November 22, 1793- During the French Revolution, antireligious fervor peaked. Laws were published in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, France that prohibited religious circumcision, and the wearing of beards. It also ordered the burning of books written in Hebrew. The French Revolution, born of the ideals of Enlightenment, had become the first society to emancipate the Jews, permitting them to enter the highest levels of government and finance. Yet all the talk of "equality" did not stop Voltaire from singling out the Jews as "the most abominable people in the world." The invective gained expression in the 1940s when the French Vichy regime took the initiative to round up and hand over 61,000 Jews to the Nazis.
December 1, 1909- Early Kibbutz Degania Aleph was founded in Palestine.
November 22, 1918- Polish forces attack the Jews of Lvov.
December 8, 1941- The Chelmno extermination camp opened in Poland.
December 8, 1941- All Jewish females and children were ordered to register with the Police of Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
December 8, 1941- Fifteen hundred "old and weak" Jews from the Riga ghetto were murdered by the S.S. in a forest near Bikerneku. Some of the Jews were shot to death while others were asphyxiated in experimental death trucks. These events were later recalled in the book "Endless Miracles," by survivor Jack Ratz, who was 14 at the time.