Timeline – from 1919 to 1945

2 March 1919

Fasci di Combattimento foundation

The Fascist Movement is created in San Sepolcro square, Milan. 

28 October 1922

The Fascists march on Rome

King Vittorio Emanuele III appoints Benito Mussolini to form a new government

10 June 1924

Matteotti assassination

Giacomo Matteotti, MP and Unitarian Socialist Party secretary, is killed few days after his famous speech about electoral violations during the elections held on April 6th, 1924. The political assassinations perpetuated by the State begin.

30 January 1933

Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of the German 3rd Reich

22 March 1933

Institution of the first German concentration camp at Dachau (Munich) for enemies of the regime

15 September 1935

Enactement of the Nazi anti-Jewish ``Nuremberg`` laws

3 October 1935

War in Ethiopia

In an effort to strengthen its origin myth, the reincarnation of the Roman Empire, Fascism tries to conquer Abissinia. During these years the italian Army commits several war crimes.

14 July 1938

Publication of the ``Manifesto of Race``

22 August 1938

Special census of Italian Jews

1-2 September 1938

Approved the anti-Jewish provisions

The Italian Council of Ministers approves the first group of anti-Jewish provisions

6 October 1938

Il Grand Council of Fascism approves the ``Declaration of Race``

7-10 November 1938

The Italian Council of Milisters approves the second group of anti-Jewish provisions

9-10 November 1938

The ``night of broken glass``

German pogrom against the Jews known as “Kristallnach”

1 September 1939

Germany invades Poland

The Second World War begins

9 April – 22 June 1940

Germany invades Denmark, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg

10 June 1940

Italy joins the Second World War

September - October 1941

Initial implementation of Nazi policy

Initial implementation of Nazi policy to exterminate the Jews by mass shootings and gassing trucks in the controlled territories.

7 December 1941

Japan attacks the Usa base in Pearl Harbour

America’s declaration of war alongside the Allied Forces

20 January 1942

Dicussions to implement the ``Final Solution`` in Wannsee

Wannsee (Berlin): the Nazi hierarchs meet  to discuss implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” in Europe.

10 July 1943

The Allies land in Sicily

Persecution of the Jews ceases in the liberated zones.

9 September 1943

Establishment CLN (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale – National Liberation Committee).

14 March 1943

The gas chamber in Krematorium II at Auschwitz-Birkenau goes into operation

25 July 1943

Dismissal from office and subsequent arrest of Mussolini

The king asks Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.

8 September 1943

: Announcement of the signing of the armistice between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies

The king and government of Italy flees to southern Italy

September – October 1943

Germans occupy the Peninsula

In the regions of Trieste and Trento, the Germans institute the Operationszonen Adriatisches Küstenland and Alpenvorland, implementing their own anti-Jewish policies. The Risiera di San Sabba in Trieste is initially used as an internment camp. (Stalag 339); in late October it is converted into a Polizeihaftlager (police detention camp) used for the internment and execution of hostages, partisans, political prisoners and Jews, for rerouting deportees to Germany or to Poland, and for storing looted property.

September 1943

Souther Itaky and sardinia are free

15-16 September 1943

First deportation of Jews arrested in Italy

First deportation of Jews arrested in Italy (from Merano) and first slaughter of Jews in Italy (on the Piedmont side of Lake Maggiore), both carried out by the Nazi forces.

18-23 September 1943

Italy is divided in two

Constitution of a new Fascist government under the leadership of Mussolini assuming administration of central and northern Italy. The new state takes the name of Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI).

 

13 October 1943

The Reign of Italy declares war to Germany

October 1943

San Sabba (Trieste)

The first deportees are executes in the former rice storages, which hace turned into Lager

16 October 1943

The German police round up Jews in Rome

Two days later, over 1000 people are deported to Auschwitz. Other deportation trains leave from cities in central and northern Italy

18 October 1943

The first Italian convoy RSHA to Auschwitz-Birkenau departs from Rome

The convoy arrives on 23 October with 1023 Italian Jews

December 1943

The Italian concentration camp at Fossoli goes into operation

6 December 1943

The first train load of deported Jews leaves from Milan

The train carries 169 people bound for Auschwitz. Six will survive.

