Timeline 1941
Return to home
1941
Jan 2, The Andrews Sisters recorded what became a
big hit for them, the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie_Woogie_Bugle_Boy)
1941 Jan 3, Canada & US
acquired air bases in Newfoundland with a 99 year lease.
(MC, 1/3/02)
1941 Jan 4, On the Greek-Albanian
front, the Greeks launched an attack towards Valona from Berat to
Klisura against the Italians.
(HN, 1/4/00)
1941 Jan 6, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt asked Congress to support the lend-lease plan to help supply
the Allies. In an address to Congress President Franklin Roosevelt
expressed the general world aims of the United States as these "Four
Freedoms": of speech and expression; of worship; from want; and from
fear. Oscar Cox had helped draft the Lend-Lease Act.
(HN, 1/6/99)(HNQ, 3/2/00)(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.W6)
1941 Jan 8, Robert Baden-Powell
(83), founder of the Boy Scout movement, died.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1941 Jan 9, Joan Baez, American
folk singer and Vietnam War protester, was born.
(HN, 1/9/99)
1941 Jan 9, Some 6,000 Jews were
exterminated in a pogrom in Bucharest, Romania. [see Jan 22]
(MC, 1/9/02)
1941 Jan 10, The Soviets and the
Germans agreed on the East European borders and the exchange of
industrial equipment.
(HN, 1/10/99)
1941 Jan 11, Adolf Hitler ordered
forces to be prepared to enter North Africa to assist the Italian
effort, marking the establishment of the Afrika Korps.
(HN, 1/11/99)
1941 Jan 11, Emanuel Lasker
(b.1868), German mathematician and chess player, died. In 1927 he
authored “Lasker’s Manual of Chess.”
(WSJ, 3/22/08,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker)
1941 Jan 13, James Joyce,
Irish-born novelist, died in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1983 Richard
Ellmann authored the 900-page "James Joyce" biography. In 1999 Edna
O'Brien authored the pocket bio "James Joyce."
(AP, 1/13/98)(SFC, 12/9/99, p.B1)
1941 Jan 15, British troops landed
in Ethiopia [and ended the Italian occupation].
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.260)
1941 Jan 16, US vice admiral
Bellinger warned of an assault on Pearl Harbor.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1941 Jan 16, The US War Dept
formed the 1st Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1941 Jan 20, US Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt was inaugurated for his 3rd term. It was the first time any
US president had been elected for more than two terms.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941 Jan 20, Hitler met with
Mussolini and offered aid in Albania and Greece.
(HN, 1/20/99)
1941 Jan 21, Placido Domingo,
opera tenor (Pinkerton-Mme Butterfly), was born in Madrid, Spain.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 21, Richie Havens, folk
singer (Here Comes the Sun), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 21, Edwin Starr, US
singer (War), was born as Charles Hatcher.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 21, The United States
lifted the ban on arms to the Soviet Union.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1941 Jan 21, Australia &
Britain attacked Tobruk, Libya.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 21, British communist
newspaper "Daily Worker" was banned.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 22, British and
Australian troops captured Tobruk from Italians.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1941 Jan 22, The 1st mass killing
of Jews took place in Romania. [see Jan 9]
(MC, 1/22/02)
1941 Jan 24, Neil Diamond, singer,
actor (Jazz Singer), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 1/24/02)
1941 Jan 27, The United States and
Great Britain began high-level military talks in Washington.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1941 Jan 28, French General
Charles DeGaulle's Free French forces sacked south Libya oasis.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1941 Jan 30, Dick Cheney was born
in Lincoln, Neb. He served as chief of staff for Pres. Ford from
1975-1977. He was a US Rep. From 1979-1989 and served as the Sec. of
Defense for pres. George H.W. Bush from 1989-1993. From 1995 to 2000 he
served as the CEO of Halliburton Corp. and in 2000 was chosen by Gov.
George W. Bush as a running mate.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A28)
1941 Jan, The US War Dept. formed
an all-black flying unit that achieved fame as the Tuskegee Airmen. On
June 20 the Tuskegee program officially began with the formation of the
99th Fighter Squadron at the Tuskegee Institute. Their 1st mission was
in June 1943. African-Americans were barred from the Air Corps until
this year, and then were shunted to all-black squadrons.
(SFC, 9/22/99, p.A24) (WSJ, 8/17/99, p.A1)(NPub,
2002, p.14)
1941 Feb 1, "Downbeat Magazine"
reported this day that Glenn Miller had inked a new three-year contract
with RCA Victor Records. The pact guaranteed Miller $750 a side, the
fattest record contract signed to that time.
(440 Int'l, 2/1/1999)
1941 Feb 3, The US Supreme Court
upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, ruling that Congress can
fix minimum wages and maximum hours for US workers.
(AH, 2/06, p.14)
1941 Feb 4, The United Service
Organization (USO) was chartered, in order to provide recreation for
on-leave members of the US armed forces and their families.
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb04.html)
1941 Roy Plunkett, chemist,
patented a product later called Teflon. He produced the substance in
1938 while trying to create a refrigerant for DuPont.
(Sm, 2/06, p.38)
1941 Feb 5, The SS Politician
wrecked off the coast of the Isle of Eriskay in the Hebrides. It
carried some 20,000 cases of whisky, which the natives hid from customs
agents. The story was told in the 1947 book “Whisky Galore” by Compton
Mackenzie. The book was made into a film in 1949.
(http://heritage.scotsman.com/timelines.cfm?cid=1&id=40422005)
1941 Feb 5, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
Paterson (b.1864), Australian poet and journalist, died. He is best
known for his song “Waltzing Matilda.”
(www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/voice/writers/paterson0.htm)(NG, 8/04, p.29)
1941 Feb 6, The RAF cleared the
way as British took Benghazi, Libya, trapping thousands of Italians.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1941 Feb 6, Maximilien Luce
(b.1858), French anarchist and Neo-Impressionist painter, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Luce)
1941 Feb 7, Frank Sinatra and
Tommy Dorsey Orch recorded "Everything Happens to Me."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1941 Feb 8, Japanese armored
barges crossed the Strait of Johore to attack Singapore.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1941 Feb 9, British troops
conquered El Agheila.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1941 Feb 9, Nazi collaborators
destroyed the pro-Jewish cafe Alcazar Amsterdam. Alcazar had refused to
hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1941 Feb 10, London severed
diplomatic relations with Romania. Romania’s indigenous fighter, the
IAR 80, saw service in defense of its homeland and against the Soviets.
(HN, 2/10/97)
1941 Feb 10, Iceland was attacked
by German planes.
(HN, 2/10/97)
1941 Feb 11, Lt-Gen Erwin Rommel
arrived in Tripoli.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1941 Feb 14, "Reflections in a
Golden Eye" by Carson McCullers was first published.
(AP, 2/14/01)
1941 Feb 14, German Afrika Korps
landed in Tripoli, Libya.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1941 Feb 15, Duke Ellington 1st
recorded "Take the A Train."
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1941 Feb 15, K Reinmuth discovered
asteroids #1561 Fricke & #1785 Wurm.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1941 Feb 16, The Italians lost
their last position in the Sudan.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1941 Feb 19, Nazi police were
attacked and driven away from Koco, Amsterdam by young Jews. Nazis
raided Amsterdam and rounded up 429 young Jews for deportation.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1941 Feb 19, Hamilton Harty
(61), composer, conductor, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1941 Feb 20, The U.S. sent war
planes to the Pacific. General George C. Kenney pioneered aerial
warfare strategy and tactics in the Pacific theater.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1941 Feb 20, The 1st transport of
Jews to concentration camps left Plotsk, Poland.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1941 Feb 20, Nazis ordered Polish
Jews barred from using public transportation.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1941 Feb 22, Arthur T "Bomber"
Harris became British Air Marshal.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1941 Feb 22, IG Farben started
building Buna-Werke in the Auschwitz extermination camp.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1941 Feb 26, Cowboys' Amateur
Association of America was organized in California.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1941 Feb 26, British took the
Somali capital in East Africa.
(HN, 2/26/98)
1941 Feb 26, Vichy-France made
religious education in school mandatory.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1941 Feb 26, Utrecht and Zaandam
struck against raid on Jews.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1941 Feb 26, Jan Keizer Zaanse,
February striker, was shot to death.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1941 Feb 27, Jewish musicians came
together in Berlin and performed Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony. In
2001 Martin Goldsmith authored "The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True
Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany."
(SSFC, 4/8/01, BR p.5)
1941 Mar 1, W47NV, the 1st US FM
radio station to broadcast with a commercial license, went on the air
in Nashville, TN.
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=3021)
1941 Mar 1, Elmer Layden became
the 1st NFL commissioner.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1941 Mar 1, Himmler inspected the
Auschwitz concentration camp.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1941 Mar 1, Bulgaria joined the
Axis as the Nazis occupy Sofia.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 3/1/98)
1941 Mar 3, Netherlands NSB-leader
Mussert visited Göring in Berlin.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1941 Mar 3, Moscow denounced the
Axis rule in Bulgaria.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1941 Mar 4, 18 Geuzen resistance
fighters were sentenced to death in The Hague.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1941 Mar 4, Serbian Prince Paul
visited Hitler.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1941 Mar 5, Britain severed all
relation with Bulgaria and prepared for an air attack on Bulgaria.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1941 Mar 6, John Gutzon de la
Mothe Borglum (73), sculptor (Mount Rushmore), died.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1941 Mar 7, British troops invaded
Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Mar 7, 50,000 British
soldiers landed in Greece.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Mar 7, Gunther Prien, German
U-boat commander and war hero (U-47), died in battle.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Mar 8, Martial law was
proclaimed in Holland in order to extinguish any anti-Nazi protests.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1941 Mar 10, Vichy France
threatened to use its navy if Britain would not allow food to reach
France.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1941 Mar 11, The Lend-Lease Act
was passed by the US Congress. It authorized the president to send aid
to nations whose defense he considered essential to US defense.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941 Mar 13, Hitler issued an
edict calling for an invasion of the USSR
(HN, 3/13/98)
1941 Mar 14, Xavier Cugat and his
Orchestra recorded "Babalu."
