Death of the Father
Chronology of Germany & Adolf Hitler

1837

 (June 7) Birth of Alois Schicklgruber (name later changed to Alois Hitler).
1848 Revolutions in Berlin and Vienna.
1870-71 Franco-Prussian War.
1871 (January 18) King William proclaimed emperor of a united Germany including Bavaria The Todesstrafe, or Death Penalty, is officially adopted in the Criminal Code, but is limited to punishment for murder.
1885 (January 7) Alois Hitler marries Klara Pölzl.
1890 Kaiser William II assumes the throne. Bismarck resigns.
1889 (April 20) Birth of Adolf Hitler.
1898 Bismarck dies.
1900 (September 17) Hitler enters Linz Realschule.
1903 (January) Alois Hitler dies.
1904 (May 22) Hitler confirmed at Linz Cathedral.
1906 (Spring) Hitler falls in love with Stefanie.
1907 (October) Hitler takes examination at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and fails. (December 21) Klara Hitler dies.
1908 (October) Hitler takes examination and fails for the second time.
1909 (December) Hitler appears at the Asylum for the Shelterless, sick, and penniless.
1914 (January 12) Hitler is summoned to present himself for Austrian military service. (January 19) Hitler writes to Austrian Consulate in Munich, pleading for leniency. (February 5) Hitler is rejected by Austrian military authorities at Salzburg as unfit for service. (August 3) Hitler petitions King Ludwig III of Bavaria for permission to join his army. (August 16) Hitler is enrolled in 1st Company of 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry. (October 21) Hitler is sent to the Front. (December 2) Hitler is awarded the Iron Cross, second class.
1916 (October 7) Hitler is wounded and taken to army hospital at Beelitz.
1917
 (September) Hitler receives Cross of Military Merit, third class.
1918 (August 4) Hitler receives Iron Cross, first class. Revolution in Berlin. William II abdicates. Phillip Scheidemann proclaims the German Republic. (November 7) Kurt Eisner proclaims the Bavarian People's Republic. (November 11) World War I ends. Communist Workers' Party is founded in Berlin by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
1919 (February 21) Kurt Eisner shot dead by Count Arco-Valley February Weimar Republic is established. Friedrich Ebert elected President. (April 13) Right-wing uprising in Munich crushed by Communists. Red Terror begins. (May 1) The Freikorps enter Munich. White Terror begins August Hitler conducts indoctrination classes at Lechfeld. ( September 12) Hitler attends a meeting of the German Workers' Party. (September 16) Hitler's letter to Adolf Gemlich on the "Jewish problem." (October 16) Speech at Hofbrauhauskeller, marking beginning of Hitler's political career.
1920 (February 24) First public reading of "Twenty-five Points". (March 13) Kahr assumes dictatorial power in Munich at same time that Wolfgang Kapp assumes power in Berlin. ( March 17) Kapp putsch fails. Hitler and Eckart arrive in Berlin ( August 8) Hitler changes name of his party to the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
1921 (Summer) Party claims 3,000 dues-paying members. (July 11) Hitler threatens resignation unless given dictatorial powers, which are granted to him. (September 14) Physically attacks Otto Ballerstedt, is arrested, and spends a month in jail. (November 4) Violence erupts at Hofbrauhaus during Hitler's speech.

