nazi-occupied Minsk region.

1942 August 24, FRANCE 

Handed over to the Germans around 15,000 foreign-born Jews. By the end of the month, 25,000 Jews were deported, although not from the "free" zone.

1942 August 26, MARIE-ROSE GINESTE (Montauban, France) 

Traveled well over 100 km by bicycle to hand deliver to other churches, copies of an appeal from Monsignor Pierre-Marie Theas (bishop of Montauban), condemning the deportation of Jews and urging defiance of German orders. Four days later, he proclaimed from his church "all men Aryan or non Aryan are brothers being created by the same God."

1942 September 2 - 3, LACHVA / LACHWA (Belarus) 

German troops, together with Belarusn police, surrounded the ghetto which still had 2,000 people. Dov Lopatin head of the Judenrat refused the German request to line up for deportation. Although many of the town's elders were against taking any initiative, Lopatin and the youth leaders decided to resist even without weapons. As the Germans entered, most of the town attacked them, equipped with axes, sticks, and Molotov cocktails. Between 600 to 700 Jews were killed fighting, and a further 600 succeeded in reaching the forests after killing or wounding about 100 Nazis. The rest were shot by the Germans. Many of those who reached the forests were killed by local police units. Approximately 90 people survived the war.

1942 September 3, JACOB ROSENHEIM (USA) 

President of Agudat Israel received a telegram from Israel Sternbuch, his representative in Switzerland, confirming the mass murder of 100,000 Polish Jews. Rosenheim sent the letter to President Roosevelt, James G. McDonald, the president's advisor on political refugees, and Stepen Wise. McDonald also forwarded it to Eleanor Roosevelt. There was no reply from either Roosevelt.

1942 September 12, MORDECHAI TENENBAUM - TAMAROFF (Poland) 

A member of the Dror youth movement and the Jewish Fighting Organization was asked to organize the underground in the Bialystok ghetto. He also was active in organizing the Warsaw ghetto uprising and served as a contact with Anton Schmid, the Austrian soldier who helped Jews. Tenenbaum probably committed suicide after the failed uprising.

1942 September 12, WARSAW (Poland) 

Only 60,000 Jews remained in the the ghetto.

1942 September 23, TUCHIN/TUCZYN UPRISING(Ukraine) 

Up till then, around 3000 Jews survived by working in the local tannery and cotton mill. After the Germans and Ukrainians surrounded the town, the heads of the community decided to resist and almost the entire town decided not to submit. Among the principal organizers of the resistance were the chairman of the Judenrat Gecel Schwarzman, and his deputy, Meir Himmelfarb. While some were burning down the ghetto, others rushed and flattened the barbed wire fence. Almost 2,000 people succeeded in getting to the forests. Unfortunately, there were no partisans operating in that area and local Ukrainians gave many of them away. Starving and with little hope, 500 of them believed a Nazi promise and returned to the ghetto where they were shot.

1942 October 12, PHILIPPE ETTER (Switzerland) 

The former president of Switzerland persuaded the Red Cross not to adopt any resolution which related to "certain nationalities" ... (who suffered) attacks on their lives for acts they did not commit. On the other hand, Carl Burckhardt, another Red Cross official, helped pass information on the plight of the Jews to the American Legation in Switzerland that same month.

1942 October 15, BEREZA KARTUSKA (Belarus) 

The Germans began to liquidate the A camp (non-productive workers). In response, the Jews set fire to the camp. The local Judenrat was then ordered by the Nazis to hand over Jews for deportation. At their last meeting, many of the members chose to commit suicide rather then help the Germans. While many Jews were killed in the camp itself, over 18,000 were shot outside the town.

1942 October, HUNGARY 

Germany pressured the government of Miklos Kallay to adopt German actions against Hungarian Jews. Kallay, though not against anti-Jewish legislation, balked at the idea of deportation.

1942 October, COUNCIL FOR HELPING JEWS (Poland) 

Was formed by two Polish women Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowiczowa. For their efforts, Kossak-Szczucka was sent to Auschwitz (where she was ransomed) and Krahelska was denounced by the "Polish National Armed Forces" and died in the hands of the Gestapo. This was one of the few Polish organizations which tried to help the Jews. Unfortunately, by the end of 1942, most of Poland's Jews had already been killed.

1942 November 2, MARCINKONIS Marcinkance/Marcinkonys (Lithuania) 

After a demand that the Jews report for "transfer," Aaron Kobrovsky, head of the Judenrat, realized that there was little hope, and publicly called on all the Jews to fight or flee. Some attacked the Nazis while others broke down the fence and fled. Those who reached the forest, including some of the fourteen Kobrovsky siblings (nephews of Aaron). Moyshe, Leyb and Jacob, and Yitzkhok, set up a small unit and managed to purchase some weapons. They later joined the famous "Davidov Company" of partisans and were known for their daring and courage. Most of them survived the war and live in Israel today.

1942 November 7, CAPTURE OF ALGIERS (Algeria) 

Allies landed. Of the 377 resistance members who took Algiers - 315 were Jews. Many of the rebels' leaders were from the Aboulker family, including José 1920-2009)who was one of its founders.. The Americans found it hard to believe that the group had actually taken the town and decided to negotiate with the Vichy leaders, Admiral Darlan and General Juin, for their tactical surrender, leaving the Vichy government in place.

1942 November 25, TEMPORARY COMMITTEE (USA) 

Later known as the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs, was established by Stephen Wise. It was made up of the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, B'nai B'rith, World Jewish Congress, Synagogue Council of America and Agudat Israel of America. Though often at odds with each other, they managed to contact important non-Jews, asking for their help, and to pressure the press to cover the genocide. They also sponsored a national day of mourning and managed to get the only meeting about the Holocaust between Roosevelt and Jewish leaders during the war.

1942 December 8, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT (USA) 

After submitting to friendly pressure by Stephen Wise, who stated that refusal to meet with them may be "gravely misunderstood," met with Jewish leaders of the Temporary Committee for half an hour. Roosevelt spoke 80% of the time and mostly about issues unrelated to the plight of the Jews. After hearing the evidence he confirmed its veracity, stating the U.S. was "well acquainted with most of the facts." Despite his acknowledgement of the planned annihilation of European Jewry his only concession was to agree issue a war crimes warning. The entire holocaust part of the conversation lasted less then two minutes. This was his only meeting with Jewish leaders concerning the Holocaust. His only other meeting to discuss the issue was with 7 Jewish congressmen on April 1 1943.

1942 December 19, THE UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION OFFICE (New York, USA) 

Published a report confirming that the Nazis had made Poland "One vast center for murdering Jews."

1942 December 21, VARIAN FRY (USA) 

After his return to the U.S., he tried to warn of the impending disaster for the European Jews in an article in The New Republic entitled "The Massacre of the Jews."

1942 December 22, AHARON LIEBESKIND (Cracow, Poland) 

The joint forces of HeHalutz HaLohem and P.P.R (Polish Workers Party) Jewish Units attacked German targets in the capital of the General Government. Liebeskind was Secretary of the religious Zionist Akiva movement and commander of the HeHalutz HaLohem (fighting organization of the Pioneer Jews). In the coordinated attacks, dozens of Germans were either killed or wounded. Liebeskind himself was killed in hand-to-hand combat when the Germans attacked his bunker on December 24, 1942. Before he died he succeeded in killing 2 German officers. He is credited with the line: "The Jewish fighters are fighting for 3 lines [telling about us] in history [books]."

