October 5 All German passports held by Jews are invalidated and replaced with passports stamped with the letter “J” for “Jew.” 1939 1933-1939 In this period, regional, state, and municipal Nazi officials issue more than 400 decrees regulations aimed at restricting nearly all aspects of the public and private lives of Jews. October First ghetto created in Priotrków Trybunalski, Poland with Jews forced to reside in a small, designated area of the city. The Nazis created more than 1,000 ghettos throughout the occupied territories during the Holocaust to separate and isolate the Jewish population. Later, the Nazis sealed off some ghettos— including Poland’s Łódź ghetto on April 30, 1940 and Warsaw ghetto on November 15, 1940, confining more than 160,000 and 350,000 Jews, respectively. November 9-10 Nazis in Germany and Nazi-occupied areas carry out Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass in English, killing almost 100 Jews, destroying hundreds of Jewish synagogues, desecrating Jewish cemeteries, and looting more 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses. Later, the regime levies fines on German Jews for the destroyed property and issues a decree banning Jewish-owned businesses. September 1 Germany initiates World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland. Britain and France declare war on Germany three days later. 1941 September 1 All Jews in Germany over six years old are ordered to wear clearly visible symbols of their identity. Yellow Star of David badges and white armbands become the two most widely used symbols. Failure to comply with this order resulted in fines, imprisonment, or summary execution. October 15 November 25 The Eleventh Decree officially ended the possibility of emigration for German Jews and legalized the confiscation of Jewish property. 1942 Mass deportations begin with German, Austrian, and Czech Jews being transported to ghettos, shooting sites, concentration camps, and killing centers primarily located in German-occupied territories. These deportations continue throughout the Holocaust with hundreds of thousands of Jews and others deported to various locations for detention, forced labor, or extermination. December 8 Chelmno killing center located outside of Łódź Poland begins operations as the first stationary gassing facility. Other extermination camps with gassing facilities, included Belzec, Sobibor, Chelmo, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Nearly 2.7 million Jews were killed in these centers. January 20 The Wannsee Conference marks the public unveiling oof the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” with the stated goal of exterminating Europe’s 11 million Jews. 1943-44 Ghettos are “liquidated” and residents are transferred to concentration camps and killing centers as part of the “Final Solution.”