Berlin, Germany • July 1, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Gestapo (German secret police) arrested outspoken Lutheran theologian and pastor Martin Niemoeller. The next year Niemoeller, still incarcerated, was tried by a three-judge “special court” (a Nazi Sondergericht) for activities against the State. Niemoeller’s court-appointed defense counsel defended the cleric, insisting Niemoeller had raised…
Berlin, Germany · December 1, 1939 From a small cadre of fanatical thugs assigned to protect Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at political meetings in the 1920s, the Schutzstaffel (“Protection Squad”), or SS, grew into one of the most notorious organizations in history, with many responsibilities. Under SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, it ran the Reich Security…
Berlin, Germany · September 27, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Head Office (known by its acronym RSHA), was created by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler through the merger of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel (SS) intelligence service; the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), or Security Service; and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo), or Security Police. The SiPo comprised the…
Copenhagen, Occupied Denmark · September 16, 1943 On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, overrunning the tiny country of just over 3.8 million people and its army of 14,500 soldiers (the majority recruits) in less than a day. The Danish government and king remained in place, collaborating as little as possible with the enemy. In an effort…
Paris, Occupied France · August 21, 1941 On this date in 1941 in Paris a 22‑year-old Communist member of the French Resistance named Pierre Georges (noms de guerre, Frédo and Colonel Fabien) fired two bullets into the back of Alfons Moser, a young German naval officer, at the Barbès-Rochechouart metro station. These were the opening shots…
Berlin, Germany · August 7, 1944 On July 20, 1944, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg left a bomb in his briefcase in a conference room at the East Prussia headquarters of Adolf Hitler, the Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze), before excusing himself to take a call in the telephone exchange hut. In the conference room were Hitler and…
Rome, Italy · July 20, 1933 On this date in 1933 in Rome, representatives of German President Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934) and Pope Pius XI (papacy 1922–1939), among them Vatican Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII), announced that a concordat (treaty) had been forged between the Holy See and the German Reich. The Reichskonkordat…
Berlin, Germany · July 1, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Gestapo (German secret police) arrested outspoken Lutheran theologian and pastor Martin Niemoeller. The next year Niemoeller was tried for activities against the State. Released after the trial, Niemoeller was rearrested—presumably because Deputy Fuehrer Rudolf Hess decided to take “merciless action” against the clergyman…
Berlin, Germany · June 9, 1942 On this date in 1942, with the full leadership of the Third Reich in attendance, Nazi “martyr” Reinhard Heydrich was eulogized in one of the most elaborate funerals ever staged in Berlin. (Heydrich had been added by Adolf Hitler to the “honorary list of the Fallen of the Nazi…
Linz, Austria · March 12, 1938 After abolishing Germany’s Ministry of War on February 4, 1938, and creating in its place the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, or Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) with himself at its helm, Adolf Hitler now focused on a peaceful takeover of Europe beginning with his native Austria. (Hitler was…