1942 December 20, ALPES MARITIMES (Maritime Alps -Italian occupied Vichy France) 

The local French Prefect ordered all foreign-born Jews to leave and relocate in German-occupied areas. Encouraged by Angelo Donati (an influential half Jew), the Italian government, especially its generals, countered the order despite the efforts by Ribbentrop and even Himmler. Thus, the Italian zone became a haven of sorts for Jewish refugees up till September 1943 when the Italian zone was overrun by the Germans.

1942 December 17, FRANCE - SPAIN 

The first organized group of young French Jews left to try crossing to Spain. Upon arrival, they were arrested and spent the next 2 ½ months in the prison of Pampeluna. Only later the next year, under pressure from both England and the United States, did the Spanish government allow refugees to move into boarding houses provided that the funds would come from abroad. Until that time, many of the refugees were kept in camps under appalling conditions. The Spanish government, although rarely turning away people at the border, did its best to discourage refugees crossing over from France.

1942 March 28, FIRST DEPORTATIONS TO AUSCHWITZ (France) 

From France. Many of the 1100 prominent foreign Jews had been arrested the previous December. Some had been held in the Drancy camp, others in the camp at Compiegne.

1942 December, CHAIM MORDECHAI RUMKOWSKI (Lodz, Poland) 

Despite evidence to the contrary, continued in his belief that it is the work of the ghetto that protects the Jews. In a speech, he declared: "our children and grandchildren will proudly remember the names of those who contributed... labor opportunities which grated justification to live".

1942 July 2, PIERRE LAVAL (Vichy, France) 

The premier of Vichy France reinstated in April 1942, agreed to a German request to expel 100,000 Jews from France. Laval conditioned it by limiting it to "foreign-born Jews," further stating that he was also not concerned about their children. Within a month, 50,000 foreign-born Jews were handed over to the Germans for deportation. Laval was executed for treason on October 15, 1945 in France.

1942 July 1, OBERTYN (Ukraine) 

As the Russians withdrew in advance of the German offensive, the local party secretary urged the Jews to join them. The Jews decided to remain, believing the promises of the Ukrainian nationalists that Hitler only wanted them to work. The next day, Ukrainian mobs rounded up all the Jews from the neighboring towns, tied theirs hands with barbed wire and threw them off the ferry into the Dniester river. There were two survivors.

1942 November 11, GERMANS OCCUPIED ALL OF FRANCE 

In response to the allied invasion of North Africa, Germany and Italy occupied all of France. Nazis began to round up Jews in Marseilles. Many Jews in the Vichy areas fled to southern France (which was still occupied by Italy). Ninety thousand French Jews, mostly foreign-born, were deported. Father Pierre-Marie Benoit began to organize the transfer of Jews to the Italian occupation zone. He printed thousands of counterfeit baptismal certificates. For his actions Father Pierre-Marie Benoit was recognized in 1966 as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the State of Israel.

1942 February 7, GIADO (JADU) CONCENTRATION CAMP (Libya)

After the retreat of the British army, Benito Mussolini, ordered the Jews living in Cyrenaica ( the eastern half of Libya) to be deported to an interment camp at Giado, 235 kilometers (146 miles) south of Tripoli. Eight months later approximately 2,600 were transferred to the camp hundreds more were sent to other camps (Sidi Azaz and one in the Tobruk area). Within 3 months 500 Jews died mostly from hunger and sickness, others were shot trying to escape. The British returned in February 1943 but due to the inmates poor health it took months for the camp to be closed down.

1942 August 23, MONSIGNOR JULES-GÉRARD SALIÈGE ( France)

Archbishop of Toulouse, issued a public letter of protest upon receiving information regarding the first deportation of Jews to the Dracy transit camp . All the priests in his diocese read out his letter from their pulpits. They included Bishop Théas of Montauban, Bishop Delay of Marseilles, Cardinal Gerlier of Lyon, Bishop Vanstenbergher of Bayonne, and Archbishop Moussaron of Albi. In November of the previous year he also objected to the treatment of Jews under the Vichy government.

1942 March, IMPLEMENTATION OF RACIST LAWS (Tunisia)

The Vichy governor of Tunisia, Admiral Jean-Pierre Estéva (1880-1951), had succeeded in postponing their implantation for two years and even now did what he could to ease the restrictions. Estéva had visited the ancient synagogue of Ghriba at Djerba in May, 1941 and had made donations to the Jewish poor before Passover. On the eve of WWII there were about 85,000 Jews in Tunisia (2.7% of the general population). More than half of them lived in the capital Tunis.

1942 November 9, GERMANS OCCUPY TUNISIA

For six months, from November 1942 through May 1943. Within the first two weeks they arrested the leaders of the Jewish community, and demanded 3,000 Jews for forced labor. SS Colonel Walther Rauff also ordered all to Jews wear a yellow star on their backs. Jewish property was confiscated, and heavy fines imposed on the community. Thirty two forced labor camps for Jews were set up across Tunisia. The largest of these, were the camps in Bizerte and Mateur, where tens of Jewish prisoners died from disease, labor, punishment by the German guards, and Allied bombings.

1943 September 30, DENMARK 

On Friday morning, the day before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Marcus Melchior of Copenhagen announced that "There will be no services this morning ......tomorrow the Germans plan to ... arrest all the Danish Jews... By nightfall tonight we must all be in hiding." Melchior had been warned by Hans Hedtoft (later Prime Minister) who in turn had been warned by Georg Duckwitz, an attache to the German Merchant Marine. Thus began one of the heroic stories of the Holocaust. On the appointed day, which was also the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the raid took place.
During the next few weeks, over 7000 Danish Jews were hidden and smuggled to Sweden which had promised refuge to any Danish Jews who reached it. Only 202 Jews were found. After the war the Danish Government restored all Jewish property to their original owners.

1943 October 14, SOBIBOR REVOLT (Poland) 

Led by Alexander Pechersky, a former Red Army officer, and a few other Jewish members of the Red Army, a revolt broke out in the Sobibor death camp. Prevented from fleeing through the gates, approximately 80 Jews died trying to escape through the mine fields Prisoners, remaining in the camp, were rounded up and shot. Twelve SS guards were killed, and another 38 guards were killed or wounded. The number of prisoners to initially escape Sobibor was 320 but 170 of them were soon captured and executed. . Of the remaining 150 escapees, 50 joined up with partisan units and the Red Army, of whom 5 were killed, while 92 were killed in hiding, mostly by hostile native elements, Only 53, survived until the liberation. Told of the revolt, Himmler was furious and ordered the camp closed immediately and plowed under by Jewish laborers who were in turn shot when the job was finished. Semyon Rozenfeld, one of the revolt leaders, survived, and was the soldier who carved on the Reichstag wall "Baranovichi-Sobibor-Berlin."

1943 October 16, JUDENRAZZIA (ROUNDUP OF JEWS) IN ROME(Italy) 

In the largest action of its kind in Italy, over one thousand Jews were rounded up and deported directly to Auschwitz by SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lieutenant-Colonel) Herbert Kappler, the head of the Gestapo on Rome. Out of Italy's approximately 40,000 Jews, 8000 Jews or 20% were annihilated. Over 2000 Jews joined various partisan units. Despite the silence of the pope, the help offered by local clergy and the Italian people in general, played a major role in the low number of deportations.

