1941 TIMELINE

Unsorted 1941 Events [Bottom]

JANUARY

00 - |Holocaust ?+| Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher "Now judgment has begun and it will reach its conclusion only when knowledge of the Jews has been erased from the earth."
00 - |Holocaust| A pogrom in Romania results in over 2,000 Jews killed.
00 - |WW II ?| Germany starts troop build-up in Romania
10 - |WW II| Soviet Union renews pact with Germany.
21 - |Holocaust| The Legions of St. Michael kill 200 Jews in Romania

FEBRUARY

00 - |WW II ?| Britain sends several divisions to northern Greece
11 - 1st Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo.
11 - |WW II| Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.
14 - |WW II| Cvetkovic and Foreign Minister Cincar-Markovic travel to Berchtesgaden to meet with Hitler ?+
20 - |WW II| Turkey states that will renounce pact with Bulgaria if Germany attacks Greece through Bulgaria
22 - |Holocaust ?+| 430 Jewish hostages are deported from Amsterdam after a Dutch Nazi is killed by Jews.

MARCH

00 - |WW II| New Yugoslav war and "general activation" plan formulated by Germany
00 - |Holocaust ?+| Hitler's Commissar Order authorizes execution of anyone suspected of being a Communist official in territories about to be seized from the Soviets.
01 - |Holocaust| Heinrich Himmler + makes his first visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders Kommandant Höss to begin massive expansion, including a new compound to be built at nearby Birkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners.
01 - |WW II| Bulgaria signs Axis agreement; 350,000 German troops begin entering Bulgaria
02 - |WW II| Nazis occupy Bulgaria.
07 - |Holocaust| German Jews ordered into forced labor.
09 - |WW II| Italians commence second offensive against Greece, but fail to break the front
11 - |WW II| FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill.
21 - |WW II| Three Yugoslav ministers resign due to demands of Germany
22 - |WW II| Yugoslavia gives Britain custody of Stojadinovic
24 - |WW II| Greece states that it will interpret Yugoslav acceptance of German demands as an act of hostility
24 - |WW II| USSR and Turkey sign extension of neutrality agreement
25 - |WW II| The Yugoslav government signs Tripartite pact with Nazi Germany and Italy
26 - |Holocaust| The German Army High Command gives approval to RSHA and Heydrich on the tasks of SS murder squads (Einsatzgruppen) in occupied Poland.
27 - |WW II| Yugoslav government is overthrown and the new leaders repudiate the Tripartite Pact; King Peter II installed; all-party government under General Dusan Simovic; Hitler ?+ signs Directive No. 25, which authorizes the invasion of Yugoslavia; Hungary and Italy are assigned auxiliary roles in the invasion; US government states that it will support Yugoslav resistance to Germany
28 - |WW II| Simovic declares that Yugoslavia will honor outstanding agreements with Germany but will not give up independence
29 - |Holocaust| A 'Commissariat' for Jewish Affairs is set up in Vichy France.
29 - |WW II| The British sink five Italian warships off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean.
30 - |WW II| The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel begins its first offensive against British forces in Libya.

