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Comparative Timeline Highlights 
The United States--The Depression 
1929-1939
1929
  • Herbert Hoover, President of the United States
  • More than half of all Americans are living below a minimum subsistence level. support farmers until they can get back on their feet. 
  • Stock market crash begins October 24. Investors call October 29 "Black Tuesday." Losses for the month will total $16 billion, an astronomical sum in those days. 
1930
  • The first bank panic occurs later this year; a public run on banks results in a wave of bankruptcies. Bank failures and deposit losses are responsible for the contracting money supply. 
  • The GNP falls 9.4 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7 percent. 

    • No major legislation is passed addressing the Depression.  
    1931
  • No major legislation passed. 
  • A second banking panic occurs in the spring. 
  • The GNP falls another 8.5 percent; unemployment rises to 15.9 percent. 
    • 1932 
     
  • This and the next year are the worst years of the Great Depression. For 1932, GNP falls a record 13.4 percent; unemployment rises to 23.6 percent. 
  • Industrial stocks have lost 80 percent of their value since 1930. 
  • 10,000 banks have failed since 1929, or 40 percent of the 1929 total. 

    • About $2 billion in deposits have been lost since 1929. 
  • GNP has also fallen 31 percent since 1929. 
  • Over 13 million Americans have lost their jobs since 1929. 
  • Farm prices have fallen 53 percent since 1929. 
  • International trade has fallen by two-thirds since 1929. 

    • The Fed makes its first major expansion of the money supply since February 1930.  
  • Congress passes the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932. (More) 
  • Popular opinion considers Hoover's measures too little too late. Franklin Roosevelt easily defeats Hoover in the fall election. Democrats win control of Congress. 
  • Newspaper and News reel accounts of Hitler and the Nazis appear on the news stands and theaters.
  • At his Democratic presidential nomination, Roosevelt says: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." 
 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States.  He was inaugurated on March 4, 1933 and died in office during his 4th term in 1945.  For a more in depth look at FDR and the New Deal click on the picture.  
Franklin D.
Roosevelt
 
 
1933 
  • Roosevelt inaugurated; begins "First 100 Days" of intensive legislative activity. 
  • A third banking panic occurs in March. Roosevelt declares a Bank Holiday; closes financial institutions to stop a run on banks.
  • Alarmed by Roosevelt's plan to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, a group of millionaire businessmen, led by the Du Pot and J.P. Morgan empires, plans to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and install a fascist government.
  • Congress authorizes creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the National Recovery Administration, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority. 
  • Congress passes the Emergency Banking Bill, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Farm Credit Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Truth-in-Securities Act. 
  • U.S. goes off the gold standard. 
  • Roosevelt does much to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, but is obsessed with a balanced budget. 
  • The free fall of the GNP is significantly slowed; it dips only 2.1 percent this year. Unemployment rises slightly, to 24.9 percent. 
    1934 
     
  • Congress authorizes creation of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Mediation Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Congress passes the Securities and Exchange Act and the Trade Agreement Act. 
  • The economy turns around: GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent. A long road to recovery begins.

    • Sweden becomes the first nation to recover fully from the Great Depression.  
    1935 
  • Congress passes the Banking Act of 1935, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act. 
  • Economic recovery continues: the GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent. 
    • 1936 
     
  • Economic recovery continues: GNP grows a record 14.1 percent; unemployment falls to 16.9 percent. 
  • Germany becomes the second nation to recover fully from the Great Depression, through heavy deficit spending in preparation for war. 
    • 1937 
  • The Supreme Court declares the National Labor Relations Board to be unconstitutional. 
  • Roosevelt seeks to enlarge and therefore liberalize the Supreme Court.
  • Economists attribute economic growth so far to heavy government spending that is somewhat deficit. Roosevelt, however, fears an unbalanced budget and cuts spending for 1937. That summer, the nation plunges into another recession. Despite this, the yearly GNP rises 5.0 percent, and unemployment falls to 14.3 percent. 
    • 1938 
     
  • Congress passes the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Fair Labor Standards Act. 
  • No major New Deal legislation is passed after this date, due to Roosevelt's weakened political power. 
  • The year-long recession makes itself felt: the GNP falls 4.5 percent, and unemployment rises to 19.0 percent. 
  • The United Staes attends the Evian Conference in Evian, France.
  • Britain becomes the third nation to recover as it begins deficit spending in preparation for war. 
    • 1939  
  • GNP rises 7.9 percent; unemployment falls to 17.2 percent. 
  • The United States will begin emerging from the Depression as it borrows and spends $1 billion to build its armed forces. From 1939 to 1941, when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, U.S. manufacturing will have shot up a phenomenal 50 percent! 
  • The Depression is ending worldwide as nations prepare for the coming hostilities. 
  • World War II starts with Hitler's invasion of Poland.
 