1943 November 14, ITALIAN JEWS KILLED (Ferrara, Italy) 

Italian fascists killed 3 Jews in cold blood in broad daylight. They were not arrested or prosecuted in any way.

1943 December 6, MILAN JEWS DEPORTED (Italy) 

In one of the last major Italian deportations, 212 Jews from Milan were sent to Auschwitz. In all, out of a population of 35,000 before the war, approximately 8500 Jews were killed. An estimated 2000 Jews fought with the partisans, five of them winning Italy's highest medals for bravery.

1943 December 13, VLADIMIRETS-VOLYN (Ukraine) 

As the SS began its extermination of the local population of Vladimiretz-Volyn, they were attacked by 30 armed Jews. A number of the SS officers were killed as well as half of the attacking force. The remainder fled to the forests to join the partisans. The Voroshilov Detachment and (Anton) Brynsky's partisan battalion were made up mostly of Jews who played an important role fighting against Ukrainian Nationalists and Germans, and later helping the Russians as they advanced.

1943 March 9, OPPOSITION TO TRANSPORTATION (Bulgaria) 

Vice-president of the Bulgarian Parliament, Dimitar Peshev protested to Minister of Interior Gabrovski, against planned deportations of Jews. Peshev and 42 fellow members of the National Assembly, presented a petition to the prime minister that successfully held off their deportation. Consequently, Peshev was dismissed as vice president. As a compromise, none of the (approximately 34,000) Jews from old Bulgaria were deported. Yet over 11,384 Jews from Macedonia and Thrace were sent to their death.

1943 May 24, KING BORIS III (Bulgaria) 

Ordered Sofia's Jews to resettle in the provinces as a step to appease the Germans. A demonstration against the order was held that day in front of the King's Palace. The principal cleric, the Metropolitan Stefan, took the chief rabbi into his house for protection.

1943 July 2, ALOIS BRUNNER (France) 

Described by Eichmann as "one of my best men", took over Drancy, the main transit camp in France. During his 14 months in France, he sent an estimated 25,000 men, women and children to their deaths. Brunner was an assistant to Eichmann and was responsible for the deaths of over 128,000 people including 200 Americans. Brunner also masterminded the deportation of Thessaloniki's 50,000 Jews to death camps. Brunner was one of the most wanted war criminals and succeeded in finding refuge in Syria, which steadily refused to give out any information on him.

1943 July 13, YITZHAK (ANTEK) ZUCKERMAN (Antek, Poland) 

A former leader of HeHalutz HaTzair, he became the leader of the ZOB after Mordechai Anielewicz died. He appealed to the Polish Home Guard to allow Jews to join them or at least provide them with arms. His requests were denied. During the uprising, he was assigned to the Polish sector in order to maintain contacts, which he made good use of. He headed the Jewish Fighters Unit of the Polish uprising of August, 1944. After the war, he and his wife Zivia Lubetkin were among the founders of Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot.

1943 July 16, FATHER PIERRE-MARIE BENOIT / PADRE BENEDITTI (Italian Occupied France) 

Known in Marseilles as "the Father of the Jews." Pledging himself to protect Jewish refugees, he met with the Pope Pius XII. Marie-Benoit realized that it was only a matter of time before the Germans took over France and asked the pope to help convince Mussolini to allow 30,000 safe passage through Italy and settle them in North Africa. Unfortunately, with the fall of the Badoglio government and the occupation by the Germans of northern Italy, the plan came to naught.

1943 July 25, MARSHAL PIETRO BADOGLIO (Italy) 

Took over from Mussolini who had been ousted a few days earlier. The Allied invasion of Sicily two weeks earlier began to change Italy's position in the war. Badoglio's short-lived government tried to hamper Nazi efforts to deport Jews to what was known as the "Italian zone" in France.

1943 December, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Issued a new visa application which was four feet long. The waiting period for processing was now nine months. In addition Jews in Nazi held territories had no way of making visa applications since there were no American consulates. Any refugee who succeeded in reaching countries that had an American consulate (Spain, Portugal) was now considered "not in acute danger" and was therefore denied a visa.

1943 August 15, FATHER MARIE-BENOIT (Italian Zone, France) 

And Angelo Donati devised a plan to save over 30,000 Jews in the Italian zone by taking them through Italy to North Africa. They won support from the Allies with the entire expense covered by the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee).

1943 August 16 - 20, BIALYSTOK UPRISING (Poland) 

Ephraim Barash, head of the Judenrat had been told the night before that the ghetto with the 40,000 Jews left in it was to be liquidated. The next morning he reported to the main square with his suitcase. Himmler, not wishing a repeat of the Warsaw, uprising, appointed Odilo Globocnik as the commander of the operation. He had at his command 3 battalions and other police and military units as well as artillery. There were only enough weapons for 300 of the 500 Jewish fighters. The Germans called in tanks and even aircraft to put down the revolt. Although the main fighting was over within a few days (having run out of ammunition), it took the Germans almost a month before they could leave the ghetto. Mordecai Tenenbaum-Tamaroff and Daniel Moszkowicz were believed to have committed suicide when their bunker was surrounded. Only 70 of the fighters succeeded in reaching the forests.

1943 September 3, BELGIUM 

Despite a promise made by military Governor General Alexander Von Falkenhausen to the Queen Mother Elisabeth and Cardinal Van Roey that Belgium Jewish citizens would not be deported, nevertheless, hundreds of Jews were taken for deportation. After a strong protest by the Queen Mother and the Cardinal, they were released. Although there were transports to Auschwitz of Belgium Jews, it was never done en mass.

1943 March 23, WILLIAM TEMPLE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY (England) 

In a speech to the House of Lords, called upon the British government to "end its procrastination" and establish a temporary refuge for the Jews. "We at this moment have upon us a tremendous responsibility," he said. "We stand at the bar of history, of humanity, and of God." The British government responded by calling for a conference, afraid that if “successful” they may be flooded “ with alien immigrants. That same day Himmler received a report that 1,500,000 Jews had already be exterminated.rnrn

1943 September 9, ALLIES INVADE SOUTHERN ITALY 

The Germans immediately invaded Italy and reached Rome. Italy was divided into two parts. The Nazis under Otto Wachter placed Mussolini back in the government. Jews were now going to be deported. The Germans also took over all of France, dashing any hopes of rescuing Jews by transferring them through Italy to North Africa. Angelo Donati was forced into hiding as he was wanted by the Gestapo.

1943 September 16, GOLDMANN PLAN (USA) 

Nahum Goldmann proposed a plan to send $10 million (partially funded by Jewish contributions) worth of medicines and food to those Jews still alive in Poland, the Balkans and Czechoslovakia. The aid was to be sent though the Red Cross. Breckenridge Long, the Assistant Secretary of State, ostensibly agreed to the idea but proposed to first send it to a discussion by the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees - which according to officials was tantamount to "tossing it in the waste paper basket".

1943 September 20, ATHENS (Greece) 

Rabbi Eliyahu Barzilai was ordered by Eichmann's deputy, Wisliceny, to provide him with a list of all Athenian Jews. Instead, Barzilai warned them all to flee and did so himself.