(MC, 3/14/02)
1941 Mar 15, A blizzard in North
Dakota killed 151. [see Mar 16]
(MC, 3/15/02)
1941 Mar 15, Philippine Airlines
maid its maiden flight from Manila to Baguio.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A19)
1941 Mar 16, Chuck Woolery, TV
game show host, was born in Kentucky. He hosted Love Connection from
1983 to 1995.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)(SSFC,
7/6/08, p.B6)
1941 Mar 16, A blizzard hit North
Dakota and Minnesota killing 60. [see Mar 15]
(MC, 3/16/02)
1941 Mar 17, The National Gallery
of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 3/17/97)(HN, 3/17/98)
1941 Mar 19, Jimmy Dorsey and
Orchestra recorded "Green Eyes" and "Maria Elena" for Decca Records.
(AP, 3/19/01)
1941 Mar 20, Nazi German-Yugoslav
pact was drawn.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1941 Mar 20, D.A. van den Bosch,
anti-Nazi clergyman (Amersfoort Camp), died.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1941 Mar 21, The last Italian post
in East Libya fell to the British.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1941 Mar 22, The Grand Coulee Dam
in Washington state went into operation.
(AP, 3/22/01)
1941 Mar 24, Joseph H. Taylor,
Jr., radio astronomer and physicist, was born.
(HN, 3/24/01)
1941 Mar 24, German troops
occupied El Agheila, Libya.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1941 Mar 25, Carolina Paprika
Mills in Dillon, SC, was incorporated.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1941 Mar 25, Yugoslavia joined the
Axis powers.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1941 Mar 26, Clinton Richard
Dawkins, British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science
author, was born. He came to prominence with his 1976 book “The Selfish
Gene,” which popularized the gene-centered view of evolution and
introduced the term meme.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins)
1941 Mar 26, In Yugoslavia the
pro-Axis Prince Paul was toppled in a palace revolution in Belgrade and
Prince Peter was put in as head of state.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941 Mar 27, Britain leased
defense bases in Trinidad to the U.S. for a period of 99 years.
(HN, 3/27/98)
1941 Mar 27, Tokeo Yoshikawa
arrived in Oahu, Hawaii, to begin spying for Japan on the U.S. Fleet at
Pearl Harbor.
(HN, 3/27/99)
1941 Mar 27, Hitler signed
Directive 27 for an assault on Yugoslavia.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1941 Mar 28, The Italian fleet was
routed by the British at the Battle of Matapan.
(HN, 3/28/99)
1941 Mar 28, Novelist and critic
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), born as Virginia Stephen, died in Lewes,
England. She feared a mental breakdown and threw herself into the River
Ouse near her home in Sussex. Her body was never found. She was an
English novelist, essayist and critic and wrote standing up. In 1997
"Art and Affection, A Life of Virginia Woolf" was published. In 1997 a
biography by Hermione Lee was published.
(WUD, 1994, p.1643)(SFC, 6/23/96, zone 1 p.2)(SFEM,
1/12/97, BR p.7)(AP, 3/28/97)(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.8)(HN, 3/28/01)
1941 Mar 29, Terence Hill, actor
(Super Fuzz, They Call Me Trinity), was born in Venice, Italy.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1941 Mar 29, The British sank five
Italian warships off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean.
Captain Johnnie Walker was the Royal Navy’s most effective weapon
against the German U-boat menace.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1941 Mar 30, The U.S. seized
Italian, German and Danish ships in 16 ports.
(HN, 3/30/98)
1941 Mar 30, The German Afrika
Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against
British forces in Libya.
(HN, 3/30/99)
1941 Mar 31, Germany began a
counter offensive in North Africa.
(HN, 3/31/98)
1941 Mar, Timely Comics, the
predecessor of Marvel Comics, introduced the "Captain America” comics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America)
1941 Apr 1, Lillian Hellman's
"Watch on the Rhine," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1941 Apr 1, US Navy took over
Treasure Island in SF Bay.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1941
Apr 1, The first contract for advertising on a
commercial FM radio station began on W71NY in New York City.
(OTD)
1941 Apr 1, Nazi's forbade Jews
access to cafes in Paris.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1941 Apr 2, USS Hornet with Jimmy
Doolittle's B-25s departed from SF.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1941 Apr 3, Walton's overture
"Scapino," premiered in Chicago.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Churchill warned
Stalin of German invasion.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Andre Michelin (88),
French tire manufacturer, died. In 2004 Herbert Lottman authored "The
Michelin Men: Driving an Empire," the story of Andre and Edouard
Michelin.
(MC, 4/3/02)(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1941 Apr 3, Pal Teleki-von Szek
(61), PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), committed suicide.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 4, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi in North Africa.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1941 Apr 5, German commandos
secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany's
invasion of the Balkans.
(HN, 4/5/99)
1941 Apr 6, Italian-held Addis
Ababa surrendered to British and Ethiopian forces.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1941 Apr 6, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop gave orders for the attack on
Yugoslavia to roll forward. Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb
Belgrade prior to the final drive into the capital. From August 6 to
10, more than 500 bombing sorties were flown against Belgrade,
inflicting more than 17,500 fatalities. Most of the government
officials fled, and the Yugoslav army began to collapse. German
Luftwaffe Marshall Alexander Lohr commanded a surprise air attack on
Belgrade and 17,000 died. Lohr was later tried and executed for the
bombings.
(www.thehistorynet.com/wwii/blbelgradebybluff/)(SFC,
4/8/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A21)
1941 Apr 6, German troops invaded
Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian and Albanian forces attacked and jointly
occupied Yugoslavia. Germany, with support of Italy and other allies
defeated Greece and Yugoslavia.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(www,
Albania, 1998)
1941 Apr 6-7, The Luftwaffe
delivered a heavy blow to the British expedition when German bombers
seriously damaged Piraeus, the port of Athens sinking seven merchant
ships, sixty lighters and 25 caiques.
(www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/greece.htm)
1941 Apr 8, Eugene-Marcel Prevost,
novelist, died.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1941 Apr 9, The PGA established a
Golf Hall of Fame.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1941 Apr 10, Paul Theroux, author
(The Great Railway Bazaar), was born.
(HN, 4/10/01)
1941 Apr 10, U.S. troops occupied
Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.
(HN, 4/10/98)
1941 Apr 11, Ellen Goodman,
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, was born.
(HN, 4/11/01)
1941 Apr 11, Germany bombers
blitzed Coventry, England.
(HN, 4/11/98)
1941 Apr 11, The Jewish Weekly
newspaper was taken control by Nazis.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1941 Apr 12, Vichy-France's head
of government Admiral Dalan consulted with Hitler.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1941 Apr 13, Margaret Price,
soprano (Pamlina-Die Zauberflote), was born in Tredegar, Wales.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1941 Apr 13, German troops
captured Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Hitler soon installed Gen. Milan Nedic
as a quisling leader. Nedic proceeded to wipe out the Jewish community
of Serbia. In 1997 Philip Cohen wrote "Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda
and the Deceit of History."
(HN, 4/13/99)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)
1941 Apr 13, There was a heavy
German assault on Tobruk.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1941 Apr 13, A Russian-Japan
no-attack treaty went into effect.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1941 Apr 14, Julie Christie,
actress (Dr Zhivago), was born in Assam, India.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1941 Apr 14, Pete Rose, Cincinnati
Reds, (most hits in majors), was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1941 Apr 14, The 1st massive
German raid in Paris rounded up 3,600 Jews.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1941 Apr 15, 1st helicopter flight
of 1 hour duration took place at Stratford, Ct.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1941 Apr 17, Office of Price
Administration OPA formed to handle war time rationing.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1941 Apr 17, British troop landed
in Iraq.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1941 Apr 17, Yugoslavia
surrendered to Germany ending 11 days of futile resistance against the
invading German Wehrmacht. More than 300,000 Yugoslav officers and
soldiers were taken prisoner. Italian and Albanian forces attacked and
jointly occupied Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/17/97)(MC, 4/17/02)
1941 Apr 18, In the village of
Audrini, Latvia, Boleslavs Maikovskis, chief of police for the second
precinct of Rezekne, ordered the arrest of all the 200-300 people in
the village after Soviet partisans shot and killed several policemen.
He also ordered every house to be burned down. 200 villagers were then
executed, but he claimed to have nothing to do with the slaughter. He
was charged with mass murder in Germany and his trial began in 1988 but
in Feb 1994 the court ruled that he was too frail to continue.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.C-2)
1941 Apr 19, Michel Roux, chef de
cuisine, was born.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1941 Apr 19, B. Brecht's 1939 play
"Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and her Children),"
premiered in Zurich.
(www.theatre.ubc.ca/mother_courage/subject.shtml)
1941 Apr 20, Joni Evans, publisher
of Simon & Schuster, Random House, was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1941 Apr 20, Ryan O'Neal, actor
(Peyton Place, Paper Moon, was born in LA, Calif.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1941 Apr 21, Greece surrendered to
Nazi Germany.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1941 Apr 23, Greece Army
surrendered to Nazis; RAF flew Greek king George II to Egypt.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1941 Apr 24, British army began
the evacuation of Greece.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1941 Apr 24, Dutch Prince Bernhard
became an RAF pilot.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1941 Apr 26, First organ played at
a baseball stadium, Chicago, Illinois.
(HN, 4/26/98)
1941 Apr 27, Judith Blegen, opera
singer (Papagena-Magic Flute), was born in Missoula, Mont.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1941 Apr 27, The Greek army
capitulated to the Germans. Greece and the Greek islands were secured
by Hitler.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)(HN, 4/27/98)
1941 Apr 28, Ann-Margret, actress
(Bye Bye Birdie, Tommy), was born in Valsjobya, Sweden.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1941 Apr 28, Last British troops
in Greece surrendered.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1941 May 1, The
motion picture "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles (24),
premiered in New York. Randolph Hearst attempted to bury the film by
banning all advertising in his newspapers. One in five Americans read a
Hearst paper at this time. Citizen Kane won an Academy Award. A PBS
special from the American Experience covered the story in 1996. His
biography, "Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles" by David Thompson, was
published in 1996.
(WSJ, 1/25/96, p.A-16)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)(SFC,
6/9/96, BR p.15)
1941 May 1, General Mills
introduced Cheerioats, later renamed Cheerios. It was made possible by
the development of the “puffing gun” invented earlier by Lester
Borchardt Sr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios)(WSJ,
1/27/07, p.A6)
1941 May 1, A German assault took
place on Tobruk.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1941 May 2, Martin Bormann
succeeded Rudolf Hess as Hitler's deputy.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1941 May 2, Hostilities broke out
between British forces in Iraq and that country's pro-German faction
under PM Rashid Ali. There was a pro-Axis coup led by the army. Quickly
overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime under PM Nuri
al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis powers in 1943.
(HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1941 May 3, There was a German air
raid on Liverpool.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1941 May 3, Pierre Seel (17) was
arrested in Alsace-Lorraine by the German Gestapo and tortured for 10
days for his homosexuality. In 1994 he authored the memoir “I, Pierre
Seel, Deported Homosexual.”
(SFC, 12/2/05, p.B5)
1941 May 5, A Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Robert E Sherwood (There shall be no night).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1941 May 5, Emperor Haile Selassie
returned to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1941 May 6, Ghena Dimitrova,
soprano (Nabucco), was born.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1941 May 6, Bob Hope (b. May 29,
1903) began broadcasting his first USO radio show from March Field at
Riverside, Ca. The United Service Organizations (USO) began operations
this year and provided free coffee, donuts, and entertainment to US
military forces. The organization is supported entirely by private
citizens and corporations.
(SFC, 5/28/97, p.D5)(HN, 5/6/98)(SFEC, 9/8/96, Par
p.8)
1941 May 6, Dictator Josef Stalin
assumed the Soviet premiership, replacing Vyacheslav M. Molotov.
(AP, 5/6/97)
1941 May 7, Glenn Miller and His
Orchestra recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA Victor. It became
the first gold record in history.
(AP, 5/7/99)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A23)
1941 May 7, British House of
Commons voted for Churchill (477-3).
(MC, 5/7/02)
1941 May 9, The German submarine
U-110 was captured at sea by the Royal Navy, revealing considerable
Enigma material. Enigma was the German machine used to encrypt messages
during World War II.
(HN, 5/9/99)(HNQ, 8/30/00)
1941 May 10, England’s House of
Commons was destroyed by a German air raid.
(HN, 5/10/98)
1941 May 10, Rudolf Hess (d.93), a
deputy of Adolf Hitler, parachuted into Scotland to see the Duke of
Hamilton on what he claimed was a peace mission. Hess ended up serving
a life sentence at Spandau prison until 1987, when he apparently
committed suicide.
(AP, 5/10/97)(ON, 4/02, p.7)
1941 May 11, London’s Bridgewater
House was bombed. A major work by French painter Paul Delaroche,
"Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers" (1837) depicting the
British monarch shortly before his execution in 1649, was thought to
have been virtually destroyed. In 2009 it was unrolled and found to be
in good condition.
(Reuters, 11/24/09)
1941 May 11, The 1st Messerschmidt
109F was shot down above England.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1941 May 12, Anthony Newman,
harpsichordist, organist (Bhajeb), was born in LA, Calif.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1941 May 13, Ritchie Valens,
singer (Donna, La Bamba), was born.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1941 May 13, Martin Bormann was
named head of Nazi Party Chancellery in Germany.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1941 May 14, French Admiral
Francois Darlan, leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, broadcast
to the citizens that only within the confines of the Third Reich can
France thrive.
(HN, 5/14/99)
1941 May 14, Some 3,600 Parisian
Jews were arrested.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1941 May 15, Lainie Kazan, singer,
actress (Lust in the Dust, Beaches), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1941 May 15, Joe DiMaggio started
his 56-game hitting streak. Yanks lost 13-1.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1941 May 15, 1st British turbojet
flew.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1941 May 15, All preparations for
the German attack against Russia in Operation Barbarossa were to be
finalized.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941 May 15, Nazi occupiers in
Netherlands forbade Jewish music.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1941 May 16, The last great German
air attack on Great Britain was at Birmingham.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1941 May 18, An Egyptian steamer
sank.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1941 May 18, Italian army under
General Aosta surrendered to Britain in Ethiopia.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1941 May 19, Jane Brody, food and
health writer, was born.
(HN, 5/19/01)
1941 May 19, Nora Ephron,
screenwriter and director, was born.
(HN, 5/19/01)
1941 May 19, German occupiers in
Holland forbade bicycle taxis.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1941 May 19, The new 823.5-foot
Nazi battleship Bismarck left Gdynia, Poland, under the command of
Commander Gunther Lutjens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck)(ON, 10/09,
p.1)
1941 May 20, Germany invaded Crete
by air.
(HN, 5/20/98)
1941 May 21, The first U.S. ship,
the SS Robin Moor, was sunk by a U-boat.
(HN, 5/21/98)
1941 May 22, British troops
attacked Baghdad.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1941 May 24, Bob Dylan (Robert
Allen Zimmerman), singer and songwriter, was born in Minnesota. He is
famous for his songs "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," and "Blowin' in the
Wind."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E3)(HN, 5/24/99)
1941 May 24, The German battleship
Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the North Atlantic.
1416 died with only three survivors.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(ON, 10/09, p.2)
1941 May 25, Some 5,000 drowned in
a storm at Ganges Delta region in India.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1941 May 26, American Flag House,
the Betsy Ross Home, was given to the city of Phila.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1941 May 26, Ark Royal airplane
sighted the German battleship Bismarck.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1941 May 26, German occupiers
began youth labor.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1941 May 27, Amid rising world
tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national
emergency."
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(AP, 5/27/97)
1941 May 27, The German battleship
Bismarck was sunk off France by British naval and air forces with a
loss of more than 2,100 lives. British ships rescued 4 officers and 106
of the crew. A German fishing vessel was reported to have rescued
another 100 men.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck)(AP,
5/27/07)(ON, 10/09, p.5)
1941 May 29, Roy Crewsdon, rocker
(Freddie & The Dreamers), was born in Manchester.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1941 May 30, Serbia enacted
anti-Semitic measures.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1941 May, Congresswoman Edith
Nourse Rogers introduced a house resolution, H.R. 4906, to establish a
civilian organization known as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC),
but the legislation sat undiscussed until after Pearl Harbor. Several
women’s groups were organized after America entered the war and in July
1943, the WASPs came into being.
(HNQ, 3/16/01)
1941 May, Germany dropped 1,500
paratroopers on Crete in the first successful airborne invasion in
military history.
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 Jun 1, British troops
occupied Baghdad, Iraq.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1941 Jun 1, Germany banned all
Catholic publications.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1941 Jun 1, The German Army
completed the capture of Crete as the Allied evacuation ended.
(HN, 6/1/99)
1941 Jun 2, William Guest, singer
(Gladys Knight Show), was born in Atlanta, Ga.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1941 Jun 2, Stacy Keach, actor
(Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer), was born in Savannah, Ga.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1941 Jun 2, Charlie Watts, drummer
(Rolling Stones-Brown Sugar), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1941 Jun 2, Baseball’s "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 37. The best book on Gehrig is "Iron
Horse" by Ray Robinson. In 2005 Jonathan Eig authored “Luckiest Man:
The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.”
(AP, 6/2/97)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.79)
1941 Jun 3, German occupiers
stamped "J" on Jewish passports.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1941 Jun 4, Republic of Croatia
ordered all Jews to wear a star with the letter Z.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1941 Jun 4, Wilhelm II von
Hohenzollern, emperor (Germany, 1888-1918), died.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1941 Jun 6, The U.S. government
authorized the seizure of foreign ships in U.S. ports.
(HN, 6/6/98)
1941 Jun 7, Jaime Laredo,
violinist (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium prize 1959), was born in Bolivia.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1941 Jun 7, Whirlaway won the
Belmont Stakes & the triple crown.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1941 Jun 9, Production began on
“The Maltese Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Sam Spade.
The film was directed by John Huston (34).
(SFCM, 2/6/05, p.10)
1941 Jun 13, Thousands of Jewish
community leaders were deported to Siberia as part of the general
purge. The Soviet Union, which had occupied the former Romanian
province a year earlier, loaded 22,600 Moldovans on cargo trains bound
for Siberia, where the deportees were used for forced labor.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)(AP, 6/13/06)
1941 Jun 14, In Latvia some 15,000
people were rounded up in one night and sent to Siberia.
(BN, 10/96, p.2)(BN, 10/97, p.1)
1941 Jun 14, In Lithuania the
Russian secret police gathered up some 40,000 men, women and children
and exiled them to Siberia in cattle cars. This was the first of many
shipments. Arrests and deportations totaled some 34,260 people.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(Dr, 7/96, V1#1, p.3)
1941 Jun 18, Joe Louis KO’d Billy
Conn in 13 for the heavyweight boxing title.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1941 Jun 18, Turkey signed a peace
treaty with Nazi Germany.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1941 Jun 19, US president
Roosevelt signed Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act.
(DT, 6/19/97)
1941 Jun 19, Cheerios Cereal was
invented, O-shaped cereal 1/2-inch diameter, .0025 ounce, 400=1
serving; first called Cheerie Oats.
(DT, 6/19/97)
1941 Jun 19, Romania ordered Jews
to evacuate Darabani.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1941 Jun 20, U.S. Army Air Forces
was established, replacing the Army Air Corps.
(HN, 6/20/98)(WSJ, 8/17/99, p.A1)
1941 Jun 22, Ed Bradley, CBS news
correspondent and one of the hosts of "Sixty Minutes," was born.
(HN, 6/22/99)
1941 Jun 22, Estonians started
armed resistance against Soviet occupation.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1941 Jun 22, Finland invaded
Karelia. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in summer 1941, Finland
joined in and began re-taking the lost territory.
(www.publiscan.fi/cu13e-9.htm)
1941 Jun 22, German troops invaded
Russia and thereby violated the 1939 Russo-German non-aggression pact.
Under the codename Barbarossa, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the
largest invasion of another country in history. In 2005 Constantine
Pleshakov authored “Stalin’s Folly,” and David E. Murphy authored ”What
Stalin Knew.” Both provide accounts of the invasion and Stalin’s
refusal to acknowledge warning signs.
(AP, 6/22/97)(HN, 6/22/98)(WSJ, 6/22/05, p.D12)
1941 Jun 22, Germany occupied the
Baltic states.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1941 Jun 23, The German army
entered Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 Jun 24, President Franklin
Roosevelt pledged all possible support to the Soviet Union.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1941 Jun 24, The entire Jewish
male population of Gorzhdy, Lithuania, was exterminated.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1941 Jun 24, Germans advanced into
Russia and took Vilnius, Brest-Litovsk & Kaunas.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1941 Jun 25, Joe DiMaggio ran his
hitting streak to 45 straight games.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1941 Jun 25, Germans invaded
Dubno, Poland, and encouraged the Ukrainians to do whatever they want
to 12,000 Jews living there.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1941 Jun 25, Finland declared war
on the Soviet Union.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1941 Jun 25-26, Russians counter
attacked at Rovno, Poland.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1941 Jun 26, Finland entered WW II
against Russia.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1941 Jun 26, Lithuanian fascists
massacred 2,300 Jews in Kovno.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1941 Jun 28, German and Romanian
soldiers kill 11,000 Jews in Kishinev.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1941 Jun 28, German troops
occupied Galicia, Poland.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1941 Jun 29, Stokely Carmichael
(later Kwame Ture), African-American civil rights leader, was born in
Port-of-Spain and spent his first 11 years there.
