Vichy France enacts anti-Jewish legislation
The collaborationist Vichy government enacts a series of anti-Jewish laws in accordance with Nazi policy.
Battle of Britain and the "Blitz"
Great Britain under Prime Minister Winston Churchill remains defiant of Nazi aims to force British surrender. Great Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) battles the German Luftwaffe for months during a massive bombing campaign against British strategic and civilian targets. In nightly bombing attacks on London and other British cities, thousands are killed and millions terrorized.
Lodz ghetto sealed
The Lodz ghetto is sealed off from the rest of the city with barbed wire and fencing. Passage by Jews between ghetto and outside world is strictly controlled. Inside the ghetto, residents are forced to work in factories producing goods for the Nazi war effort. Many die of starvation and disease.
France formally surrenders to Nazi Germany
Much of France falls to Nazi domination. Parts of southern France are governed by a Nazi collaborator government headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, called the "Vichy" regime after its capital.
Allied evacuation from Dunkirk
Following Germany's rapid conquest of Belgium and the Netherlands, and with the French overwhelmed, approximately 300,000 Allied troops evacuate from Dunkirk to Great Britain.