Anna's essay assessment about the effects of WWII was well thought out, structured and contained depth of knowledge, covering broad and important topics. I told Anna that was an "A" essay! Her writing skills have gained strength over these past few months. Really well done, Anna! we then returned to the course material. In 1933, Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. The Nuremberg Laws are passed in 1935. These laws ostracize Germany's Jewish population from the rest of Germany. On Nov. 8, 1938, Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) is an organized, violent attack against Germany's Jewish community. This is considered to mark the official "start" of the Holocaust. We covered the "Final Solution," death camps and concentration camps. The Nazis targeted other groups: Slavs, communists, Russians, Poles, the Roma (Gypsy) people, gay people, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Six death camps: 6 million Jewish people perished, Prior to WWII, 3 million Jewish people (nearly 1/2 of Europe'e Jewish population) lived in Poland. By the end of WWII, there were approximately 9,000 Jewish people left in Poland. We then covered the migration of many Holocaust survivors to other countries. In 1948, the United Nations approved the creation of the State of Israel. We discussed the Nuremberg Trials and crimes against humanity. We then focused on Japanese authoritarianism and atrocities during WWII. The Great Depression also hit Japan hard and in the 1930s, military nationalists gain power in Japan. In 1931, Japan invades Manchuria. In 1936, Japan joins the Axis powers. In 1937, Japan invades China. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declares war, entering WWII on Dec. 8, 1941. We discussed the "island hopping" strategy in the Pacific. Back to the European Theater: 1936: Hitler invades the Rhineland, 1938: Hitler annexes Austria and invades Czechoslovakia, 1939: the Nazis invade Poland and WWII officially begins. In 1940: Hitler invades France, 1941: the Battle of Britain saves the U.K. from Nazi invasion. In 1943, the Allies invade Sicily and in June, 1944 the Allies invade France in the D-Day invasion. Germany is defeated by April, 1945. In August, 1945, the U.S. ends the war with Japan by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9). The costs of WWII in human casualties...an estimated 75 - 80 million people killed. To this day, it's unfathomable.