(SFC, 11/16/98, p.A7)(HN, 6/29/98)
1941 Jun 29, Nazi divisions in a
surprise assault made sweeping advances toward Leningrad, Moscow, and
Kiev. Joseph Stalin had ignored warnings that Hitler would betray the
1939 Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. Over 500,000 square miles of
Russian territory were taken in the first two months of the invasion.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1941 Jun 29, Polish statesman,
pianist and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski died in New York at age 80.
(AP, 6/29/97)(SFC, 1/28/99, p.E3)
1941 Jun 30, Charles E. Hughes
(1862-1948), Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, retired. He
expanded freedom of the press and ruled against some of FDR’s New Deal
Legislation. Hughes served 2 terms on the court, 1910-1916 and
1930-1941.
(www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/62/)
1941 Jun, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt froze German and Italian assets in the United States.
(HN, 10/23/01)
1941 Jun, Former Lithuanian
Pres. Aleksandras Stulginskis and his wife were arrested by the Soviet
NKVD and deported to a gulag in the Krasnoyarsk region. His wife was
deported to the Komi area. After World War II in 1952 he was officially
sentenced by the Soviet authorities to 25 years in prison for his
anti-socialist and clerical policies in pre-war Lithuania. Released
after Joseph Stalin's death in 1956, he was allowed to emigrate, yet he
refused and returned to Lithuanian SSR.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandras_Stulginskis)
1941 Jun, In the northeastern city
of Iasi, Romania, up to 12,000 people are believed to have died as
Romanian and German soldiers swept from house to house to killing Jews.
(AP, 6/14/03)
1941 Jul 1, Commercial black and
white television broadcasting began in the US under approval by the
FCC. NBC’s New York station was the 1st to transition from radio to TV.
“Truth or Consequences” with host Ralph Edwards became the 1st
commercial TV show for NBC. WW II disrupted TV’s progress. “Truth or
Consequences” prospered on radio and returned to TV in
1950.
(http://www.tvhistory.tv/History%20of%20TV.htm)(SFC,
11/17/05, p.B5)
1941 Jul 3, Harlan Fiske Stone
(1872-1946) was sworn in as Chief Justice on the US Supreme Court.
(www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/73/)
1941 Jul 3, German soldiers arrive
in Kolomiya, (later part of Ukraine) which belonged to Poland at this
time, and tacked up posters the declared in three languages "Death to
All Jews." Blanca Rosenberg (d.1998) wrote a memoir in 1993, "To Tell
at Last," that described how she survived the Holocaust.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.C2)
1941 Jul 4, Howard Florey &
Norman Heatley meet for 1st time, 11 days later they successfully
recreated penicillin.
(MC, 7/4/02)
1941 Jul 4, Latvia partisans shot
416 Jews dead.
(Maggio)
1941 Jul 4, Politburo of Yugoslav
communist party reorganized.
(Maggio)
1941 Jul 5, German troops reached
the Dnieper River in the Soviet Union.
(HN, 7/5/98)
1941 Jul 6, German planes attacked
the SS Devon off the east coast of England. Reginald Earnshaw (14) died
in the attack after serving for several months. In 2010 he was hailed
as the youngest known British service casualty in World War II.
(AP, 2/5/10)
1941 Jul 7, Although a neutral
country, the United States sent troops to occupy Iceland to keep it out
of Germany’s hands.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 7/7/98)
1941 Jul 7, Nazis executed 5,000
Jews in Kovno, Lithuania.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1941 Jul 8, Twenty B-17s flew in
their first mission with the Royal Air Force over Wilhelmshaven,
Germany.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1941 Jul 8, All Jews living in
Baltic States were obligated to wear Star of David.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1941 Jul 10, Jelly Roll Morton
(b.1885 as Ferdinand Joseph Le Menthe), jazz musician, died in Los
Angeles, Ca. He was a virtuoso pianist, bandleader and composer who
some call the first true composer of jazz music. Morton was a colorful
character who liked to generate publicity for himself by bragging. His
business card referred to him as the "Creator of Jazz and Swing."
He was born September 20, 1890 in the Creole of Color community in the
Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. He
took the name "Morton" by Anglicizing the name of his step-father,
Mouton. In 2003 Howard Reich and William Gaines authored "Jelly's
Blues: The Life, Music and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton." In 2005
Rounder Records released an 8-CD set titled “Jelly Roll Morton: The
Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax.”
(SFC, 5/24/03,
p.D3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_Morton)(WSJ, 11/23/05,
p.D12)
1941 Jul 10, In Jedwabne, Poland,
some 1600 Jews were herded into a barn by the local villagers and
burned to death. In 2001 Jan Tomasz authored "Neighbors: The
Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne."
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A16)(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A12)
1941 Jul 11(Jun 11), The 2nd great
roundup of Jews of Amsterdam took place.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1941 Jul 11(Jun 11), Vichy-French
planes bombed Tel Aviv and killed 20 Jews.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1941 Jul 12, Moscow was bombed by
the German Luftwaffe for the first time.
(HN, 7/12/98)
1941 Jul 13, Britain and the
Soviet Union signed a mutual aid pact, providing the means for Britain
to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.
(HN, 7/13/98)
1941 Jul 14, Vichy French Foreign
Legionaries signed an armistice in Damascus, allowing them to join the
Free French Foreign Legion.
(HN, 7/14/99)
1941 Jul 14, 6,000 Lithuanian Jews
were exterminated at Viszalsyan Camp.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1941 Jul 15, Florey and Heatley
presented freeze dried mold cultures (Penicillin).
(MC, 7/15/02)
1941 Jul 16, Dag Solstad,
Norwegian novelist and playwright, was born.
(HN, 7/16/01)
1941 Jul 17, The longest hitting
streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians pitchers
held NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, hitless for the first
time in 57 games. His hitting streak ended with 56 games.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)(SFC,
3/9/99, p.A10)
1941 Jul 17, Brigadier-General
Brehon Somervell gathered a small group of officer’s from the army’s
construction division and told them they were to build a single
headquarters to house the entire war department, then scattered over
sites, in Virginia.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.93)
1941 Jul 18, SS troops drowned 40
Jews in Dvina River in Belorussia.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1941 Jul 19, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in
Europe. The BBC World Service began regular broadcasting
throughout Europe with the opening four notes of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony, which in Morse Code spell V for "Victory."
(AP, 7/19/97)(MC, 7/19/02)
1941 Jul 21, France accepted
Japan’s demand for military control of Indochina.
(HN, 7/21/98)
1941 Jul 21, Himmler ordered the
building of the Majdanek concentration camp. The camp was built in
eastern Poland as a principal site to exterminate Jews. It contained 7
gas chambers.
(SFC, 3/5/98, p.A14)(MC, 7/21/02)
1941 Jul 21, 200 Jewish Torahs
were burned in Ukraine.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1941 Jul 22, George Clinton,
American musician and the principal architect of P-Funk was born in
North Carolina. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and
Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s.
(www.last.fm/music/George+Clinton)
1941 Jul 23, Douglas Bader
(1910-1982), legless British RAF pilot, was shot down over France and
captured by the Germans. He was liberated when the US First Army
arrived on April 16, 1945. The 1956 film “Reach for the Sky” was based
on the 1954 book by Paul Brickhill: “Reach for the Sky: The Story of
Douglas Bader, Hero of the Battle of Britain.”
(ON, 9/05, p.9)
1941 Jul 23, German and Romanian
troops reoccupied Moldova as part of Operation Barbarossa.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941 Jul 24, The U.S. government
denounced Japanese actions in Indochina.
(HN, 7/24/98)
1941 Jul 24, Nazis massacred the
entire Jewish population of Grodz, Lithuania.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1941 Jul 25, The U.S. government
froze Japanese and Chinese assets.
(HN, 7/25/98)
1941 Jul 26, Benjamin Lee Whorf
(1897), American linguist, died. He had argued that different languages
condition or restrain the mind’s habits of thought.
(Econ, 12/19/09,
p.137)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lee_Whorf)
1941 Jul 27, The German army
entered Ukraine.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1941 Jul 27, Japanese forces
landed in Indo-China.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1941 Jul 28, Riccardo Muti,
conductor (Philadelphia Orch), was born in Napoli, Italy.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1941 Jul 28, A Japanese army
landed in Cochin, China (modern day Vietnam).
(HN, 7/28/98)
1941 Jul 29, David Warner, actor
(Star Trek VI, Time Bandits), was born in Manchester, NH.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1941 Jul 30, Paul Anka, singer and
song-writer, was born in Ottawa. He later composed the song "My Way."
(G&M, 7/30/97, p.A24)
1941 Jul 31, The U.S. Army
established the Military Police Corps.
(HN, 7/31/98)
1941 Jul, Artist Marc Chagall and
his wife Bella Rosenfeld departed France for America. On the same day
that he left Vichy police deported some 1,200 other Jewish refugees to
forced labor in north Africa.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.102)
1941 Jul, In northwestern
Lithuania some 9,000 Jews were killed by Lithuanian police.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 Jul, The 16,000 sq. mile area
of the Ukraine named Transnistria was granted by Hitler to the Romanian
dictator Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the war against
the soviet Union. Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova were
transferred here and many thousands were murdered from 1941-1944 by the
Romanian Gendarmeric, the Einsatrzgruppe D, Ukrainian police and
Sonderkommando R.
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A15)
1941 Aug 1, The Grumman TBF
Avenger torpedo plane made its first flight.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1941 Aug 1, Luftwaffe bombed the
German 23rd division.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1941 Aug 2, The summary of an FBI
probe of GM senior executives with links to Adolph Hitler found
collusion Germany by James D. Mooney, president of GM Overseas Corp.,
but no evidence of any disloyalty to America.
