Calendar of remembrance · October

October: dates we remember

Anniversaries in October: 15 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.

1 October

1 October1943Resistance and rescueDenmark / Sweden

Mass operation to rescue Danish Jews

Danish citizens begin a mass effort to rescue Jews from deportation.

The actions of Danish citizens extended earlier assistance in helping persecuted people escape to Sweden.

The October anniversary emphasises the collective dimension of rescue and completes the account of efforts begun in September.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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1 October1946AccountabilityNuremberg, Germany

Judgements of the International Military Tribunal

The International Military Tribunal delivers its judgements in the trial of the major Nazi war criminals.

The decision addressed responsibility for the gravest crimes and assessed Nazi organisations, and included both convictions and acquittals.

The Nuremberg judgement became a fundamental point of reference for postwar accountability of the Third Reich's leaders.

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.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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4 October

4 October1933Law and persecutionGermany

Editors Law excludes people deemed “non-Aryan”

The Editors Law excludes people deemed “non-Aryan” from journalistic work.

Controlling access to journalism allowed the authorities both to exclude people and to subordinate the circulation of information.

The provision shows that building the dictatorship also involved systematically taking control of the media.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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5 October

5 October1938Law and persecutionGermany

Letter “J” in the passports of German Jews

Germany invalidates Jews' passports until they are stamped with the letter “J”.

Invalidating the documents until they were stamped turned the passport into a tool of segregation and restriction on escape.

The decision reveals how an administrative mark could directly restrict the ability to leave the country.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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7 October

7 October1944Resistance and rescueAuschwitz II-Birkenau

Sonderkommando revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Sonderkommando prisoners revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau and destroy part of Crematorium IV.

The prisoners fought and destroyed part of Crematorium IV within the functioning extermination complex.

The seventh of October is the most important anniversary of prisoner resistance at Auschwitz.

Institutional source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

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8 October

8 October1939Ghettos and deportationsPiotrków Trybunalski

Establishment of the ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski

The Germans establish what was probably the first occupation-era ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski.

The Piotrków ghetto was probably the first area of its kind established by the Germans in the occupied territories.

Its establishment foreshadowed the development of the system for the forced isolation of Jews in occupied Poland.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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14 October

14 October1943Resistance and rescueSobibór

Sobibór uprising

Prisoners at the Sobibór extermination camp launch an uprising; approximately 300 people escape.

Prisoners at the extermination camp mounted organised resistance that enabled hundreds of people to escape from the site.

The uprising is one of the key testimonies to prisoner agency in places created for mass murder.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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15 October

15 October1941Ghettos and deportationsCentral Europe / occupied East

Beginning of deportations of Jews from Central Europe to the occupied East

Germany begins deporting Jews from Germany, Austria and the Czech lands to ghettos in the occupied East.

Transports from Germany, Austria and the Czech lands marked a shift from the policy of forced emigration to systematic deportations.

This date marks an important stage in the radicalisation of the persecution of European Jews.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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15 October1941Law and persecutionGeneral Government

Death penalty for helping Jews in the General Government

The authorities of the General Government introduce the death penalty for helping Jews who leave ghettos.

The occupation provision concerned assistance to Jews leaving ghettos and became the basis for further expansion of repression.

The regulation shows how the German authorities tried to cut the persecuted off from assistance from local people.

Institutional source: Institute of National Remembrance

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16 October

16 October1946AccountabilityNuremberg, Germany

Execution of those convicted at the Nuremberg trial

Ten death sentences imposed on convicted major Nazi war criminals are carried out in Nuremberg.

Ten of those convicted were executed, while Hermann Göring was not hanged.

The fate of those convicted completes the history of the main trial, but requires distinguishing between the individual sentences and their execution.

Related profiles (9)
  • 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.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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18 October–11 November

18 October–11 November1943AccountabilityMoscow / Allies

Moscow Declaration on responsibility for German crimes

At the Moscow Conference, the Allies adopt a declaration on responsibility for German crimes.

The Allies announced the prosecution of those responsible during the conference held from 18 October to 11 November.

The declaration marks the path from a wartime commitment to accountability to the later Nuremberg trial.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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21–23 October

21–23 October1943Mass murderMinsk / Maly Trostenets

Extermination of the last Jews from the Minsk ghetto

The Germans murder the last several thousand Jews from the Minsk ghetto at Maly Trostenets.

The last residents of the ghetto were murdered at Maly Trostenets, a lesser-known site of mass extermination in Belarus.

The event concludes the history of the Minsk ghetto and directs attention to the geography of the crimes beyond the best-known camps.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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26 October

26 October1942Ghettos and deportationsNorway

Beginning of the round-ups of Norwegian Jews

The Germans, assisted by the collaborationist authorities, begin round-ups of Norwegian Jews.

German actions were conducted with the assistance of the collaborationist authorities, distinguishing this history from the successful rescue operation in Denmark a year later.

Comparing the Norwegian round-ups with the Danish rescue operation makes it possible to examine the roles of collaborationist authorities and aid networks without generalising about the attitudes of entire societies.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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29 October

29 October1941Mass murderKaunas, occupied Lithuania

So-called Great Action in Kaunas

At the Ninth Fort near Kaunas, the Germans and their auxiliaries murder approximately 9,200 ghetto residents.

At the Ninth Fort, the Germans and their auxiliaries murdered residents of the Kaunas ghetto.

The execution is one of the central events in the history of the Kaunas ghetto and mass murder in occupied Lithuania.

Institutional source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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30 October

30 October1942Camps and the HolocaustMonowice / Auschwitz

From the IG Farben factory to Auschwitz III-Monowitz

The IG Farben synthetic rubber factory gives rise to the Buna subcamp, later Auschwitz III-Monowitz.

The synthetic rubber plant gave rise to the Buna subcamp, which relied on prisoners' forced labour.

The history of Monowitz shows corporate responsibility within the camp system and the lethal conditions of labour exploitation.

Institutional source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

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