APRIL

04 - Yugoslavian government declares Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade to be open cities
05 - |WW II ?| Slavko Kvaternik and Ante Pavelic agree with Germany on creation of Croatian state
05 - |WW II| Signature of nonaggression and friendship pact between USSR and Yugoslavia
06 - |WW II| Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.
06 - |WW II| Belgrade is bombed by the German air force; ca. 700 buildings are destroyed
06 - |WW II| Italian air force attacks Yugoslavia's Adriatic ports
08 - |WW II| German army, driving into Macedonia, cuts off the possibility of Yugoslav retreat towards Greece
09 - |WW II| German 18th Corps breaks Metaxas Line and occupies Salonika; Nis and Skopje are also occupied
10 - |WW II| German troops enter Zagreb; the Ustasha, led by Ante Pavelic, proclaim the fascist Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska (NDH, or Independent State of Croatia) after Vladko Macek, the leader of the Agrarian party, refuses to do so
11 - |WW II| Italy and Hungary invade Yugoslavia
12 - |WW II| SS Hauptsturmführer Klingenberg single-handedly secures the surrender of Belgrade; Hitler ?+ sketches out plans for Yugoslavia's partition; Archbishop Stepinac meets with Kvaternik and congratulates him on the establishment of the NDH
13 - |WW II| German Army occupies Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
13 - |WW II| Russo-Japanese neutrality pact signed.
14 - |WW II| King Peter II and most ministers flee to Greece
15 - |WW II| Sarajevo occupied; Bulgaria breaks relations with Yugoslavia
16 - |Holocaust ?+| German authorities issue order for all Jews in Serbia to register with police; meeting between Pavelic and Archbishop Stepinac
17 - |WW II| Yugoslavia formally surrenders; German casualties in the campaign total only 151 dead; partitioning enacted; NDH decree establishes "people's courts" to prosecute enemies of regime
19 - |WW II| Bulgaria enters Macedonia; Macedonian Communists switch allegiance to Bulgarian Communist Party
21 - |WW II| British evacuate from Greece
22 - |WW II| The Greek government formally surrenders to Germany
25 - |Holocaust| NDH bans Cyrillic script and proclaims Serbs to be members of the Greek Orthodox faith; Jews in the NDH are ordered to wear an identifying patch on all clothing
27 - |WW II| Formation of Slovenian Freedom Front
28 - Publication of cyclical by Archbishop Stepinac
30 - |Holocaust| NDH law labels all Jews as non-Aryans
30 - |WW II| British complete mass evacuation from Athens to Crete [until may 01]

MAY

00 - |Holocaust| Ustasha begin terror campaign against the c.2 million Serbs and other minorities living in "Greater Croatia"; Bosnian Muslims ask Italian authorities for protection against NDH persecution
02 - |WW II| Allied troops evacuate Greece.
08 - Tito arrives in Belgrade
09 - USSR ceases to recognize Yugoslavia
12 - Mihailovic arrives at Ravna Gora
14 - |Holocaust ?+| 3,600 Jews arrested in Paris.
16 - |WW II| French Marshal Petain issues a radio broadcast approving collaboration with Hitler.
18 - Duke of Spoleto accepts Pavelic offer of Croatian throne as Tomislav II
22 - |Holocaust| Archbishop Stepinac files complaint against decree on identifying patches worn by Jews

JUNE

01 - June - July: 00 - Second big birth rise: 9 months after S.S. Act passed
00 - |Holocaust| Over 62,000 Jews are murdered in western Russia. [u.jul].
00 - King Peter II arrives in London with his ministers
04 - |Holocaust| Deportation of ethnic Serbs to Serbia from NDH begins; Jews in the NDH barred from public facilities
14 - |WW II ?| Croatia formally becomes Axis member
21 - |WW II| UK recognizes Simovic government
22 - |WW II| Operation Barbarossa; Hitler ?+ breaks the non-aggression pact with Stalin and attacks Russia.
22 - |Holocaust| Conducator Antonescu of Romania orders the building of concentration camps in Transdnjestria; 185,000 Jews are deported to the camps
25 - A. Philip Randolph's, president Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, calls off Negro march on Washington planned for jul 01 when FDR agrees to issue Executive Order 8802 banning racial discrimination in defense industries and government employment (creates Fair Employment Practices Committee)
29,30 - |Holocaust ?+| Romanian troops conduct a pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000.

JULY

00 - |Holocaust ?+| As the German Army advances, SS Einsatzgruppen follow along and conduct mass murder of Jews in seized lands.
00 - |Holocaust| Ghettos established at Kovno, Minsk, Vitebsk and Zhitomer.
00 - |Holocaust| The government of Vichy France seizes Jewish owned property.
07 - A raid takes place at Bela Crkva near Valjevo, signalling the (officially recognized) beginning of the popular uprising against German occupation
12 - Anglo-Russian treaty signed.
12 - In Cetinje, Montenegrin collaborationist assembly declares independence of Montenegro; it is to take the form of a constitutional monarchy united "with the destiny of Italy"
13 - Insurgency begins in Montenegro; all areas except Podgorica, Niksic, and Cetinje are occupied by Partisans
17 - |Holocaust| Nazi racial 'philosopher' Alfred Rosenberg is appointed Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories to administer territories seized from the Soviet Union.
18 - Establishment of "Provisional Supreme Command of the National Liberation Troops of Montenegro, the Bay of Kotor, and Sandzak"
21 - |Holocaust| In occupied Poland near Lublin, Majdanek concentration camp becomes operational.
25,26 - |Holocaust| 3,800 Jews killed during a pogrom by Lithuanians in Kovno.
31 - |Holocaust| Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for Final Solution.