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.E6)
1941 Aug 2, Buffy Sainte-Marie,
folksinger and songwriter, was born in Saskatchewan, Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_Sainte-Marie)
1941 Aug 2, German 11th Army
surrounded 20 Russian divisions at Uman.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1941 Aug 2, Jews were expelled
from Hungarian Ruthenia.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1941 Aug 3, Beverly Lee, singer
(Shirelles-Soldier Boy), was born in Passaic, NJ.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1941 Aug 3, Martha Stewart,
cookbook author, actress (Those Two), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1941 Aug 5, The German army
completed taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in Uman and Smolensk pockets
in the Soviet Union.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1941 Aug 7, In Romania 551 Jews
were shot in the Kishinev ghetto.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1941 Aug 9, President Franklin
Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at Placentia Bay,
Newfoundland. Their meeting produced the Atlantic Charter, an agreement
between the two countries on war aims, even though the United States
was still a neutral country.
(HN, 8/9/98)
1941 Aug 10, Great Britain and the
Soviet Union promised aid to Turkey if it was attacked by the Axis.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1941 Aug 11, Elizabeth Holtzman,
DA (D-Rep-NY, Watergate Committee), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1941 Aug 11, Soviet bombers raided
Berlin but caused little damage.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1941 Aug 12, Deborah Walley,
actress (Mothers-in-Law), was born in Bridgeport, Ct.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1941 Aug 12, Jennifer Warren,
actress (Slap Shot, Fatal Beauty, Mutant), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1941 Aug 12, French Marshal Henri
Philippe Petain announced full French collaboration with Nazi Germany.
(HN, 8/12/98)
1941 Aug 13, Red army evacuated
Smolensk.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1941 Aug 14, The Atlantic Charter
was created in 1941. It was a joint declaration of peace aims and a
statement of principles by US Pres. Roosevelt and British Prime
Minister Churchill that renounced aggression.
(HFA, '96, p.36)(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(AP, 8/14/97)
1941 Aug 14, Josef Jakobs, German
spy, was executed in Tower of London.
(MC, 8/14/02)
1941 Aug 15, Lithuanian Jews in
Kaunas were herded into the Slobodka ghetto.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1941 Aug 18, The concentration
camp at Amersfoort, Netherlands, opened.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1941 Aug 20, Slobodan Milosevic,
premier of Serbia, was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1941 Aug 20, Police raided the
11th district of Paris and took over 4,000 Jewish males.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1941 Aug 20, Adolf Hitler
authorized the development of the V-2 missile.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1941 Aug 21-Sep 26, The Soviet
Union’s greatest defeat in WWII occurred during the encirclement of the
Ukrainian city of Kiev. The Germans took some 665,000 Soviet prisoners.
(HNQ, 8/12/98)
1941 Aug 22, Nazi troops reached
Leningrad.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1941 Aug 25, British and Soviet
forces entered Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
(HN, 8/25/98)
1941 Aug 25, German troops
conquered Novgorod, Leningrad.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1941 Aug 27, The Shah of Iran
abdicated the throne to his son Reza Pahlavi. Britain forced Reza Shah
to abdicate and installed his son Mohammed.
(www.indiana.edu/~league/1941.htm)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1941 Aug 27, The Prime Minister of
Japan, Fumimaro Konoye, issued an invitation for a meeting with
President Roosevelt.
(HN, 8/27/98)
1941 Aug 28, Paul Peter Plishka,
bass (Met Opera), was born in Old Forge, Penn.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1941 Aug 28, The German U-boat
U-570 was captured by the British and renamed Graph.
(HN, 8/28/98)
1941 Aug 29, Robin Leach,
host for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, was born.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1941 Aug 29, Henri Louis
(40), French officer, resistance fighter, was executed.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1941 Aug 29, The German
Einsatzkommando in Russia killed 1,469 Jewish children.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1941 Aug 30, The World War II
siege of Leningrad began as Nazi forces took Mga.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1941 Aug 31, The radio program
"The Great Gildersleeve," a spin-off of Fibber McGee & Molly, made
its debut on NBC.
(AP, 8/31/97)(MC, 8/31/01)
1941 Aug 31, 23 U-boats sunk this
month (80,000 ton).
(MC, 8/31/01)
1941 Aug, In Germany public
protests curtailed the Nazi euthanasia program that had already gassed
some 70,000 mentally handicapped German adults and children.
(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.D8)
1941 Sep 1, Jews living in Germany
were required to wear a yellow Star of David.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1941 Sep 3, Nazis made the 1st use
of Zyclon-B gas in Auschwitz on Russian prisoners of war.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1941 Sep 4, German submarine U-652
fired at the U.S. destroyer Greer off Iceland, beginning an undeclared
shooting war.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1941 Sep 6, Jews over the age of 6
in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.
(AP, 9/6/97)(HN, 9/6/98)
1941 Sep 6, Emperor Hirohito of
Japan gave his sanction "with misgivings" to simultaneous efforts to
negotiate peace with the US and to prepare for an attack if the efforts
failed.
(SFC, 10/3/00, p.A10)
1941 Sep 6, Jews of Vilna, Poland
(Lithuania), were confined to their ghetto.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1941 Sep 8, The 900-day Siege of
Leningrad by German forces began during World War II. The Siege of
Leningrad, 400 miles northwest of Moscow, took place with Germany
spread along a 2,000 mile front. It led to the death of at least one
million Russians from starvation and disease. Leningrad has since been
renamed to St. Petersburg.
(WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-15)(AP, 9/8/06)
1941 Sep 8, The entire Jewish
community of Meretsch, Lithuania was exterminated.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1941 Sep 9, Otis Redding, rock
bassist (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay), was born in Dawson, Ga.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1941 Sep 10, Stephen Jay Gould
(d.2002), biologist, paleontologist and writer, was born in NYC. His
books included “Time’s Cycle” and “The Panda’s Thumb.”
(HN, 9/10/00)(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A6)
1941 Sep 11, FDR ordered any Axis
ship found in American waters be sunk on sight, in response to
submarine attacks on US vessels.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1941 Sep 11, Ground breaking
ceremonies were held for the Pentagon. The 38-acre Pentagon was built
in Arlington, Va., over the next 2 years. Construction was ordered by
Brig. Gen. Brehon B. Sommervell to consolidate the 17 War Dept.
buildings. It cost $83 million and was located on a plot known as
Arlington Farms, that was bordered by 5 roads. In 2006 James Carroll
authored “House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of
American Power.”
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.A6)(Econ, 5/27/06, p.81)
1941 Sep 11, Charles A. Lindbergh
sparked charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in
which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt
administration" for trying to draw the United States into World War II.
Lindbergh had joined the America First Committee which opposed US entry
into the war.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, Par p.29)(USAW, 5/19/02, p.26)(AP,
9/11/08)
1941 Sep 12, The US ship Busko
captured the 1st German ship in WW II.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1941 Sep 13, David Clayton-Thomas
(singer: group: Blood Sweat and Tears: You Made Me So Very Happy,
Spinning Wheel), was born.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1941 Sep 15, Nazis killed 800
Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania.
(http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/shkudvil/shkudvil.html)
1941 Sep 19, "Mama" Cass Elliot,
singer for the Mamas & Papas, was born as Ellen Naomi Cohen.
(www.casselliot.com)
1941 Sep 19, German army conquered
Kiev.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1941 Sep 19, Nazi's force all
German Jews from the age of 6 to wear Stars of David.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1941 Sep 19, 1st meeting of
partisans Tito and Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1941 Sep 21, The US launched its
1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry."
(MC, 9/21/01)
1941 Sep 21, The German Army cut
off the Crimean Peninsula from the rest of the Soviet Union.
(HN, 9/21/98)
1941 Sep 23, Germans staged an air
raid on the Russian naval base at Kronstadt. The battleship Marat sank.
(MC, 9/23/01)
1941 Sep 24, There was a bomb
explosion in German headquarters in Hotel Continental in Kiev.
(MC, 9/24/01)
1941 Sep 26, Bechtel launched its
first ship from the Marin shipyard in California. A total of 18 Liberty
ships were built by Bechtel. The engines were made at the Joshua Hendy
Iron Works in Sunnyvale and shipped in by rail.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Sep 26, In Ukraine some
33,711 Jews of Kiev were killed over 3 days before Yom Kippur in the
ravine at Babi Yar by the Nazis. Over the next 2 years some 100-200
thousand more people, mostly Jews, were killed at the site.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.A6)(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A8)(SFC,
6/26/01, p.A8)(AP, 11/16/07)
1941 Sep 28, Ted Williams ended
the baseball season with .406 batting avg.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1941 Sep 29, 30,000 Jews were
gunned down in Kiev when Henrich Himmler sent four strike squads to
exterminate Soviet Jewish civilians and other "undesirables."
(HN, 9/29/00)
1941 Sep 30, 3,721 Jews were
buried, some still alive, at Babi Yar ravine (near Kiev) Ukraine. [See
Sep 26,29]
(MC, 9/30/01)
1941 Sep 30, 53 U-boats sunk this
month.
(MC, 9/30/01)
1941 Sep, Jean "Max" Moulin was
smuggled to London to meet Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French
Resistance, and the other exiled French leaders. In January 1942 the
SOE parachuted him back into France, to set up an organized Resistance
movement.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/moulin_jean.shtml)
1941 Oct 2, Gilbert Gable, mayor
of Port Orford, Ore., announced with some pals that they were fed up of
being neglected by legislators in Salem and Sacramento and began
promoting a 51st state named Jefferson with Yreka as the capital.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A26)(AH, 2/05, p.20)
1941 Oct 2, Operation Typhoon, a
German all-out drive against Moscow, began in earnest. In 2006 Rodric
Braithwaite authored “Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War.”
(AP,
10/2/97)(http://www.bartcop.com/arc4110.htm)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.95)
1941 Oct 2, 6 Paris synagogues
were bombed by Gestapo.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1941 Oct 3, The film "Maltese
Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Sam Spade, opened. It
was directed by John Huston (34).
(HN, 10/3/00)(SFCM, 2/6/05, p.10)
1941 Oct 3, Adolf Hitler declared
in a speech in Berlin that Russia is "broken" and would "never rise
again."
(AP, 10/3/97)
1941 Oct 3, Nazi's blew up 6
synagogues in Paris.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1941 Oct 3, All elderly Jewish men
of Kerenchug Ukraine, were killed by SS.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1941 Oct 4, Jackie Collins,
actress, author, was born in London, England. Her books included "The
world Is Full of Married Men (1968), "Stud" (1969), "Bitch" (1979) and
"Deadly Embrace" (2002).
(MC, 10/4/01)(SSFC, 8/4/02, Par p.14)
1941 Oct 4, Anne Rice, novelist,
was born in New Orleans, La. Her books included "Interview with a
Vampire."