1943 September 30, SONDERKOMMANDO BABI YAR REVOLT (Ukraine) 

Led by Vladimir Davidov and Fyodor Yershov (a Russian soldier). Over 50 of the 275 men in the Sonderkommando unit succeeded in picking the locks. They then overpowered the guards using their bare hands, hammers and screw drivers. Fourteen of them (11 of whom were Jews) succeeded in surviving until the Red Army arrived on November 6, 1943. Davidov was an important witness at the Nuremberg trials and helped bring their story to the world.

1943 October 7, ARCHBISHOP DAMASKINOS (Greece) 

Ordered all monasteries to shelter any Jews who approached them. This was in response to Hoherer SS- und Polizeifuhrer, (HSSPF) (Higher SS and Police Leader) SS General Jurgen Stroop's order for all Jews to register on penalty of death.

1943 October 20, IRENA SENDLER (Warsaw, Poland) 

A Polish Catholic, was arrested by the Gestapo. Irena had worked for the Council for Aid to Jews, (Zegota), an underground unit in which Catholic democratic activists gathered to assist Jews. At great risk, Irena rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto and placed them with Christian families. She buried jars containing their real and assumed names in the garden, so that they could be reunited with their own families after the war. During her torture she refused to divulge any information regarding her activities Although sentenced to death, she managed to escape from prison and survived the war. In 1965 she was awarded with the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem and in 1991 she was made an honorary citizen of Israel. A play was also written about her life entitled "Life in a Jar".

1943 October 23, FRANCESKA MANN (Auschwitz) 

A beautiful, young dancer from Warsaw who performed at the famous Melody Palace nightclub, arrived at the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau along with about 1700 other Polish Jews. As she was preparing for the gas chamber, one of the SS men, Josef Schillinger, stared at her as she undressed. Mann threw her shoe at him. As he drew his revolver she wrested it away from him, shooting him twice and killing him and shooting another SS man, Emmerich, as well. The Germans opened fire with machine guns and forced the survivors into the gas chamber.

1943 November 3, OPERATION HARVEST FESTIVAL (Erntefest) (Poland) 

Partly in response to Jewish resistance including the revolt on Sobibor. Himmler ordered Jakob Sporrenberg to eliminate all the Jews in the Lublin area where most of them were in forced labor camps. In one day, 10,000 Jews from the Trawniki labor camp and 8,000 Jews, from Maidanek were machine-gunned after digging their own graves. In the Poniatowa camp 15,000 were killed the next day. During the operation, the Germans killed almost 43,000 Jews.

1943 December 24, NINTH FORT (Kunas, Lithuania) 

Considered almost escape proof, 64 Jews broke out on Christmas eve when most of the guards were celebrating. Most were caught in a massive manhunt by Germans and Lithuanian police. Only fourteen made it to the partisans.

1943 January 30, VICHY MINISTER JOSEPH DARNARD (Vichy, France) 

Formed the Milice, a militia unit which was officially recognized by the Nazis. His units worked with the Germans to capture Jews for deportation. Darnard was executed for treason in October 1945.

1943 February 10, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH 354 

Sent by Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles to all American consulates "suggested" that they not to accept any " private messages" or reports regarding the German actions against Jews. This effectively closed off almost all reports regarding the Holocaust from even reaching the United States. Although reportedly Welles may have been personally sympathetic to the "Jewish problem", he totally identified with the State Departments policies and carried them out with alacrity.

1943 February 13, ROMANIA 

Offered to "sell" 72,000 Jews and permit them to be transferred to Eretz Israel on ships flying a Vatican flag for a price of $130 a person. Although Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau brought this offer to the attention of the President Roosevelt , it was shuffled back to Sumner Wells at the State Department who decided without checking on the facts that the proposal "was without foundation."

1943 February 26, BERLIN (Germany) 

Was declared Judenrein (free of all Jews).

1943 February, STATUS REPORT (Europe)

Out of the approximately 2,700,000 Jews in areas occupied by the Germans since June 1941, less then 10% were still alive.

1943 March 15, SALONIKA (Greece) 

The first transport 2,800 Jews left for Auschwitz under the direction of Eichmann's deputy, Dieter Wisliceny. By August 7, the last of the 19 transports left Salonika. Of the 46,091 Jews deported, only only 2,469 survived. Wisliceny, who also served in Greece and Hungary, later surrendered to the Allies, presenting them with invaluable evidence. He was hanged in Bratislava in 1948. By the end of the war, out of 77,000 Greek Jews, 60,000 were murdered during the Holocaust.

1943 March 20, MUSSOLINI (Italy) 

Pressured by Germany for the lack of enthusiasm of the Italian army in France to act against Jews, Mussolini set up the Polizia Razziale (Racial Police). He appointed Guido Lospinoso as the commissioner of police. Lospinoso soon proved to be a master at evading German instructions. Father Pierre-Marie Benoit, persuaded him to help delay any deportation orders. Together they succeeded in preventing any mass deportations in the Nice area until the Germans took over in September.

1943 March 25, MATHAUSEN (Austria) 

A Bavarian Catholic priest reported that an estimated 10,000 Dutch Jews had already been murdered in poison gas experiments at the Mathausen concentration camp. The report was confirmed by the Dutch government-in-exile on April 5, and by an American diplomat on June 8. Despite this, no action was taken by the American State Department or the British government.

1943 May 16, SS GENERAL JUERGEN STROOP (Poland) 

Sent in his report, "A Jewish Quarter in Warsaw no longer exists." His final action was the destruction of the Great Synagogue on Tlomacka Street. Stroop reported 56,065 Jews captured, 13,929 killed and 631 bunkers destroyed. Though it is impossible to know the exact amounts, Polish estimates place the numbers of German dead to well over 1,000, with many more wounded. Some fighters escaped to the Aryan side of the city through sewage tunnels and others fled and tried to join Polish underground forces. Despite the official end to the uprising, small groups knows as "rubblemen" continued to attack German troops until mid-September.

1943 July, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT (USA)

Issued a new visa application which was four feet long. The waiting period for processing was now nine months. In addition, Jews in Nazi-held territories had no way of making a visa application since there were no American consulates. Any refugee who succeeded in reaching countries which had an American consulate (Spain, Portugal) was considered to be "not in acute danger" and was therefore denied a visa.

1943 February 27, "FABRIK-AKTION" FACTORY-ACTION (Berlin, Germany) 

The last 10,000 Jews still working in "vital war production" were taken directly from their factories to be deported. Seven thousand of them were sent to Auschwitz, others were sent to Theresienstadt. More than 100 Jews labeled as Mischlinge (half-breeds) or living in a Mischehe (racially mixed marriage) were held separately. After a mass protest (the only one of its kind) by thousands of relatives and friends, the Nazi released them. During the war, over 50,000 Berliner Jews were deported to the East. A few thousand, most of them with non-Jewish spouses, managed to survive with many of them hiding the entire war in the city.

1943 January 14, RABBI MENACHEM ZEMBA (Warsaw, Poland)

One of the leading Rabbis called on the Jews of Warsaw to revolt, "we must resist the enemy on all fronts". He also warned that "we are prohibited by Jewish law from betraying others...". Zemba was killed (19 Nissan) a few days after the revolt began. He had refused the offerof Catholic priests to help him and flee with another two rabbis, believing that he must remain until the end with his fellow Jews. Zemba had published over 20 manuscripts, many others were destroyed in the ghetto.

