with the assistance of Rudolf Hess. 24 October: France recognizes the Communist state known as the Soviet Union, alarming German conservatives in the process. 20 December: Hitler released from the Landsberg Prison. 1925 21 January: Japan recognizes the U.S.S.R. 16 February 1925: Bavaria lifts ban on NSDAP. 27 February 1925: The NSDAP is refounded. 9 Mar 1925: Bavaria bans Hitler from public speaking. 7 July: French troops withdraw from the German Rhineland. 14 July: Allied evacuation of the Ruhr valley begins. 18 July 1925: Vol. 1 of Hitler's Mein Kampf released. July–August: Germans are forced to leave Poland and Poles are expedited out of Germany in disputed territories. 11 November: Schutzstaffel (SS) created as a sort of praetorian guard for Hitler. 27 November: Locarno Treaties ratified by Reichstag. 1926 3 & 4 July: Nazi Party "Re-founding Congress" takes place in Weimar 1927 5 March: Hitler speaking ban lifted in Bavaria. 17 August: Franco-German commercial treaty signed. 20 August: "Day of Awakening" celebrated in Nuremberg 1928 20 March: NSDAP gains 2.6% of the vote in Reichstag elections. 28 September: Prussia lifts Hitler speaking ban. 20 October: Alfred Hugenberg becomes head of DNVP 16 November: Hitler first speaks at Berlin Sportpalast, Germany's largest venue. 1929 January: Heinrich Himmler appointed chief of the SS. He begins to transform it into a powerful organization 2 August: "Party Day of Composure" occurs in Nuremberg 16 October: Liberty Law campaign officially begins. The Nazi Party joins a coalition of conservative groups under Hugenberg's leadership to oppose the Young Plan. 22 December: The Liberty Law referendum is defeated. Hitler denounces Hugenberg's leadership parlance. 1930 September: Hitler at trial of 3 SA Lieutenants disavows the SA goals of replacing the army and hence appeases the army. 14 September: In a milestone election, Nazis gain 6 million votes in national polling to emerge as the second largest party in Germany. 1931 11 May: Austrian Kreditanstalt collapses May: Four million unemployed in Germany. 20 June: Herbert Hoover puts moratorium on reparations. 13 July: German bank crisis. 18 September: Geli Raubal dies. 11 October: Harzburg Front formed of coalition between DNVP, Stahlhelm, and Nazi Party Himmler recruits Reinhard Heydrich to form the 'Ic Service' (intelligence service) within the SS; later in 1932 it was renamed the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). December: Unemployment (Arbeitslosigkeit) reaches 5.6 million in Germany as people become more and more disillusioned with the German government. 1932 13 March: Hitler