(HN, 10/4/00)(MC, 10/4/01)
1941 Oct 5, Former Supreme Court
Justice Louis D. Brandeis (b.1856), the first Jewish member of the
nation's highest court (1916-39), died in Washington at age 84. In 2009
Melvin Urofsky authored “Louis D. Brandeis: A Life.”
(AP, 10/5/99)(Econ, 9/26/09, p.97)
1941 Oct 6, German troops renewed
their offensive against Moscow.
(HN, 10/6/98)
1941 Oct 7-1941 Oct 8, There was a
massacre of over 3,700 Jews over a 2-day period near Svencionys,
Lithuania. Vincas Valkavickas, a prison guard during the massacre,
emigrated to the US in 1950 and was forced to leave in 1999 for
concealing his wartime service.
(SFC, 6/15/99,
p.A3)(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pjus/is_199904/ai_1291869401)
1941 Oct 8, Jesse Jackson, civil
rights leader, was born in Greenville, SC.
(HN, 10/8/98)(MC, 10/8/01)
1941 Oct 8, Construction began on
the 430-acre Birkenau extermination camp, 1.5 miles away from Auschwitz.
(MC, 10/8/01)(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.A8)
1941 Oct 8, The Germans arrived in
Mariupol, Ukraine, and immediately instituted anti-Jewish measures.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 Oct 9, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt requested congressional approval for arming U.S. merchant
ships.
(HN, 10/9/99)
1941 Oct 10, German U-boat
torpedoes hit the US destroyer Kearney.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1941 Oct 10, Soviet troops halted
the German advance on Moscow.
(HN, 10/10/98)
1941 Oct 12, Russian government
moved from Moscow to Volga as Nazis closed in on Moscow.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1941 Oct 12, Thousands of Jews
were killed in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, by men of the Security Police
(Sicherheitspolizei; SiPo), assisted by members of the German Order
Police (Ordnungspolizei) and the railroad police.
(Econ, 1/23/10,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivano-Frankivsk)
1941 Oct 13, Paul Simon,
songwriter, singer, musician, was born. He played guitar and recorded
with Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mrs. Robinson, Scarborough
Fair, The Sounds of Silence; solo: Me and Julio, Kodachrome, 50 Ways to
Leave Your Lover, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
(MC, 10/13/01)
1941 Oct 13, Nazis killed 11,000
Jewish children and old people.
(MC, 10/13/01)
1941 Oct 14, The 1st mass
deportations took place at Kovno, Lodz, Minsk & Riga.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1941 Oct 15, The 1st mass
deportation of German Jews to Eastern Europe.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1941 Oct 15, The Japanese Tojo
regime was formed. [see Oct 17]
(MC, 10/15/01)
1941 Oct 15, Odessa, a Russian
port on the Black Sea which had been surrounded by German troops for
several weeks, was evacuated by Russian troops.
(HN, 10/15/98)
1941 Oct 16, Germany advanced
within 60 miles of Moscow.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1941 Oct 16, Antanas Gustaitis
(b.1898), Lithuanian aviation engineer, was shot to death in Moscow. He
had designed 9 ANBO airplanes.
(LHC, 3/26/03)
1941 Oct 17, The U.S. destroyer
Kearney was damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 people
were killed.
(AP, 10/17/08)
1941 Oct 17, Gen’l. Hideki Toho
(1885-1948) became Premier and Minister of War in Japan. When the
bellicose war minister and most powerful man in Japan, Army General
Hideki Tojo, became prime minister, there no longer was a chance of
avoiding war with Britain and the United States.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 2/21/98)
1941 Oct 18, Spy Richard Sorge was
arrested in Tokyo.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1941 Oct 18, The Germans forces in
Mariupol, Ukraine, murdered some 9,000 local Jews.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 Oct 20, Nazi occupiers
murdered 500 inhabitants of Kragujevac, Serbia.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1941 Oct 22, Guy Moquet (17) was
executed by a German firing squad, one of dozens of communists
condemned by an official in France's collaborationist Vichy regime in
reprisal for the murder of a German officer.
(AP,
10/23/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_M%C3%B4quet)
1941 Oct 22-23, Some 39,000
[20,000] Jews were killed by Romanian troops over 2 days in Odessa.
Many of them were burned to death in a public square or in warehouses
that were locked shut. Altogether some 90,000 Jews were killed in
Odessa.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.D8)
1941 Oct 23, Walt Disney's cartoon
film, "Dumbo," was released.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1941 Oct 24, Adolph Hitler met
with Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, and Reinhard Heydrich, the man
in charge of the forthcoming genocide program, and pronounced: "It’s
not a bad idea, by the way, that public rumor attributes to us a plan
to exterminate the Jews."
(WSJ, 4/12/00, p.A26)
1941 Oct 25, Anne Tyler, novelist,
was born. Her work included "The Accidental Tourist" and "Ladder
of Years."
(HN, 10/25/00)
1941 Oct 25, Germany attacked
Moscow.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1941 Oct 25, 16,000 Jews were
massacred in Odessa, Ukraine. [see Oct 22-23]
(MC, 10/25/01)
1941 Oct 26, US savings bonds went
on sale.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1941 Oct 27, In a broadcast to the
nation on Navy Day, President Franklin Roosevelt declared: "America has
been attacked, the shooting has started." He did not ask for full-scale
war yet, realizing that many Americans were not yet ready for such a
step.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1941 Oct 27, The Chicago Daily
Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing,
"She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base
at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet."
(AP, 10/27/01)
1941 Oct 27, Nazis directed the
evacuation of the gypsy ghetto in Belgrade.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1941 Oct 31, The Mt. Rushmore
sculpture was completed after 14 years of work. [see 1927]
(HFA, '96, p.40)(HN, 10/31/01)
1941 Oct 31, The US Navy destroyer
"Reuben James" was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland, killing
115, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
(www.archives.gov/exhibits/a_people_at_war/prelude_to_war/uss_reuben_james.html)
1941 Oct 31, 13 U boats were sunk
this month (62,000 ton).
(MC, 10/31/01)
1941 Oct, The US Army established
the Umatilla Munitions Depot on 20,000 acres of desert and sagebrush in
Oregon just 6 weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
(SFEC, 4/27/97,
p.A18)(www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/umatilla.htm)
1941 Oct, British, USSR and other
allied forces invaded Iran to break up the Iran-Nazi alliance. Amin
al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, left the country under
disguise with the Italian delegation and relocated to Germany.
(SSFC, 1/8/06, p.D8)
1941 Oct, In Czechoslovakia PM
Alois Elias was sentenced to death for high treason and espionage. He
was executed on June 19, 1942.
(AP, 5/7/06)
1941 Oct, Josip Broz Tito,
Yugoslav communist leader, directed the organizing of Albanian
communists.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1941 Oct-1941 Nov, Nazi doctor
Aribert Heim, dubbed "Dr. Death," worked at the Mauthausen
concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as camp doctor. Heim fled
Germany in 1962.
(AP, 8/24/08)
1941 Nov 1, Japanese marine staff
officers Suzuki and Maejima arrived in Pearl Harbor.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1941 Nov 1, Chetniks attacked
Tito's partisans in Uzice, Yugoslavia.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1941 Nov 2, German troops occupied
Rostov.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1941 Nov 3, Hirohito's accord on
Yamamoto's attack plan on Pearl Harbor failed.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1941 Nov 5, Japanese marine staff
officers Suzuki and Maejima left Pearl Harbor.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1941 Nov 6, USA lent Soviet Union
$1 million.
(MC, 11/6/01)
1941 Nov 6, Einsatz death groups
killed 15,000 Jews of Rovno, Ukraine.
(MC, 11/6/01)
1941 Nov 7,
British air attacks hit Berlin, Mannheim and Ruhrgebied.
(MC, 11/7/01)
1941 Nov 10, Freedom House was
founded by a group of prominent individuals, including Eleanor
Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie. It emerged from an amalgamation of two
groups that had been formed, with the quiet encouragement of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, to encourage popular support for American
involvement in World War II at a time when isolationist sentiments were
running high in the United States.
(www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=249)
1941 Nov 10, Churchill promised to
join the U.S. "within the hour" in the event of war with Japan.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1941 Nov 12, Madame Lillian Evanti
and Mary Cardwell Dawson established the National Negro Opera Company.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1941 Nov 12, Germany's drive to
take Moscow halted.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1941 Nov 13, A German U-boat, the
U-81 torpedoed Great Britain's premier aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark
Royal. The ship sank the next day.
(HN, 11/13/99)
1941 Nov 15, Cow Palace opened in
Daly City, Ca. Construction labor was largely supplied by the WPA.
(GTP, 1973, p.113)(SFC, 2/28/08, p.A11)
1941 Nov 15, The German siege of
Sevastopol began.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941 Nov 15, The German final
attack on Moscow began. They advanced to within 25 miles of the center
of Moscow.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941 Nov 17, German Luftwaffe
general and World War I fighter-ace Ernst Udet committed suicide. The
Nazi government told the public that he died in a flying accident.
(HN, 11/17/00)
1941 Nov 18, British troops opened
an attack on Tobruk, North Africa.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1941 Nov 18, Mussolini's forces
left Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 11/18/01)
1941 Nov 19, The ship HMAS Sydney
was sunk off the west coast of Australia in a battle with the German
raider Kormoran, with the loss of all 645 on board. The Kormoran also
sank, but 318 of the German vessel's crew of 397 were rescued. The
9,500 ton Kormoran had been disguised as a Dutch merchant ship when it
opened fire on the Sydney. The government banned all media from
reporting the news for 12 days as it scrambled to explain what
happened. In March, 2008, the wrecks of the Kormoran and the Sydney
were found. In 2009 a military inquiry said Navy Capt. Joseph Burnett
made "errors of judgment" in the tragedy.
(AFP, 8/10/07)(AP, 3/16/08)(Reuters, 4/8/08)(AP,
11/19/08)(AP, 8/12/09)
1941 Nov 20, Ambassadors Nomura
and Kurusu handed over Japan’s last diplomatic note.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1941 Nov 21, Juliet Mills, actress
(Nanny & the Professor, QB VII), was born in London England.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1941 Nov 22, Tom Conti, actor
(Reuben Reuben, American Dreamer), was born in Paisley, Scotland.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1941 Nov 22, British cruiser
Devonshire sank the German sub Atlantis.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1941 Nov 23, U.S. troops moved
into Dutch Guiana [Surinam] to guard the bauxite mines.
(HN, 11/23/98)
1941 Nov 23, German troops
conquered Klin, NW of Moscow.
