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Hitler gained power by supporting anti-semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-communism. After he was appointed as chancellor, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich.
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Dachau opens as the first concentration camp in all of Germany in 1933. Its prisoners were liberated by the 5th U.S. Army on May 5th, 1945 in Niederdorf, Italy.
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President Paul von Hindenburg dies, and rather than call new elections as required by the constitution, Hitler's cabinet passes a law proclaiming the presidency vacant and transferring power to Hitler.
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Vladek and Anja meet for the first time. They will later marry.
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Vladek and Anja's son Richieu is born in Sosnowiec, Poland.
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Vladek is called to serve into the Polish army. He was 32.
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The German invasion of Poland, also known as the September campaign, begins.
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German troops enter Sosnowiec, and Vladek is forced to shoot an enemy soldier.
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After the invasion of Poland, Jews were required to wear a distinctive sign indicating their religion. The requirement to wear the Star of David was extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in September of 1941.
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Vladek is released as a prisoner of war.
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Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest death camp in the world, begins functioning.
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On September 3rd, 1941, deputy commandant Karl Fritzsch experimented on 600 Russian POWs and 250 Polish inmates by gathering them in the basement of Block 11 and gassing them with Zyklon B, a lethal pesticide.
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Japanese pilots bomb Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7th 1941.
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The first gassing of Jews begins in the Auschwitz gas chambers.
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Most Jews and Sosnowiec are sent to Auschwitz, but Vladek's wit and luck keep him and Anja safe for a little longer.
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Vladek and Anja are sent to Auschwitz and separated into different camps.
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Germany surrenders to Italy on April 29th and later to all of Western Europe on May 7th, 1945.
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World War II ends at the armistice of August 14th, 1945, and V-J (Victory in Japan) day is celebrated.
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Art Spiegelman is born in Stockholm, Sweden.
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The Spiegelman family immigrates to the U.S. and settles in Rego Park, New York.
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Anja commits suicide, which Art later depicts in his comic entitled "Prisoner on the Hell Parent".
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Vladek dies of congestive heart failure. He was 75 years and 10 months old.