1943 January 17, CASABLANCA MEETING (Morocco)

Two months after liberation, a meeting was held between President Roosevelt, General Patton, the U.S. envoy Robert Murphy, and General Nogues representing the non Vichy government. In response the Jews demand for the right to vote, Roosevelt encouraged the postponement of free elections. He also recommended limiting the number of Jews being allowed to practice law, medicine etc. to their percentage of the entire north African population. This he stated would “eliminate specific and understandable German complaints… that fifty% of the lawyers doctors teachers etc in Germany were Jews”. Later that day he proposed the same idea regarding the Jews of Algeria to the French army commander General Henri Giraud.

1943 September 9, NAZI GERMANY OCCUPIES ZAKYNTHOS GREECE

Their first act was to ask to a list of all the Jews. The mayor Loukas Karrer and the Metropolitan Bishop Chrysostomos replied by returning a paper with only their names on it. The 275 Jews were dispersed into the local villages until the Germans left in October 1944. No Jew was deported. They were honored by Yad Vashem in 1978 with the title of "Righteous among the Nations. Statues of the Bishop and the Mayor celebrate their heroism on the site of the town’s historic synagogue, destroyed in the Earthquake of 1953

1944 April 15, PONARY (Lithuania) 

During the years from July 1941 until July 1944, approximately 100,000 people (mainly Jews) were murdered in the forests of the resort town, Ponary in Lithuania. As the Russians approached, a group of 70 Jews and 10 Russians were given the task of burning all the bodies to cover up the mass murder. Realizing that at the end of their work they too would be killed they dug a tunnel thirty meters long with spoons over a period of three months. On the night of April 15 they escaped. Only 13 reached safety alive.

1944 January 16, HENRY MORGENTHAU JR. (1891-1967) 

Secretary of the Treasury, presented a personal report to President Roosevelt accusing the State Department of actively preventing the rescue of European Jewry. The State Department's antagonism toward any help for European Jewry stemmed from both incompetence and a fear of "what to do with the Jews if they do get out". The Department was totally against a more liberal attitude toward its own anti-immigration policy and fully supported the British position of not allowing more Jews into Eretz Israel.

1944 March 16, ADMIRAL MIKLOS HORTHY (Hungary) 

Promised Hitler to dismiss the Kallay government which had been making overtures to the Allies and had refused to deport Hungarian Jews.

1944 March 19, OPERATION MARGARET (Hungary) 

Germany moved into Hungary. At the time of the occupation 63,000 Jews had already died or been killed. Eichmann, as the head of S.S. officers of the R.S.H.A. (Reich Security Main Office), arrived in Budapest along with SS Major Dieter Wisliceny and Edmund Veesenmayer who was to be in charge of "Jewish Affairs".

1944 March, BRICHAH ORGANIZATION (Rovno, Ukraine) 

A month or so after the liberation of Rovno, Eliezer and Abraham Lidovsky, together with Pasha (Isaac) Rajchmann, decided that there was no future for the Jews in Poland. They officially formed an artisan guild to cover their activities. During that summer they sent a group to Cernauti Romania to explore escape routes. Yet it was only after Abba Kovner and his group from Vilna joined in January 1945 that the organization which was known as Brichah took shape.

1944 March, ROSWELL McCLELLAND (Switzerland) 

Was assigned to run the War Refugee Board in Switzerland. McClelland had lived in occupied France working for the American Friends Service Committee and had vast experience dealing with these issues. With the financial backing of the Joint, he succeeded in producing thousands of false identity cards, work permits and birth certificates, as well as shipping emergency aid to those who hid Jews in their homes or in convents.

1944 April 5, BUDAPEST JEWISH LEADERS (Hungary) 

Dr. Rudolf Kastzner and Joel Brand met with Dieter Wisliceny and proposed to ransom Hungarian Jews in what became known as Blut fuer Ware ("Blood for Goods"). Eichmann, with Himmler's approval, allowed Brand to go to Istanbul in order to broker the deal with the Allies. It is theorized that Himmler was trying to prepare for the inevitable Allied victory by "showing" that he was really in favor of Jewish emigration rather than annihilation.

1944 April 19, HENRY MORGENTHAU (USA) 

After an emotional meeting with three old Rabbis, Morgenthau pressured Secretary of State Cordell Hull to help Jews in Vitel, France who possessed Latin American passports and were in danger of deportation to Poland. George Tait, the first secretary in Bern, strongly objected. The State Department succeeded in stalling for 7 weeks by which time the 214 Jews held in Vitel were deported.

1944 April 21, ESCAPEES FROM AUSCHWITZ 

Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, who had been in Auschwitz Auschwitz for two years, reached Slovakia and gave an eye witness detailed account of the camp. They were able to produce a detailed report on the structure, workings, and methods of the camp - including the entire annihilation process. The report reached Rabbi Dov Weissmandl who sent it on the head of the Orthodox community in Budapest, Rabbi Philip Von Freudiger, as a warning for Hungarian Jews, and sent it to the American Delegation in Bern as well. It took Roswell McClelland of the American delegation in Switzerland almost six months to forward the full text of the report to the State Department. Weismandel appealed for the bombing of the camps but was rebuffed.

1944 April, IRA HIRSHMAN (USA) 

An executive at Bloomingdale's and the representative for the War Refugee Board (WRB) in Turkey succeeded in convincing the Romanian ambassador to Turkey, Alexander Cretzianu, to move Jews from Transnistria, which the Germans still occupied, to Romania itself, thus saving 48,000 people.

1944 May 15, HIMMLER 

Offered Rudolf Kasztner to keep 30,000 physically fit Hungarian Jews "on ice" in an Austrian labor camp at a price of $200 per head plus maintenance. The committee could only find around 10,000 dollars. Eichmann took the money and sent them to Auschwitz.

1944 May 14, - July 8, HUNGARIAN JEWS DEPORTED (Hungary) 

Mostly to Auschwitz. According to German reports, 437,402 Jews were deported in 55 days on 148 trains.

1944 May, SERVIGLIANO CONCENTRATION CAMP (Italy) 

Was attacked by partisans led by Haim Vito Volterra. Several hundred Jews were able to escape. This was the only time in Western Europe that Jewish and non-Jewish partisans joined in attacking a Jewish concentration camp.

1944 June 17, CHANIA (CANEA) (Crete) 

The Jewish community of Chania (Canea), Crete dating from Roman times, came to an end when the Nazis occupying the island of Crete ordered Chania's remaining 269 Jews into the Etz Hayyim (Tree of Life) synagogue. In the morning, they were forced to board the ship Danai on the first leg of a journey to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Halfway to the mainland, the vessel was hit by British torpedoes and sank. There were no survivors, including 600 other Greek and Italian prisoners. At the beginning of the war there were 322 Jews in Crete. Only 7 Jews survived.

1944 June 25, MONSIGNOR ANGELO ROTTA (Hungary) 

The papal nuncio (ambassador) in Budapest, at his own initiative, delivered a letter of protest from the pope over the deportation of Hungarian Jews. This letter, combined with a warning from Secretary of State Cordell Hull regarding reprisal for the Hungarian actions, forced Regent Horthy to stop the deportations.