(MC, 11/23/01)
1941 Nov 24, "Life Certificates"
were issued to some Jews of Vilna. The rest were exterminated.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1941 Nov 24, Indian infantry
attacked German tanks at Sidi Omar.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1941 Nov 25, German Jews in
Netherlands were declared stateless.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1941 Nov 26, The US issued an
edict that "the government of Japan will withdraw all military, naval,
air and police forces from China and Indochina."
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A19)
1941 Nov 26, Congress adopted a
joint resolution, permanently setting the date of Thanksgiving on the
fourth Thursday of November. President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill
establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national
Thanksgiving holiday.
(HN, 11/26/98)(HNPD, 11/26/98)
1941 Nov 26, The Japanese fleet
departed from the Kurile Islands en route for its attack on Pearl
Harbor.
(HN, 11/26/98)
1941 Nov 26, Free French General
Georges Catroux was placed in control of Syria and Lebanon. Shortly
after taking up this post, Catroux recognized the independence of Syria
and Lebanon in the name of the Free French movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria-Lebanon_campaign)
1941 Nov 27, Jefferson seceded
from Oregon and California. Jefferson was the winning name for a new
state made of California’s northern Siskiyou, Del Norte and Trinity
counties along with Oregon’s southern Curray County. California’s Gov.
Culbert L. Olson was soon informed that until roads were repaired,
Jefferson would be forced to rebel every Thursday. In 2008 calls for a
Jefferson state gained steam and included an additional 5 counties in
southern Oregon and 2 more in northern California.
(AH, 2/05, p.21)(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A11)
1941 Nov 27, British 13th Army
corp. reached Tobruk, North Africa.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1941 Nov 27, USSR began a counter
offensive, causing Germans to retreat.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1941 Nov 28, Eddy Arnold and Sally
Katherine wed.
(DT, 11/28/97)
1941 Nov 28, The aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat fighters to
Wake Island. This mission saved the carrier from destruction when the
Japanese attacked.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1941 Nov 28, German troops vacated
Rostov.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1941 Nov 29, The passenger ship
Lurline sent a radio signal of sighting Japanese war fleet steaming
east across the northern Pacific.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1941 Nov 29, In Riga, Latvia, the
Nazis separated the men over 16 from their families. That night half
the ghetto population were massacred.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A15)
1941 Nov 30, 101 year old
Nyack-Tarrytown (NY) ferry makes it's last run.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1941 Nov 30, Japanese Emperor
Hirohito consulted with admirals Shimada and Nagano.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1941 Nov, The Albanian Communist
Party was founded; Enver Hoxha became the first secretary.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1941 Nov, Some 4,000 who remained
in Gomel, Belarus, were shot by the Nazis. Most of the 40,000 who had
lived there had managed to escape before the Nazis arrived.
(AP, 4/12/08)
1941 Nov, Nazis in the Ukraine set
up a concentration camp near the village of Gvozdavka-1, near Odessa,
and killed about 5,000 Jews. Their mass grave was found in 2007.
(AP, 6/5/07)
1941 Dec 1, The first Civil Air
Patrol in the U.S. was organized.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1941 Dec 1, British declared a
state of emergency in Malaya following reports of Japanese attacks.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1941 Dec 1, British cruiser
Devonshire sank the German sub Python.
(MC, 12/1/01)
1941 Dec 1, Japanese emperor
Hirohito signed a declaration of war. Japan’s Tojo rejected U.S.
proposals for a Pacific settlement as fantastic and unrealistic.
(HN, 12/1/98)(MC, 12/1/01)
1941 Dec 2, Naval Intelligence
ended the bugging of the Japanese consul.
(MC, 12/2/01)
1941 Dec 2, Yamamoto ordered his
fleet to Pearl Harbor.
(MC, 12/2/01)
1941 Dec 1-7, In Latvia during the
first week of the month some 20-30,000 Jews were taken by the Nazis
from the Riga ghetto to nearby Rumbuli forest, shot and buried in mass
graves.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A14)
1941 Dec 4, The Chicago Tribune
and the Washington Herald published FDR's top secret plan to invade
Europe in 1943.
(SFC, 12/29/99, p.E1)
1941 Dec 4, In Yreka, Ca., the new
state of Jefferson elected John C. Childs (71) as its 1st governor.
(AH, 2/05, p.22)
1941 Dec 4, Nazi ordinances placed
the Jews of Poland outside protection of courts.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1941 Dec 4, Operation Taifun
(Typhoon), which was launched by the German armies on October 2, 1941
as a prelude to taking Moscow, was halted because of freezing
temperatures and lack of serviceable aircraft. Temperatures near Moscow
fell to 40 degrees below zero the breech-blocks of German rifles froze
solid. The engines of their vehicles would not start. The Soviets began
a counter-attack with 17 armies and their T-34 tanks that included 25
Siberian divisions and the Nazis were forced to retreat in panic.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)(HN, 12/4/98)
1941 Dec 5, President Roosevelt
sent a message to Japanese Emperor Hirohito expressing hope that
gathering war clouds would be dispelled. Hirohito smiled enigmatically,
knowing that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor the next day.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1941 Dec 5, US aircraft carrier
Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers steamed out of Pearl Harbor.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1941 Dec 5, Sister Elizabeth
Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis, polio, was approved.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1941 Dec 5, Russian offensive in
Moscow drove out the Nazi army.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1941 Dec 6, John Nelson, conductor
(Les Troyens of Berlioz), was born in San Jose, Costa Rica.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 6, Richard Speck, mass
murderer (killed 8 student nurses in 1966), was born.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 6, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to use his
influence to avoid war.
(HN, 12/6/98)
1941 Dec 6, NYC Council agreed to
build Idlewild (Kennedy) Airport in Queens.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 6, Dutch and British
pilots saw Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 7, At 7:50 a.m. [7:55
a.m.] Japan launched an aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl
Harbor, the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet, and forced US entry
into the war. They also attacked the Philippines, the Int’l. Settlement
at Shanghai, Thailand and Hong Kong. Relations between Japan and the
United States had been strained for a decade as both nations sought to
dominate the Pacific. Long aware that a Japanese surprise attack on the
naval base at Pearl Harbor could precede war, U.S. authorities were
still woefully unprepared when 363 Japanese fighters, dive-bombers and
torpedo planes sunk or damaged eight battleships and three light
cruisers, destroyed 188 planes and killed 2,400 men in just over two
hours. The Battleship Arizona lost 1,177 men. An estimated 900 were
entombed in the sunken ship. The US lost [18] 19 ships, 140 aircraft
and 2,300 [2,338] lives. In all 2,403 people were killed and 1,178 were
wounded; 187 planes were destroyed and 159 damaged. The Japanese lost
29 planes and 5 midget submarines. The next day, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt denounced December 7, 1941, as a "date which will live in
infamy" as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
(TMC,1994,p.1941)(WUD,1944,p.1683)(TL,1988,p.112)(SFC,12/7/96,p.A3)
(SFC12/6/96, p.A5)(SFC,12/5/97, p.A29)(AP,
12/7/97)(HNPD, 12/7/98)
1941 Dec 7, At 2:20 p.m. the
"Final Memorandum" document was delivered to Sec. of State Cordell Hull
in Washington DC. In it Japan notified the US that it was "impossible
to reach an agreement through further negotiations."
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C2)
1941 Dec 7, Evidence arose in 1999
that one of five Japanese mini submarines penetrated Pearl Harbor and
hit at least one ship with torpedoes. In 1999 Robert B. Stinnett
published "Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor." Edward
Latimer "Ned" Beach (1918-2002), former Navy captain authored
"Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl Harbor."
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/7/99, p.A24)(SFC,
12/2/02, p.A19)
1941 Dec 7, Australian bombers
landed on Timor and Ambon.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1941 Dec 7, The 8 month German
siege of Tobruk, Libya, ended.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1941 Dec 7, The 1st Japanese
submarine was sunk by a US ship, the USS Ward.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1941 Dec 8, The United States
entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan, a day
after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP,
12/8/97)
1941 Dec 8, A US tanker was
shelled by a Japanese submarine off Cape Mendocino.
(Ind, 1/27/00, 5A)(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1941 Dec 8, Japan attacked the
Philippines.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP,
12/8/97)
1941 Dec 8, Japanese troops
occupied Hong Kong.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.A14)
1941 Dec 8, Japanese General
Yamashita began his attack against the British army at Singapore.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita earned the name "Tiger of Malaya" for his
masterful capture of Singapore and the whole Malay Peninsula from the
British, who had a superior number of troops. Yamashita’s forces
landed on the northern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand on
December 8, 1941, and moved rapidly southward toward Singapore, which
surrendered on February 15, 1942. The peninsula and Singapore remained
under Japanese control throughout the war. Later in the war, while
defending the Philippines from Gen. MacArthur‘s return, Yamashita's
troops wantonly slaughtered more than 100,000 Filipinos in Manila. He
was later tried and executed for war crimes.
(HN, 12/8/98)(HNQ, 4/5/00)
1941 Dec 8, The Nazi Chelmno
extermination camp opened in Poland.
(WUD, 1994 p.252)(MC, 12/8/01)
1941 Dec 8, Russians took
Krijukovo back from Germany.
(d.com, 12/8/02)
1941 Dec 8-9, In Latvia a final
sweep of the Jewish ghetto in Riga resulted in over 800 bodies burned
and thrown into a mass grave at a cemetery next to the ghetto. These
events were later recalled in the book "Endless Miracles," by survivor
Jack Ratz, who was 14 at the time, but went with the men on Nov 29.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A15)
1941 Dec 9, Franklin D. Roosevelt
told Americans to plan for a long war.
(HN, 12/9/98)
1941 Dec 9, 1st US WW II bombing
mission in Far East took place over Luzon, Philippines.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1941 Dec 9, China declared war on
Japan, Germany and Italy.
(AP, 12/9/97)
1941 Dec 9, Hitler ordered US
ships torpedoed.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1941 Dec 10, The US submarine
Sealion was sunk in an air attack at Manila Bay. 10 crewman were
captured by the Japanese and shipped to work in a Mitsubishi copper
mine in northern Japan.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, Par p.5)
1941 Dec 10, British battleship
Prince of Wales sank off Singapore.
(MC, 12/10/01)
1941 Dec 10, Japanese troops
invaded the Filipino island of Luzon and overran Guam.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 12/10/98)(MC, 12/10/01)
1941 Dec 10, The siege of Tobruk
in North Africa, was raised.
