Anniversaries in November: 23 events connected with Nazism, the Second World War, the Holocaust, occupation, resistance, liberation and the accountability of perpetrators. Each entry leads to an institutional source and, where the connection is documented, also to profiles in the Nazi Report archive.
01
1 November
1 November1941Camps and the HolocaustBełżec, occupied Poland
Beginning of construction of the Bełżec extermination camp
Construction of the Bełżec extermination camp begins under the supervision of Christian Wirth.
Construction was supervised by Christian Wirth, and experience from the T4 programme became part of the path to Operation Reinhard.
Bełżec connects earlier killing techniques with the organisation of the mass extermination of Jews in occupied Poland.
2 November1943Ghettos and deportationsRiga, occupied Latvia
Liquidation of the Riga ghetto
The Germans liquidate the Riga ghetto and murder at least 2,000 remaining residents.
The murder of the remaining residents concluded the history of a ghetto also marked by the earlier massacres at Rumbula.
The event makes it possible to tell the extermination of Riga's Jews as a process encompassing the ghetto and executions, including the earlier massacres at Rumbula.
Execution in the Piaśnica forests on 3 November 1939
In the Piaśnica forests, the Germans shoot at least 82 Poles; this is one episode in the Pomeranian Crime.
The shooting of Poles was one of many episodes in the Pomeranian Crime, not an isolated act of violence.
Placing the execution within the broader process helps explain the systemic nature of German terror in Pomerania.
Related profiles (6)
Kurt Eimanndirect or functional connection: Commander of SS-Wachsturmbann Eimann.
Friedrich Classdirect or functional connection: Head of the Gdynia branch of Einsatzkommando 16 and the Gestapo.
Ludolf-Hermann von Alvenslebendirect or functional connection: Commander of the Selbstschutz in West Prussia and perpetrator of mass executions in 1939.
Albert Forsterdirect or functional connection: Gauleiter and Reich governor of the Reich District of Danzig–West Prussia; responsible for extermination in Pomerania.
Richard Hildebrandtdirect or functional connection: Higher SS and Police Leader in the Reich District of Danzig–West Prussia.
Rudolf Trögerdirect or functional connection: Commander of Einsatzkommando 16 and head of the Gestapo in Danzig.
In Aktion Erntefest, the SS and police murder at least 42,000 Jewish labourers at Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa.
The SS and police carried out mass executions of Jewish labourers at Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa.
It was the largest single-day German massacre of Jews in occupied Poland.
Related profiles (8)
Jakob Sporrenbergdirect or functional connection: SS and police leader in the Lublin District and organiser of the 1943 Erntefest massacre.
Hermann Höfledirect or functional connection: Chief of staff of Operation Reinhard and coordinator of deportations to extermination camps.
Karl Streibeldirect or functional connection: Commandant of the SS training camp at Trawniki.
Walter Caspar Többensdirect or functional connection: German businessman who exploited forced labour in the Warsaw ghetto and at Poniatowa.
Otto Hantkedirect or functional connection: First commandant of the Jewish labour camp at Budzyń and later commandant of Poniatowa.
Erich Mußfeldtdirect or functional connection: Head of the crematorium and the unit that removed bodies at Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp, and later overseer of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Karl Pützdirect or functional connection: Commander of the Security Police and SD in Rivne and later in Lublin.
Wilhelm Trappdirect or functional connection: Order Police major and commander of Reserve Police Battalion 101, which carried out massacres at Józefów and Łomazy.
9–10 November1938Mass murderGermany / Austria / Sudetenland
November pogrom (“Kristallnacht”)
On the night of 9–10 November 1938, a nationwide pogrom against Jews took place in Germany and the annexed territories.
The nationwide pogrom encompassed Germany and the annexed territories, bringing open violence against Jews.
The pogrom marked a turning point from escalating legal discrimination to overt mass violence.
Related profiles (6)
Joseph Goebbelsdirect or functional connection: Third Reich minister of propaganda and Gauleiter of Berlin; incited the extermination of Jews.
Reinhard Heydrichdirect or functional connection: Head of the RSHA and one of the principal architects of the Holocaust.
Heinrich Himmlerdirect or functional connection: Reichsführer-SS and chief of police; principal organiser of the Holocaust and the camp system.
Hermann Göringdirect or functional connection: Second-ranking figure in the Third Reich, founder of the Gestapo and commander of the Luftwaffe.
Kurt Daluegedirect or functional connection: Chief of the Order Police and acting protector of Bohemia and Moravia; responsible for the destruction of Lidice.
Julius Streicherdirect or functional connection: Publisher of the antisemitic Der Stürmer and Gauleiter of Franconia; incited the Holocaust.
The trial of the major Nazi war criminals begins before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.
The indictment and the evidence assembled became the basis for holding the leading representatives of the Nazi state accountable.
The trial helped shape the language of legal responsibility for crimes committed by leaders and the state apparatus.
Related profiles (14)
Hermann Göringdirect or functional connection: Second-ranking figure in the Third Reich, founder of the Gestapo and commander of the Luftwaffe.
Wilhelm Keiteldirect or functional connection: Head of the Armed Forces High Command (OKW); endorsed criminal orders.
Alfred Jodldirect or functional connection: Chief of the OKW Operations Staff; signatory to criminal orders; executed in Nuremberg.
Ernst Kaltenbrunnerdirect or functional connection: Head of the RSHA, the central authority for the Gestapo, SD and police; jointly responsible for the Holocaust.
Alfred Rosenbergdirect or functional connection: Principal Nazi Party ideologue and Reich minister for the occupied eastern territories.
Hans Frankdirect or functional connection: Governor-General of occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945; executed after the Nuremberg trial.
Wilhelm Frickdirect or functional connection: Reich Minister of the Interior and architect of the legal foundations of terror and the exclusion of Jews.
Julius Streicherdirect or functional connection: Publisher of the antisemitic Der Stürmer and Gauleiter of Franconia; incited the Holocaust.
Fritz Sauckeldirect or functional connection: General plenipotentiary for labour deployment in the Third Reich; organiser of forced labour.
Arthur Seyss-Inquartdirect or functional connection: Reich Commissioner for the occupied Netherlands; responsible for the Holocaust of Dutch Jews.
Albert Speerdirect or functional connection: Third Reich armaments minister; led an armaments empire based on forced labour.
Walther Funkdirect or functional connection: Reich minister of economics and president of the Reichsbank; involved in the plunder of Holocaust victims' property.
Karl Dönitzdirect or functional connection: Commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine and Hitler's successor as head of state.
Baldur von Schirachdirect or functional connection: Leader of the Hitler Youth and Gauleiter of Vienna; involved in the deportation of Viennese Jews.
The law against “dangerous habitual criminals” permits indefinite imprisonment and compulsory medical measures.
The provisions permitted indefinite imprisonment and compulsory medical measures against people whom the state deemed a threat.
The law illustrates the criminalisation of entire social groups whose members were later sent to camps and marked, among other ways, with a green triangle.