Romania passes law condemning adult Jews to forced labor. Germany invades Soviet Union. The Nazi regime requires all Jews above the age of six to wear the Jewish Star for identification purposes. First gassing experiments on Soviet prisoners of war and Polish prisoners in Auschwitz. Massacre of nearly 34,000 Jews at the Babi Yar ravine outside Kiev.
Theresienstadt ghetto opens.
First deportations of German and Austrian Jews to Lodz and Riga ghettos. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. Chelmno Killing center begins operations. Germany declares war on the United States. Sobibor killing center begins operations.