1922 (August 16) Hitler addresses mass meeting at Königsplatz in Munich.
1923 (August 13) Stresemann becomes Chancellor. (November 8-9) Hitler putsch
(November 11) Hitler arrested. (November 23) NSDAP banned.
1924 (February 26-April 1) Trial of Hitler, Ludendorff, and others. Hitler sentenced to five years imprisonment. (December 20) Hitler is released from Landsberg prison.
1925 (February 27) Hitler revives the NSDAP. (July 18) First volume of Mein Kampf published.
1927 (February 11) Hitler and Goebbels speak at Pharus Hall in Berlin. (July) First publication of Goebbels newspaper Der Angriff.
1929 (June 7) Young Plan signed in Paris. (October 3) Stresemann dies.
1930 (September14) General election:107 National Socialist deputies in Reichstag.
1931 (January 1) Brown House in Munich opened. (December) Unemployment reaches 5,000,000.
1932 (April 10) Hindenburg elected President. (April 13) SA and SS are banned. (June 3) Hindenburg dissolves Reichstag. (July 31) General election: 230 National Socialist deputies in Reichstag. (August 13) Hindenburg rejects Hitler's claim to be appointed Chancellor. (November 6) General election: National Socialists lose 34 seats in the Reichstag. (December 3) General von Schleicher appointed Chancellor and Minister of Defense.
1933 (January 30) Hitler becomes Chancellor. (February 27) Reichstag Fire. (February 28) Decree for the Protection of the People and the State. (March 5) Reichstag election: NSDAP gets 44 per cent of votes and 288 seats. (May 2) Labor unions are dissolved. (May 20) Burning of the Books. (July 14) Law against creation of new parties. (October 14) Germany withdraws form the League of Nations. (November 12) Hitler receives 92% of votes at elections. Implementation of the Todesstrafe is expanded beyond murder convictions. many more people are sentenced to death.
1934 (April 1) Boycott of Jewish shops. (June 14) First meeting of Hitler and Mussolini. (June 30) The Night of the Long Knives. (July 13) Hitler defends blood purge in speech at Kroll Opera House in Berlin. (August 1) Death of Hindenburg. Hitler becomes Führer and Chancellor. (August 2) Armed forces take oath to Hitler.
1935 (March 16) Hitler announces the reintroduction of compulsory military service. (June 18) German-British Naval Treaty. (September 15) Proclamation of anti-Semitic "Nuremburg Laws".
1936 (March 7) Hitler occupies the Rhineland. (March 29) Receives 99% of votes in referendum. (August 1) Olympic Games commence in Berlin. (October 25) Rome-Berlin Axis established.
1937 (November 5) In Hossbach memorandum, Hitler outlines plans for future wars.
1938 (March 12) Germany annexes Austria. (March 28) Hitler gives General Keitel secret directives for "Operation Green" against Czechoslovakia. (September 30) Munich agreement signed. (October 1) German troops enter Sudetenland.
1939 (April 15) Roosevelt appeals to Hitler for peace. (April 28) Hitler rejects Roosevelt's offers. (March 14) German troops enter Prague. (May 22) Hitler and Mussolini sign the "Pact of Steel." (August 23) German-Soviet Pact signed in Moscow (September 1) Germany invades Poland. (September3) Britain and France declare war on Germany.
1940 (April 9) German invasion of Denmark and Norway. (May 10) German invasion of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and France. (May 28) French and British forces evacuated at Dunkirk. (June 10) Italy enters the war. (June 22) France signs armistice.
1941 (March 30) Hitler tells his generals to employ "merciless harshness." (April 6) Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece. (June 6) Hitler issues the Kommissar Decree.(June 22) Germany invades Russia. (December 7) Japanese attack Singapore and Pear Harbor. (December 11) Germany declares war on the United States.
1942 (January 20) Wannsee Conference on the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". (April 26) Demands and receives powers of Oberster Gerichtserr, or Supreme Law Lord.
1943

(January 14-26) Conference at Casablanca. Allies demand "unconditional surrender". (March 20) At doctor's orders, Hitler leaves Wolf's Lair for a holiday at Obersalzberg. (April 7-June 16) Annihilation of Warsaw Ghetto. (May13) German collapse in Tunis. End of war in Africa. (July 25) Mussolini arrested. (September 8) Italy surrenders to Allies. (October 13) Italy declares war on Germany. (November 28-December 1) Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Tehran.

