Tell No One Who You Are (20 page)
Read Tell No One Who You Are Online
Authors: Walter Buchignani
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| May 22, 1939 | Germany and Italy sign pact proclaiming military alliance. |
| Sept. 1-2 | Germans invade and occupy Poland. |
| Sept. 3 | Britain and France declare war on Germany. |
| Oct. 27 | Belgians declare neutrality in war. |
| Jan. 10, 1940 | Germans draw up plans to invade Belgium/Netherlands. |
| Jan. 15 | Belgians refuse to allow British/French troops to cross through Belgian territory. |
| April | Germans invade and occupy Denmark and Norway. |
| May 10 | Germans invade Belgium, Netherlands and northwestern France. |
| May 17 | Germans complete invasion of Belgium; occupation begins. |
| May 28 | Belgian king (Leopold) surrenders. |
| May | Many Belgian Jews leave (or try to) for France and/or England. |
| June | Fall of France. |
| June 10 | Italy declares war on France and Britain. |
| July 17 | Battle of Britain begins. |
| Sept. 17 | Beginning of London Blitz. |
| Oct. 23 | “Ritual slaughter of animals” is outlawed by Nazi authorities in Belgium. Arrest of many Jewish “leftists.” |
| Oct. 28 | Germans define who is a Jew and enforce Jewish census. Jews banned from public administration, legal, teaching and media positions. |
| 1941 | During 1941, more than 40,000 German and Belgian Jews are deported to the Warsaw Ghetto. |
| May 31 | Belgian-Jewish enterprises forced to identify themselves as such; withdrawals by Jews from their bank accounts restricted. |
| June | Operation Barbarossa, Germans invade Russia. |
| Aug. 29 | Freedom of movement for Jews limited to four major cities (Brussels, Antwerp, Liege, Charleroi); nightly curfew from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am. |
| Dec. 1 | Jews expelled from public schools (implemented four months later). |
| Dec | Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Americans enter the war. |
| Jan. 1942 | Nightly raids by Allies on France, Belgium, Holland begin. |
| Jan. 17 | Jews are forbidden to leave Belgium. |
| Jan 20 | “Final Solution” drafted at Wannsee Conference, Berlin. |
| March-April | Liquidation of Jewish businesses. |
| March 11 | Forced labor for Jews decreed; deportations begin many are sent to northern France to construct fortifications along the coast. |
| April 1 | Implementation of public school expulsion. |
| May 27 | Nazis order the wearing of yellow badge in shape of Star of David to publicly identify Jews. |
| June 1 | Restrictions placed on Jews practising medicine. |
| July 22 | First arrests of Jews at train station in Antwerp. |
| Aug. 4 | Deportations to concentration camps begin. At first, only Jews who are not Belgian citizens are deported. |
| Sept 15 | Jewish Defence Committee formed. Allies itself with Jewish Communists and Zionist groups. Efforts made to find hiding places, especially for children. |
| Jan. 1943 | Red Army takes Stalingrad and Leningrad, German retreat begins. |
| Jan. 20 | Jean de Selys Longchamps, a Belgian pilot in the R.A.F., bombs the Gestapo headquarters in Brussels, providing a moral boost to all Belgians. |
| April 19 | Start of Warsaw Ghetto uprising. |
| July 9 | Invasion of Sicily by Allies. |
| March 1944 | “Pre-invasion” bombing of northern France, Belgium, Holland: aircraft factories, V-weapon sites. |
| June 4 | British and American troops enter Rome. |
| June 6 | D Day landings in Normandy. |
| Sept. 3 | Brussels and Antwerp liberated by Allies. British and Canadian troops through northern Belgium; American troops through south. |
| Sept. 8 | Italy surrenders to Allies. |
| Oct. | Allied drive to capture port of Antwerp succeeds; Allies go on to Holland. |
| Nov. | German V1 and V2 counterattacks in Belgium, Holland. Belgium is liberated by the end of the month. |
| Dec. - Jan. | German counterattack (Ardennes) in the southeast of Belgium: known as the Battle of the Bulge. Americans attack from west and south, British from north. Fierce fighting accompanied by heavy air bombardments. |
| Jan. 1945 | Liberation of Auschwitz by Russian troops. |
| Jan. 28 | End of Battle of the Bulge. Last German troops leave Belgian soil. |
| April 25 | Russian, American troops meet at Torgau (Germany) to split German armies. |
| April 28 | Mussolini killed. |
| April 30 | Hitler commits suicide. |
| May 7 | Germany surrenders. |
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