1944 June 30, BLUT FUER WARE ("BLOOD FOR GOODS") (Hungary - Switzerland) 

Hungarian Jewish leaders Joel Brand and Rudolf Kastner working together with the Jewish Agency and the War Refugee board concluded a deal with Adolph Eichmann. It became known as Blut fuer Ware ("Blood for Goods"). This date marks the first of three transports with 1,658 people to Switzerland. Included in this transport were 80 prominent Jews including the Satmar Rebbe (Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum), the Debreziner Rav, Rabbi Jonathan Steif, and Adolph Deutsch, head of the Budapest Agudah. This transport was held up in Bergen-Belsen for six months and only reached Switzerland in December. There were two other transports; one on August 18, with 318 people and the last on December 6, with 1,368 people. A total of 3,344 Jews were sent at a price of 1,000 dollars per head. The deal was the subject of much controversy and after the war, Kastner was accused by Malkiel Grünwald of collaboration with the Nazis and of testifying for an SS officer Kurt Becher who had negotiated with him on behalf of Eichmann. Much of the resentment had to do with the selection made for the transports. He was accused of helping only those who were either wealthy, had a personal connection to the committee, or were politically acceptable. Although the Supreme Court in Israel (on an appeal) cleared his name on January 17, 1958, it came too late for Kastner who had been shot and killed in March, 1957 in Tel Aviv by Ze'ev Eckstein, a Hungarian survivor.

1944 July 2, THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA)

Published an article concerning the murder of 400,000 Hungarian Jews. It was put on page twelve while page one was dedicated to problems with the July 4th holiday crowds.

1944 July 9, RAOUL WALLENBERG (Hungary) 

Arrived in Budapest to join Per Anger, secretary of the Swedish legation in Budapest, at the Swedish Embassy at the request of the Swedish government and the War Refugee Board. Anger had already begun to use temporary passports but Wallenberg had the idea of a Schutzpass (protective pass) which was more effective. Charles "Carl" Lutz, consul for Switzerland, joined in with him. Wallenberg helped set up soup kitchens, and medical care facilities. They would often go to the trains using threats and even bribery to get Jews off the trains. Wallenberg managed to issue around 15,000 protective passes.

1944 July 13, RUSSIANS ENTERED VILNA (Lithuania) 

During the war, over 100,000 Jews passed though the ghetto. The Russians found only 600 Jews who were hiding in the sewers.

1944 August 1, SECOND WARSAW UPRISING (Poland) 

As the Russians approached the Vistula river, the National Armed Force (NSZ) called for a revolt against the Germans. Thousands of Jews who had been hiding in the Aryan section tried to join but were rejected outright and in many cases attacked. Yitzhak Zuckerman did succeed in leading a Jewish Fighters Unit. Others joined Polish resistance groups such as Armia Krajowa (Home Army) and the Armia Ludowa (People's Army).

1944 August 6, LODZ GHETTO (Poland) 

The last ghetto in Poland was liquidated. 60,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz.

1944 August 17, DRANCY CONCENTRATION/TRANSIT CAMP (France) 

Was liberated. From August 21, 1941 until it was liberated over 61,000 Jews were deported from Drancy "to the East." Many Jews died in Drancy and its satellite camps (Noe, Gurs, and Recebedou). 1500 inmates were still in the camp when it was liberated.

1944 August 19, JEWISH MARQUIS (French Resistance movement) (France) 

The Marc Haguenau company (named for the Jewish resistance leader killed in 1943 who had been a leader of the "sixth") led by Robert Gamzon, together with help from an American sabotage team, blew up a German troop train near Mazamet. After the initial blast, an intense firefight ensued. By dawn the Germans fearfully surrendered to the calls "Wir Sind Juden" ("We are Jews"). The next day they participated in the German surrender (3,500 soldiers) in Casters.

1944 August 21, BERGEN-BELSEN (Germany) 

A token transport of 318 Jews was sent from Bergen-Belsen to Switzerland on the orders of Himmler to show "good will" for Kastzner and the other negotiators.

1944 August 29, SLOVAK UPRISING 

Began with the participation of over 1500 Jewish partisans. The revolt was viciously repressed by the Germans who occupied the whole country and deported more than 18,000 Jews.

1944 September 28, JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE (Slovakia)

Represented by Saly Meyer leader of the Swiss Jewish community, and Rudolph Kastzner offered fifteen million Swiss francs to save the remaining Slovak Jews. The offer was dismissed despite the fact that Romania, Finland, and Bulgaria had already surrendered and the fate of the war was sealed.

1944 October 7, BIRKENAU (AUSCHWITZ II) UPRISING 

David Szmulewski, one of the leaders of Birkenau's underground, and of the Jews of the Sonderkommados, who worked in the gas chambers and crematorias, blew up crematorium IV. Rosa Robota, one of the heroines of the Auschwitz underground, succeeded in smuggling explosives out of a munitions factory. Rosa was caught and tortured but refused to give away any of her comrades. Her last words scribbled on a piece of paper just before she was hanged were "Hazak V'Arnatz"--Be Strong and Brave." After killing several SS men, the group escaped, although few survived.

1944 October 28, NATIONAL REVOLT (Slovakia) 

Approximately 2,500 Jews, including a parachutist from Eretz Israel, joined to try to help organize the revolt. The Germans used this as the alleged reason for the deportation of most of the 13,500 Slovakian Jews who were left. The rebels succeeded in liberating two labor camps, Sered and Novaky, before the rebellion was put down and they had to escape to the mountains.

1944 October, PLASZOW CONCENTRATION CAMP (Poland) 

Oscar Schindler obtained permission from SS commandant Amon Goeth to move his factory, which produced ammunition for the German army, from Plaszow near Cracow, to Brunnlitz in occupied Czechoslovakia. Schindler succeeded in drawing up his own list of 1,098 workers which became known as "Schindler's list." Most of the other 25,000 Jews in Plaszow were sent on the short 60 km journey to Auschwitz. Goeth, who was known for his cruelty which included target practice on bypassing Jews, was hanged near Plaszow on September 13, 1946.

1944 November 6, LEHI ASSASSINATED BRITISH MINISTER LORD MOYNE (Eretz Israel) 

The LEHI group (Lochami Cheirut Yisrael) had accused him of expelling immigrant ships and preventing the arrival of refugees to Eretz Israel. When approached by Joel Brand in Cairo with a request to help save Hungarian Jewry he had commented, "what would I do with a million Jews." Two of Lehi's members - Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri - were dispatched to Cairo to assassinate Lord Moyne but were caught shortly after carrying out their mission. On January 10, 1945 they were put on trial and were hanged March 23, 1945.

1944 November 7, HANNAH SZENES (Senesh) (1921-1944) (Hungary) 

was murdered. Born in Hungary, she immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1939 and volunteered with 32 other young Jews who were trained by the British to infiltrate behind enemy lines. Szenes was captured in June by the Hungarian secret police and refused to give away information, even under torture. On November 7, 1944 although her final sentence had not been passed ,she was shot in the courtyard of Conti prison under the orders of Captain Simon. Six other parachutists lost their lives during their missions. Captain Simon was later charge with her illegal execution and sentenced to one year in prison. In 1993 she was exonerated by a Hungarian military court.

1944 November 28, BUDAPEST (Hungary) 

As Soviet troops reached the outskirts of the city, the Germans forced 85,000 Jews on a death march towards Austria.