AUGUST

00 - Hitler ?+ rejects an offer by Mihailovic to fight against the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Communists in return for weaponry
00 - |Holocaust ?+| Jews in Romania forced into Transnistria. By December, 70,000 perish.
00 - |Holocaust| Ghettos established at Bialystok and Lvov.
11 - Churchill and FDR form Atlantic Charter, establishing the war aims of both nations.
26 - |Holocaust| The Hungarian Army rounds up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk.

SEPTEMBER

00 - Petar becomes King of Yugoslavia-in-exile
16 - Hitler issues an order stating that all mass uprisings in German-occupied Yugoslavia will be considered Communist; 100 hostages are to be killed for each killed German soldier; 50 hostages are to be killed for each wounded German soldier
01 - |Holocaust ?+| German Jews ordered to wear yellow stars.
03 - |Holocaust| The first test use of Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz.
06 - |Holocaust| The Vilna Ghetto is established containing 40,000 Jews.
17 - |Holocaust| Beginning of general deportation of German Jews.
19 - Nazis take Kiev.
27,28 - |Holocaust| 23,000 Jews killed at Kamenets-Podolsk, in the Ukraine.
29,30 - |Holocaust| SS Einsatzgruppen murder 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar near Kiev.

OCTOBER

00 - |Holocaust ?+| 35,000 Jews from Odessa shot.
02 - Beginning of the German Army drive on Moscow.
19 - Uzice, the first issue of Borba is published
20 - Tito submits a 12-point plan to Mihailovic suggesting cooperation in the fight against German occupation
20 - Germans conduct mass executions of people from Kraljevo and Kragujevac; 600 hostages are kept by the Germans [until 21]
23 - |Holocaust| Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich.
25 - Tito attempts to meet with British Army Captain Hudson, who is staying with Mihailovic; Mihailovic denies the presence of Hudson [until 27]
27 - Chetniks stop a partisan arms train from Uzice; Milan Blagojevic, commander of the Sumadija Partisan Brigade, is captured, tortured, and killed by the Chetniks

NOVEMBER

Paperback 10.47 I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1933-1941 by Victor Klemperer

00 - Albanian Communist Party formed
00 - |Holocaust ?+| SS Einsatzgruppe B reports a tally of 45,476 Jews killed.
01 - In Uzice, Tito receives word of impending attack by the Chetniks gathered at Pozega
02 - Partisans launch a preemptive attack against the Chetniks; the Partisans reach Pozega
03 - Partisans capture Pozega; Tito refuses Mihailovic's demand to withdraw from Pozega; a truce is called by Tito on the condition that Mihailovic's men withdraw and that a joint commission is established to investigate the origins of the clash between the two groups
11 - Mihailovic initiates negotiations with German occupying forces
24 - |Holocaust| Theresienstadt Ghetto is established near Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Nazis will use it as a model ghetto for propaganda purposes.
30 - |Holocaust| Near Riga, a mass shooting of Latvian and German Jews.

DECEMBER

00 - The exiled King Peter II dismisses Simovic and replaces him with Slobodan Jovanovic, a Serbian academic; Mihailovic promoted to war minister
07 - |WW II ?| Japanese attack the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.
07 - Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary, and Rumania.
08 - Britain and the United States declare war on Japan.
FDR war declaration has largest audience in radio history: 90 million.
08 - |Holocaust ?+|O.Polland Near Lodz, Chelmno extermination camp becomes operational.
Jews taken there are placed in mobile gas vans and driven to a burial place while carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust is fed into the sealed rear compartment, killing them. The first gassing victims include 5,000 Gypsies + who had been deported from the Reich to Lodz.
08 - |WW II| Japan invades Malaya.
09 - |WW II| Japan invades Philippines.
11 - |WW II| Germany and Italy declare war on United States.
11 - |WW II| Roosevelt then declares war on Germany saying, "Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization." The USA then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90 percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler.
12 - |Holocaust| The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In feb 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Soviet submarine and sunk as an "enemy target."
16 - |Holocaust| During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states - "Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible in order to maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole..."
19 - United States institutes extended military conscription for men ages 20-44.
27 - Rationing in the United States begins with auto tires.

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