1944 (June 6) Allies land in Normandy. (July 9) Rommel's request to withdraw troops is rejected. Hitler returns to Wolf's Lair from Obersalzberg. (July 20) Count von Stauffenberg attempts to assassinate Hitler, but fails. Hitler thwarts the generals' conspiracy to seize power. (August 25) Allies enter Paris. (December 16-20) Ardennes offensive.
1945 (February 4-11) Yalta Conference. (March 5) U.S. troops enter Cologne.
(March 23) British troops cross the Rhine. (April 14) Russian troops enter Vienna. (April 26-28) Mussolini captured and executed. (April 26) Nazi pilot Hanna Reitsch and General Robert Ritter von Greim make a forced landing in Berlin. They urge Hitler to escape with them but he refuses. (April 28) Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun. (April 30) Hitler and his wife commit suicide in Chancellery bunker. Hitler shoots himself in right temple and Eva takes poison. Their bodies are doused in gasoline and cremated by Hitler's assistants in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. (May 7) Germany surrenders. (May 8) V.E. Day. Official end to war in Europe. Allied Control Commission divides Germany into four zones. Three Power occupation of Berlin takes effect. Potsdam Conference is held. Nuremberg War Crimes Trials begin.
1946 East German Social Democrats merge with Communists. Verdicts of Nuremberg Trials handed down: Ribbentrop, Goering, and 10 other Nazis sentenced to death. Hess and Funk life imprisonment. Schacht and von Papen acquitted.
1947 Gen. George Marshall appointed U.S. Secretary of State. calls for European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan)
1948 Marshall Plan in effect. USSR stops road and rail traffic between the East and West. Berlin airlift begins.
1949 North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington. Berlin blockade officially lifted.
(May 23) The Federal Republic of Germany (GFR) created with Bonn as its capital. As part of its new constitution, the Todesstrafe is abolished (except in W. Berlin). Theodor Heuss elected President, Konrad Adenauer Chancellor, of the GFR which becomes a full participant in the Marshall Plan. (October 7) The Democratic Republic of Germany (GDR) established in East Germany with Pieck as President and Grotewohl as Minister-President.
1950 GFR joins Council of Europe.
1951 (August 1) The Todesstrafe is abolished in W. Berlin.
1952 Israel and Germany agree on restitution for damages done to Jews by the Nazis.
1953 (June 17) A workers' riot in East Berlin is squashed by Soviet tanks.
1954 British, French, American, and Soviet foreign ministers meet in Berlin. Soviets reject the idea of German reunification France and GFR sign cultural and economic agreement.
1955 USSR decrees end of war with Germany. Italy, GFR, and France establish the European Union GFR becomes a NATO member.
1958 European Common Market created.
1961 GDR closes frontier to the West to check the number of people fleeing the country. Construction of a Wall along the zonal frontier of Berlin begun.
1962 A reconstruction of the Nazi exhibition of "Degenerate Art" presented in Munich as a criticism of the National Socialist view of art.
1963 Ludewig Erhard, "Father of the Economic Miracle" is chosen as Federal Chancellor, replacing Konrad Adenauer.
1964 West Germans win world soccer championship.
1965 First diplomatic relations between West Germany and Israel established.
1966 A Peace Note delivered from GFR to the states of Eastern Europe proposing disarmament. Students at the Free University in West Berlin demonstrate against the administration and the American war in Vietnam.
1967 Students demonstrate in response the visit of Mohemmed Reza Shah of Persia to West Berlin. In the course of the demonstration, a student, Benno Ohnesorg is shot by a policeman.
1968 The Federal Parliament approves a law providing for the suspension of specific articles of the constitution under particular circumstances.
1969 Election of Social Democrat Gustav Heinemann (first CDU and then founder of the All German People's Party) as GFR President Reform of criminal law with liberalization of legal regulation of sexual behavior and unification of prison sentencing.
1970 Signing in Moscow of an agreement between USSR and GFR on mutual renunciation of the use of force and recognition of the inviolability of all European frontiers. This did not rule out reunification.
1971 Beginning of environmental movement in GFR. DDT banned and a law enforced reducing lead limits in petrol.
1972 20th Summer Olympics in Munich. During the games Palestinians attack the Israeli team's quarters. The "Radical Decree" forbids W. German public servants from joining extremist organizations and blacklists tens of thousands of leftists.
1973 International Energy Crisis.
1974 The GFR and the GDR open permanent offices in East Berlin and Bonn.
1975 The Final Act of the Helsinki Accord signed by both German States Demonstration against plans for a nuclear plant at Wyhl on the Rhine.
1976 GDR tightens restrictions on emigration to the West.
1979 GFR Parliament suspends the statute of limitation on Nazi crimes.
1982 Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl becomes Chancellor of the GFR.
1986 NATO reiterates the importance of maintaining the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin Love Parade.
1987 750th anniversary celebrations in both parts of Berlin. The Todesstrafe is abolished in the GDR.
1989 East Germans demonstrate in Leipzig for free speech, a free press and the right to associate. Eighty are arrested. The Federal Republic closes its Permanent Representation in East Berlin The opposition group Democracy Now is founded in the GDR. (November 7) The government of the GDR resigns. Egon Krenz becomes leader of a reconstituted Politburo. (November 9) The Berlin Wall is opened. (November 28) Chancellor Helmut Kohl announces a 10 point plan for reunification.
1990 (March 18) National elections in East Germany. (April 24) July 1 is set as the date for economic, monetary and social union. (August 31) Treaty of Unification signed by the two Germanys. (October 3) Germany is united. the GDR is dissolved. The Treuhand is created to privatize East German property.
1991 (January 2) East German students protest the closure of university departments and institutes. Problems financing unification. Protests over unemployment and economic decline Transfers of money to the East.
1991 (March) Honecker, the former president of the GDR, flees to Russia where he takes refuge in the Chilean embassy. (July 30) Honecker is expelled from the Chilean embassy. He is flown to Berlin by the German military where he awaits trial for manslaughter and corruption.
1993 (January 14) Honecker is exiled to Chile.
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Prepared by John Borneman & John Schoeberlein, 1998