1944 December, - 1945 January, GIORGIO PERLASCA (1910-1992) (Budapest, Hungary) 

An Italian, worked together with the Spanish ambassador, Angel Sanz Briz, to not only become a Spanish citizen but to even be "appointed" as his substitute after Briz was transferred to Germany. Under this guise, Perlasca used the "Rivera law" to give Spanish citizenship to all Sephardic Jews. In the 45 days until the entry of the Russian army, he managed to save 5218 people.

1944 March 25, VOLOS, GREECE

Volos had a population of 872 Jews before the war which rose to about 1000 by 1944. Tipped off by Archbishop Joachim Alexopoulos, Rabbi Moshe Pessah, working together with the archbishop, managed to disperse all but 130 in the surrounding villages. All of those who remained perished. When they returned after the war, the Archbishop urged the local residents to return any valuables or property which they had been given for safekeeping.

1945 January 17, RAOUL WALLENBERG (Hungary) 

The Swedish diplomat disappeared in Budapest two days after it was liberated. Eyewitnesses last saw him in the company of two Russian soldiers. Wallenberg was instrumental in saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis. The Russians claim that he died in a Russian prison on July 17, 1947. There are many witnesses who claim they saw him in prison years later.

1945 January, BRICHAH (Lublin,Poland) 

Organization was founded by Abba Kovner and Yitzchak Zuckerman joining the Lidovsky brothers and their group from Rovno. What had begun as an ideological discussion six months earlier had become a movement to get Jews out of Europe and into Eretz Israel. Mordechai Roseman was asked to direct the organization, which began sending small groups to Romania. It later merged into Mosad leAliyah Bet (or "Mosad", center for "illegal" immigration) in Palestine, whose head, Shaul Avigur, moved his office to Paris in 1946. Between 1944-1948, Brichah moved over 200,000 people to southern ports and eventually to Eretz Israel, mostly against the will of the occupying governments.

1945 March 25, NARODOWE SILY ZBROJOWE (NSZ) (Poland)

A fascist organization announced that it is a patriotic duty to kill Jews.

1945 May 8, GENERAL JODL SIGNED GERMANY'S SURRENDER (Rheims, Germany) 

At Eisenhower's headquarters, Germany was divided into four sectors. Tens of thousands of Jews fled to the American and British Zones. The Third Reich, known as the Thousand Year Reich was over. While it existed, approximately 6,000,000 Jews were killed; 63% of the Jewish population of Europe prior to the war was exterminated.

1945 July 1, SHE'ERIT HA-PELETAH (surviving remnant) (Germany)

A conference was organized with 94 representatives of Jewish DPs from all the zones at the St. - Ottilien Camp in Germany. Among their demands was the establishment of a Jewish state and Jewish participation in the peace negotiations. The group, which also called itself the Central Committee of Liberated Jews, had first met in Feldafing a month earlier. Although at first they succeeded in putting political issues aside, by October many including the Zionist formed their own groups within the central committee.

1945 August 11, CRACOW (Poland) 

A Jewish school was burned down in the first of the post-war anti-Jewish riots that spread over Poland. Many of them were instigated by organizations such as AK-WiN (Wolnosc i Niezawislosc - Freedom and Independence) which was the successor to the right wing A.J. (Armja Krajowa). WiN accused the Jews and the Soviet NKVD of instigating the riots. Other riots broke out in Radom and Czestochowa. The approximately 80,000 Jews in Poland at the time (a further movement of Jews into Poland from Russia would take place in 1946) looked for any means to enter the western sectors of Germany.

1945 August 21, GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON (Poland) 

Turned back four trainloads of 650 Jews organized by the Brichah movement. They attempted to cross the Allied zones near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia hoping to enter Germany and the special camps being set up for Jewish refugees. Although there had been a request from the "top authorities" of the US army's XXII corps to allow the transports through, General Patton ordered his 8th armored Division to use force to send them back to Poland and many Jews were injured. The uproar in the press, combined with the soon-to-be-released Harrison Report, once and for all stopped the Americans from prohibiting Jews from enter into the American zone in Germany.

1945 August 24, HARRISON MISSION (USA) 

Earl Harrison, the Dean of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and a former U.S. commissioner on immigration, had been sent as a personal envoy of President Harry S. Truman to inquire into the conditions of the Displace Persons (DP's), especially the Jews, and issued his report. "Jews are kept behind barbed wire…in camps, including concentration camps…with no opportunity…to communicate to the outside world. We appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazi's…except that we don't exterminate them." He concluded that "the U.S. should convince the British to open Palestine to refugees."

1945 August 31, PRESIDENT HARRY S.TRUMAN (USA) 

In reaction to the Harrison Report, President Truman severely criticized the conditions of the DP's and contended that his policies "are not being carried out." In addition, he urged the British government to grant 100,000 immigration permits to the DP's in Germany. It was also decided to arrange for Jews to live in separate camps with the Joint providing additional rations.

1945 September 16, PRIME MINISTER ATLEE (Britain) 

Rejected Truman's request to allow the admission of 100,000 refugees into Eretz Israel. A few days later, (September 21), the British cabinet decided that despite previous promises, "Palestine" was to become a country with an Arab majority. Jewish immigration was to be limited to 18,000 Jews a year.

1945 October, POLAND 

From the beginning of the year until October, 351 Jews had been murdered in anti-Jewish riots in Poland.

1945 November 2, EGYPT 

Riots took place on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Similar riots in Tripoli left 120 Jews dead.

1945 December 5, BRITAIN 

Announced that Jews were no longer permitted to enter DP camps in their zone.

1945 December 22, EXECUTIVE ORDER (USA) 

By President Truman was to give priority to DP's and allow into the United States almost 40,000 per year. In reality, between December 1945 and July 1948 (when the Displaced Persons act was passed) the State Department only let in 45,000 DP's of which only about 12,600 were Jews.

1945 September 17, GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON

Taking General Eisenhower on a visit to DP camps, he called Jewish inmates "the greatest stinking bunch of humanity" and stating that they have "no sense of human relationships". Patton had also referred to the Jewish DP's as "lower than animals". When attacked for his anti-Semitic remarks, Patton called it a "plot by Jews and Communists" to replace him.

1945 May 9, ARRIVED IN BRUNNLITZ (Czechoslovakia) 

Oscar Schindler and his wife Emilie bid an emotional good bye from the 1,200 Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews) he managed to save. In addition to the 1,100 Jews he saved from Plaszow, he and his wife also rescued two cattle cars of half frozen Jews who had been left to die. Schindler, although personally a controversial figure, attained the admiration of Jews and non-Jews all over the world. His comment, when asked about his actions was: "I could've got more, if I'd just..." He died October 9, 1974 and upon his request was buried on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

1945 January 16, ARMY LIBERATED BUDAPEST (Hungary) 

From the time the Arrow Cross party took power until the Russian liberation, over 90,000 Hungarian Jews lost their lives.

1945 November 5, TRIPOLITANIA PROVINCE RIOTS (Libya)

In three days of riots more than 140 Jews were murdered (including 36 children) and hundreds more injured in the British controlled area of Tripolitania. The British were criticized for not acting to quell the riots soon after they began. Nine synagogues and over 4000 Jewish houses were destroyed. This directly led to the mass immigration to Israel which began four years later.

1945 June 2, POPE PIUS XII

At the college of cardinals attacked the former Nazi regime. In his speech he mentioned the catholic priests imprisoned in Dachau, and other priests and nuns who died in Nazi concentration camps. He did not say one word about the annihilation of the Jews or any other group.