Germany--Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power 
1924-1939
1924
  • Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) was published.  It was an autobiographical account of his political ideology in which he laid out his anti-Semitic doctrines his denunciation of the Jews, and his plan for salving what he called "The Jewish Problem."
 
 
Adolf Hitler
Apr. 20, 1889 to Apr.30, 1945
Dictor of Germany form 1933 to 1945.
He set into action a systematic plan to annihilate the German Jews
Adolph
Hitler
 

 

1932
  • The Collapse of the Weimar Republic.
  • The Nazi Party dominates  German politics
  • More and more Anti-Semitism taking hold
  • Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany.
  • The Depression in Europe worsens
 
 
 
 
This German newspaper headline reads:
"Jews Our Misfortune"
Anti-Semitism taking stronger hold
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Picture to the right is the Nazi Flag and the emblem of the Third Reich,  the swastika.  The emblem became a symbol of terror and death.
 
 
 
1933
  • The Reichstag (German parliament) was dissolved.
  • Hitler calls for new elections to ensure Nazi political control over the German government.
  • The responsibility for the police was put under Hitler's control.
  • Herman Goering appointed Commissar of the Prussian Police.
  • Josef Goebbels appointed Minister of Propaganda
  • Heinrich Himmler laid the foundation of "SS State" --This was the beginning of the Gestapo and the brutal reign of the Nazi Military State.
  • Hitler withdraws from the League of Nations.
  • "The Enabling Act"  Gave ALL political authority to Hitler and the Nazi's.  Hitler became 

    • The Furrier."  This began the Totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich 
  • Anti Jewish Boycotts and  Legislation put in place.  The restrictions specifically stated that protection was granted "all foreigners without regard to religion, origin, or race and that the boycott is...directed exclusively against German Jews."
  • Homes and offices of all Jewish professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, dentists) were marked with special signs,  where SS guards began to be stationed.  Jewish lawyers and judges were no longer allowed to work.  Arrests based on ethnic background were becoming more and more frequent.
  • Legislation was bypassed defining who was non-ayran,  this became the official definition of who was a Jew.
  • Goebbels organized many public rallies at all the country's universities  for the burning of books.by banned authors.
 
1935
 
  • The Nuremberg Laws--formally established the separation of the races and  defined the rights of German citizens,  excluding Jews from such citizenship.  After defining "who is a Jew",  the law forbade marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of Germany or related blood.  and prohibited sexual relations between the two peoples,  punishable by death.  No Jew could be a citizen of the Reich,  could vote on any political issues, or hold office.
1936
 
  • Hitler's  troops enter the Rhineland.
  • Mussolini moves towards an alliance with Hilter
  • Hilter sends troops to fight in Spain for the facist dictator Franco.
1938
 
  • Hilter's Emmigration Policies for the Jew making it difficult if not impossible for Jews to leave Germany.
  • The Evian Conference in France.  A meeting of 32 nations that met to address the growing number of refugees.  It was made clear as a result of this conference that there would be NO haven for Jewish refugees in therir countries.  Only the Dominican Republic's dictator offred to let the Jews enter his country. 
  • 1938 Adolf Eichman becoms head of the Security Service.  He was tried and convicted as a Nazi War Criminal in Nuremberg Germany.
  • Kristallnacht,  Nov. 9the in Germany,  "The Night of Broken Glass," was the countrywide pogrom against the Jews, innitiated by the Storm Troopers and the Security Service.  Jewsih shops and synegogues were burned,  Jews were arrested and sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.  Many Jewish homes were looted and reuined and Jewish institutions were damaged and closed.
  • Nov. 10th in Austria a similar pogrom took place.  42 Synagogues were burned,  Jewish properties were confiscated, and 4600 Jewish men from all parts of Austra were sent to Dachau.
1939
  • Hilter invades Poland in what is called the "Bliztkrieg" (lighting war).
  • Warsaw, Poland's capital, falls.

    • Eichman begins the evacuation and deportation of the Jews for the purpose of resettlement or elimination.  The inhabitants of the concentration camps lived under the worst of conditions.