istoryworld
Events relating to religion
Nazi gangs smash the premises of Jews throughout Germany and Austria in a night that becomes known as Kristallnacht, the night of cut glass
Eugenio Pacelli is elected pope and takes the name Pius XII
Mohammed Ali Jinnah puts forward the concept of independent Muslim states within India
Roger Schutz establishes an ecumenical religious order at Taiz&eachute; in France
In preparation for the invasion of Russia, Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler set up Special Task Commandos (Einsatzkommando) to exterminate Communists and Jews
Goering orders Reinhard Heydrich to prepare plans for the 'final solution of the Jewish queston'
Adolf Eichmann, in an official letter about policy in relation to the Jews, uses the phrase 'the final solution'
In three adapted vans at Chelmno, in western Poland, the Germans begin using poison gas to kill Jews
Regina Jonas, the first woman to be ordained a rabbi, ministers tirelessly for two years in the Theresienstadt concentration camp until she herself is murdered
A Jewish girl in Amsterdam, Anne Frank, is given a diary for her thirteenth birthday
German industrial enterprises are moved from the vulnerable Ruhr valley to the slave labour facilities of Auschwitz
Jews in Warsaw resist a fierce German onslaught for a month before their ghetto is finally destroyed
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat in Budapest, saves thousands of Jews from extermination
By the end of the war the total number of Jews killed by the Nazis is around 6 million
In granting independence to India, Britain partitions the subcontinent along sectarian lines into Pakistan and the republic of India
Muslims proclaim an independent state in west Kashmir, defying the wishes of the maharaja
An Arab boy, herding goats in the Qumran desert, finds the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls
The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam – a significant step in the ecumenical movement
The Muslim Brotherhood carries out acts of terrorism against the Egyptian authorities and British troops
US evangelist Billy Graham forms the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, to take the Christian message to the world
Albanian missionary Mother Teresa opens the Nirmal Hriday, or Kalighat Home for Dying Destitutes, in Calcutta
Black American Malcolm Little, who has joined the Nation of Islam while in prison, adopts the surname X to symbolize his rejection of his slave name
Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon launches the Unification Church, a mission to unify world Christianity
Nasser escapes an assassination attempt by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood
Civil war breaks out in Sudan between the Muslim north and the Christian south