 

 

30 gennaio 1944

Dalla Stazione Centrale di Milano parte il secondo convoglio di ebrei

The second train of deported Jews leaves from Milan for Auschwitz. The train carries 605 deportees.

6 febbraio 1944

Arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau

The train that left Milan on 30 January arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau. 477 people are sent immediately to the gas chambers.

19 - 22 febbraio 1944

Partenza dei primi convogli di deportazione da Fossoli (per Bergen Belsen e Auschwitz) organizzati dalla polizia tedesca

febbraio-marzo 1944

Inizia il funzionamento del forno crematorio del campo di concentramento di San Sabba

23 marzo 1944

Roma, Fosse Ardeatine

Per rappresaglia conseguente all’attentato partigiano di via Rasella, nel quale morirono 33 soldati tedeschi, su ordine di Herbert Kappler vengono giustiziate 335 persone: civili militari e 57 ebrei, “meritevoli di morte” (todeskandidaten) per “reato razziale”

4 giugno 1944

Liberazione di Roma

Le truppe alleate entrano a Roma dove, il giorno successivo, sfileranno trionfalmente

6 giugno 1944

Sbarco degli Alleati in Francia

Gli Alleati sbarcano nella Francia del nord: gli americani nel Cotentin, gli inglesi in Normandia. Inizia l'”Operazione Overlord”, nome in codice assegnato al piano di invasione d’Europa, per la sua liberazione dall’oppressione nazista

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Fine luglio 1944

Chiusura di Fossoli e trasferimento del campo nazionale a Bolzano

dicembre 1944

I russi alle porte di Auschwitz-Birkenau

Per non lasciare testimoni, i prigionieri di Auschwitz-Birkenau vengono fatti evacuare da Auschwitz-Birkenau verso i campi di concentramento che sorgono nelle zone ancora sotto il controllo tedesco. È l’inizio delle cosiddette “marce della morte”

27 gennaio 1945

I soldati dell’Armata Rossa entrano in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Vi trovano solo quei deportati lasciati dalle SS in ritirata perché ritenuti incapaci di prendere parte alle marce di ripiegamento verso i territori interni del Reich (le cosiddette “marce della morte”). Giunti a Birkenau vedono le rovine ancora fumanti del settore Kanada II, dove erano siti i magazzini degli oggetti predati agli ebrei

15 January 1945

Last train of deportees leaves from Milan directed to the Nazi lager of Bolzano

24 February 1945

Last train of Jewish deportees leaves Italy from the Risiera di San Sabba bound for Bergen Belsen

20-30 April 1945

Liberation of northern Italy

25 April 1945

The end of war in Italy

In Italy, The National Liberation Committee of Upper Italy (CLNAI) officially proclaimed the insurgency in a radio announcement

Mussolini and a group of fascists and German soldiers set out for Switzerland, intending to escape to Spain
In Germany, Soviet and US troops met in southern Berlin

30 April 1945

Suicide of Adolf Hitler

As the Soviet forces were about to take Berlin, Hitler killed himself in his Führerbunker

8 May 1945

The end of war in Europe

Admiral Karl Dönitz, appointed by Hitler as his successor, made a nationwide radio address in which he announced the occupation of Germany by the Allies and the end of World War II in northwestern Europe

20 November 1945

Beginning of the Nuremberg Trials: the series of trials aimed at bringing Nazi war criminals to justice

A series of criminal trials was held before an International Criminal Court in the city of Nuremberg (Germany) until 1 October 1946
22 of the accused were judged: 12 were sentenced to death by hanging, 3 to life imprisonment, others received minor prison sentences, while 3 people were acquitted

6 and 8 August 1945

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 77,000 people died and, as a consequence, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies; war ended also in Asia