1946 May 1, ANGLO - AMERICAN COMMISSION 

On the Jewish refugee problem in Europe advised to allow the immediate entry of 100,000 Jews into Eretz Israel.

1946 October 16, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER (1903-1946) (Germany) 

The S.S. leader and successor of Heydrich as chief of the RSHA, was hanged after a trial at Nuremberg. Kaltenbrunner, a friend of Eichmann, was a key figure in the implementation of the "Final Solution". As the end of the war approached, he insisted on continuing the annihilation of the Jews until the last possible moment.

1946 July 4, KIELCE POGROM (Southern Poland) 

Claimed 42 Jewish lives. Kielce had a history of Jewish settlement (depending on expulsion orders) of over 500 years. Prior to World War II, there were over 25,000 Jews living there. After the war approximately 200 survivors returned. The riots broke out after a nine year old boy told the head of the local militia that the Jews had held him captive for two days in a basement at 7 Planty Street. He also related that other Christian children had been murdered there. The commander surrounded the house and confiscated their weapons. In return, they were promised protection. During the ensuing pogrom, forty-two people were murdered and dozens more injured. The Kielce pogrom served as a warning to Holocaust survivors not to try to return to their towns and gave an additional push for the massive movement to the West. Within three months, 70,000 Jews left the country.

1946 January 1, DISPLACED PERSONS (Europe) 

Britain agreed to allow 1500 Jews a month to immigrate to Eretz Israel. The United States, still under quotas, allowed only 1500 permits for anyone from Eastern Europe (Jews and non-Jews alike). It is estimated that there were over 250,000 Jewish Displaced Persons (DPs) in Europe, approximately thirty percent of all the displaced persons in Europe. Britain closed off their sector to Jews, forcing 5000 Jews a month into the American zones over the next four months. Over the next few years Israel would take in 142,000, the USA 72,000, Canada 16,000, Belgium 8,000, France, 2000, and the rest of the world combined 10,000.

1946 January 2, GENERAL SIR FREDERICK MORGAN (Germany)

The British Chief of Displaced Persons for the United Nations (UNRRA - The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) in Germany claimed that there was a Jewish conspiracy in trying to leave Europe. "They are well dressed, well fed, and rosy cheeked" and had "pockets bulging with money" and warned that the Jews were "growing into a world force." He also insisted that he did not find one "concrete example" of a pogrom within Poland since the war. Although he later claimed he was misquoted, he never retracted or explained what he really did say.

1946 January 6, POGROM IN ZANZUR (LIBYA) 

Islamic instigators encouraged the local population to attack the Jewish community. Half of the 150 local Jews were murdered. The rioting spread to a number of small towns near Tripoli, leaving a death toll of approximately 180 Jews and nine synagogues destroyed. The local police and Arab soldiers often joined in the destruction and murder.

1946 May 1, ANGLO-AMERICAN COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY 

After examining the situation in the DP camps, the committee concluded unanimously that no other country was willing to help Jews who wished to leave Europe. As such, in addition to trying to find other countries willing to take in Jewish refugees, 100,000 certificates for immigration to Eretz Israel was to be issued immediately. Although President Truman endorsed the recommendation, the British again turned him down.

1946 June 19, KFAR GILADI (Eretz Israel) 

In a raid on the kibbutz, twelve members were injured while offering passive resistance. When hundreds of nearby residents tried to reach the kibbutz, the British opened fire, killing three and wounding six. In all, during the two days of confrontation, four Jews were killed, eighteen injured and more than 100 arrested.

1946 July 26, JAN MASARYK (Czechoslovakia) 

The Czech foreign minister influenced the government to open its borders to Jews wishing to flee Poland. Within three months over 70,000 Jews, using transportation paid for by the Czechs, used this route to get to Eretz Israel.

1946 July 22, KING DAVID BOMBING (Jerusalem, Eretz Israel) 

After the Black Sabbath, Moshe Sneh on July 1 ordered the Irgun to destroy the King David Hotel and the military headquarters located there. Four warnings were made: to the kitchen staff, the hotel, the Palestine Post, and the French consulate. According to witnesses, one high British official shouted "we are not here to take orders from the Jews, we give them orders." He then left, and ordered guards to prevent others from leaving. Twenty-five minutes later the bombs went off, killing 91 people. The British government originally denied that they had been warned, but they were forced to retract it and no inquiry was made as to why the order was given not to leave the building. Despite the orders by Sneh, the Jewish Agency fearful of world opinion, condemned the act. This marked the end of the united resistance movement.

1946 July, MISKOLC POGROM (Hungary) 

Five Jews were killed and many injured. This, following a pogrom at Kunmadaras, convinced many Hungarian survivors that they should emigrate.

1946 December 9 - 24, ZIONIST CONGRESS (Basel, Switzerland) 

The first Congress since the Holocaust. The Congress accepted the plan of the Zionist Organization "to establish a Jewish commonwealth integrated into the world democratic structure." A British proposal for a Jewish-Arab conference in London was rejected, and as a result Weizmann resigned. It was also reported that between July 1945 and December 1946, about 111,500 Jews succeeded in fleeing Poland, most of them organized by the Brichah organization.

1947 November 29, UNITED NATIONS (New York City, USA) 

Voted in favor of the establishment of the State of Israel as a national homeland for the Jewish people in 55 percent of the country. The vote consisted of 33 in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions. Jews around the world reacted with dancing in the streets. The Arabs reacted with threats of violence.

1947 July 18, EXODUS 1947 (Eretz Israel) 

Was towed to Haifa. The refugees were forced off the boat into three other boats. The Exodus (originally the President Warfield) carried 4,515 survivors and was stopped at sea by the British Navy. During the struggle, three Jews were killed and 28 injured. The passengers were forcibly removed and sent first to France. The Exodus was destined to become the symbol for all Jews prevented from being able to leave the slaughterhouse of Europe and immigrate to Israel.

1947 July 29, AVSHALOM HAVIV, YAAKOV WEISS AND MEIR NAKAR (Eretz Israel) 

Were hanged. They were the last three Jews to be executed by the British. In retaliation the Irgun hanged two sergeants. British soldiers then began shooting in Tel Aviv, killing five and wounding twenty.

1948 March 11, JEWISH AGENCY BUILDING (Jerusalem, Eretz Israel) 

Was bombed. A car driven by the chauffeur for the American consulate parked next to the building which served as the headquarters for the Yishuv. A guard, seeing that the car blocked the road, moved it to a side wing. Twelve people were killed and forty- four wounded. Since the U.N. resolution in November, around 850 Jews had been killed by Arab terror.

1948 April 23, HAIFA CAPTURED (Eretz Israel) 

By the Haganah. Although loudspeakers called on the Arabs to stay, they fled in mass, urged to do so by leaders of the Arab High Command. Many of these leaders believed that the upcoming war would be helped by masses of Arab refugees whose presence would encourage them to join in the attack. The refugees were promised that they would only be away for a short time and would be able to return when the attacking armies "drive the Jews into the sea". They were also promised compensation for their property.

- See more at: http://jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?search=jews#sthash.nGOPhmdq.dpuf

- See more at: http://jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?search=jews#sthash.nGOPhmdq.dpuf

- See more at: http://jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?search=jews#sthash.nGOPhmdq.dpuf