(HN, 12/10/98)
1941 Dec 11, The US declared war
on Germany and Italy. Germany and Italy declared war on the United
States; the U.S. responded in kind.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(TL, 1988, p.112)(AP, 12/11/97)
1941 Dec 11, A Japanese invasion
fleet attacked Wake Island, which was defended by 439 US marines, 75
sailors and 6 soldiers. The defenders sank 4 Japanese ships, damaged 8
and destroyed a submarine.
(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A2)
1941 Dec 11, Guam was occupied by
Japanese troops.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941 Dec 12, Buzz Wagner, the
first official American ace of World War II, took off on a lone
reconnaissance mission over Aparri, Philippines. Because of devastating
losses by the U.S. fighter force two days earlier, orders had come down
restricting confrontation with enemy fighters if at all possible. His
reconnaissance mission turned into a combat mission when he descended
from a patch of clouds and found himself practically on top of two
Japanese destroyers. Spotted and chased by a pair of Japanese fighters,
Wagner eluded the enemy and took out five of 12 enemy planes. Four days
later, Wagner and two associates went into combat over Vigan and left
behind 17 enemy planes destroyed or burning, with an unknown number of
Japanese dead lying on the runway. The mission garnered the most
devastating results of the air war to date.
(HNQ, 5/14/02)
1941 Dec 12, German occupying army
searched house to house in Paris looking for Jews.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1941 Dec 13, U-81 torpedoed the
British aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1941 Dec 14, US Treasury Sec.
Henry Morgenthau asked his assistant Harry Dexter White to prepare a
paper outlining the possibilities for coordinated monetary arrangements
between the US and its allies. White’s proposal said the primary goal
should be to stabilize the exchange rates of the Allied countries to
encourage the flow of capital. The later led to the establishment of
the gold standard at Bretton Woods, N.H., in 1944.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A22)
1941 Dec 14, U.S. Marines made a
stand in battle for Wake Island.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1941 Dec 14, German Field Marshal
Wilhelm Keitel ordered the construction of defensive positions along
the European coastline.
(HN, 12/14/99)
1941 Dec 17, German troops led by
Rommel began to retreat in North Africa.
(MC, 12/17/01)
1941 Dec 18, Defended by 610
fighting men, the American-held island of Guam fell to more than 5,000
Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.
(HN, 12/18/98)
1941 Dec 18, German submarine
U-434 sank.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1941 Dec 18, Japanese troops
landed on Hong Kong. [see Dec 8,19]
(MC, 12/18/01)
1941 Dec 19, US Attorney General
Francis Biddle issued Circular No. 3591 to all federal prosecutors to
drop references to peonage and label such files as “Involuntary
Servitude and Slavery.” This was in response to Pres. Roosevelt’s fear
that mistreatment of blacks would be used in propaganda by Japan and
Germany.
(WSJ, 3/29/08, p.W8)
1941 Dec 19, US Office of
Censorship was created to control info about WW II.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1941 Dec 19, Hitler took complete
command of German Army.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1941 Dec 19, Japanese landed on
Hong Kong and clashed with British troops.
(HN, 12/19/98)
1941 Dec 20, The Flying Tigers,
American pilots in China, entered combat against the Japanese over
Kunming.
(HN, 12/20/98)
1941 Dec 20, Japanese troops
landed on Mindanao.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1941 Dec 22, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime
conference with President Roosevelt.
(AP, 12/22/97)
1941 Dec 23, US Marines and Navy
defenders on Wake Island capitulated to a second Japanese invasion. In
1995 Brig. Gen. John F. Kinney co-wrote “Wake Island Pilot: A World War
II Memoir.”
(AP, 12/23/97)(HN, 12/23/00)(SFC, 7/11/06, p.B5)
1941 Dec 23, The Japanese occupied
Hong Kong.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941 Dec 23, The 440-foot tanker
Montebello was sunk off the California coast near Cambria by a Japanese
submarine. The crew of 38 survived and in 1996 it was found that the
4.1 million gallon cargo of crude oil appeared intact.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A19)
1941 Dec 24, The 1st ships of
Admiral Nagumo's (Pearl Harbor) fleet returned to Japan.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1941 Dec 25, Free French occupied
the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the Canadian coast.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1941 Dec 25, Japan announced the
surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong. Major John
Crawford (d.1997) and some 1,975 Canadian soldiers were captured and
incarcerated at the Sham Shui Po prison camp at Kowloon for 44 months.
(G&M, 7/30/97, p.A24)(HN, 12/25/02)(AP, 12/25/07)
1941 Dec 25, In northwestern
Lithuania some 400 young Jewish women were killed by Lithuanian police.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 Dec 26, Winston Churchill
became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of
the U.S. Congress.
(AP, 12/26/97)
1941 Dec 26, General Douglas
MacArthur declared Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing
Japanese Army.
(HN, 12/26/98)
1941 Dec 27, Japanese bombers
attacked Manila, despite its claim as an open city.
(HN, 12/27/98)
1941 Dec 31, General MacArthur
reported that U.S. lines in Manila had been pushed back by the Japanese.
(HN, 12/31/98)
1941 Dec, Cecil Green (d.2003 at
102), Eugene McDermott, J. Eric Jonsson and H. Bates Peacock purchased
Geophysical Service Inc. in Dallas, Texas. In 1951 the name was changed
to Texas Instruments.
(SFC, 4/17/03, p.A22)
1941 Dec, For a week in December
1941, Japanese submarines prowled the U.S. Pacific coastline, searching
for merchant ships to sink.
(HN, 6/22/98)
1941 Dec, A US tanker was shelled
by a Japanese submarine off Cape Mendocino.
(Ind, 1/27/00, 5A)
1941 Dec, David Ben-Gurion
(1886-1973), Israeli leader, traveled to Washington to speak with Pres.
F.D. Roosevelt regarding a Jewish state. He waited for 10 weeks at the
Ambassador Hotel but was refused a meeting.
(http://tinyurl.com/kkvdh)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.28)
1941 Dec, Claude Albert Buss
(d.1998 at 94) was the senior American political figure on Manila when
it was occupied by the Japanese. He surrendered Manila and was taken to
Tokyo where he spent 2 years in solitary confinement.
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.A21)
1941 Dec, In Romania authorities
ordered the dissolution of all Jewish organizations. Chief Rabbi
Alexander Safran (1910-2006) helped set up the Jewish Council, an
underground organization comprising all sectors of the Jewish
population. The council used its links with Romanian church officials,
the Vatican and the royal family in a bid to prevent the mass
deportation of Romania's Jews to the Nazi extermination camps.
(AP, 7/28/06)
1941 Dec-1942 Jan, A massacre of
Jews began when Romanian and Ukrainian troops nailed shut one of the
pigsties' doors and windows in Bogdanovka, then torched it, burning all
inside alive. The killing went on for three weeks in late December 1941
and early January 1942. An estimated 48,000 people were killed.
(AP, 9/9/07)
1941 Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian
poet, was born in a village that later became part of Israel. His later
work included the poem "State of Siege." In 2003 "Unfortunately It Was
Paradise," a translation of his work into English, was published
(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.D6)
1941 Rev. Jesse Jackson was born.
(SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)
1941 Don Glen Viet, later known as
Captain Beefheart, was born. He was a friend of Frank Zappa and became
known for his blues singing and painting. In 2002 Mike Barnes authored
"Captain Beefheart: The Biography."
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.M3)
1941 Georges Braque, master of
color, painted "Mandolin and Score."
(WSJ, 3/3/97, p.A16)
1941 Juan Miro created his
painting “Ciphers and Constellations in Love With a Woman.”
(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.E1)
1941 Piet Mondrian moved to the US
and painted "New York City I" in rhythmic and cheerful color and lines.
(WSJ, 6/6/95, p.A-14)
1941 Pablo Picasso painted "Woman
Seated in an Armchair," "Head of a Woman" and "Still Life with Blood
Sausage."
(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.39)(SFC, 10/10/98, p.E8)
1941 James Agee wrote "Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men," an account of poverty in Appalachia. 61 photographs
by Walker Evans were included.
(WSJ, 7/27/99, p.A21)
1941 Vera Brittain authored
"England’s Hour," an account of life under the Blitzkrieg.
(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.A1)
1941 Claude Albert Buss, scholar
and diplomat, published "War and Diplomacy in East Asia."
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.A21)
1941 James M. Cain published
"Mildred Pierce."
(iUniv. 7/1/00)
1941 Eugene O’Neill wrote his
one-act play "Hughie."
(WSJ, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1941 Noel Coward’s play "Blithe
Spirit" was recognized as elegant high comedy.
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 John L. Goldwater (d.1999 at
83) created the Archie comic book character. Betty, Veronica and
Jugghead were added later. The character was put on TV in the late 60s
in "Archie: To Riverdale and Back." A TV movie based on Archie was
broadcast in 1990. Bob Montana (d.1975) created the Archie character
for Pep Comics.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A19)(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A18)
1941 Plastic Man debuted in US
comic books. After an accident at a chemical plant gives Eel O'Brian
the ability to stretch and alter his shape, he renounces his criminal
past and becomes the longest arm of the law. Green Arrow also appeared
in US comic books. The Emerald Archer learns his skills while trapped
on a desert island. He later escapes to become a modern Robin Hood.
(AP, 7/20/06)
1941 Siegfried Giedion, a Swiss
art historian, published his influential book: "Space, Time and
Architecture."
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 In Northern California
William Randolph Hearst wrote his poem "The Song of the River" at his
Winton estate on the McCloud River in the foothills of Mount Shasta.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A19)
1941 James Hilton authored “Random
Harvest.” It was turned into a 1942 film starring Ronald Colman and
Greer Garson and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_LeRoy)
1941 "Paddle-to-the-Sea" by
Holling Clancy Holling was published.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1941 Arthur Koestler (1905-1983),
Hungarian novelist and essayist, authored “Darkness at Noon,” a story
of life in Stalin’s Russia.
(HN, 9/5/98)(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 8/26/06,
p.P8)
1941 Gypsy Rose Lee, strip tease
queen, authored “The G-String Murders.”
(www.feministpress.org/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=55861100305440)
1941 Wassily Leontief (1906-1999),
Russian-born economist, published his book “The Structure of American
Economy.” It included a large table showing the flow of commodities and
services among American households. In 1973 he won the Bank of Sweden
Prize in Economic Sciences.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/qfkgw)
1941 Janet Lewis (1899-1998)
published "The Wife of Martin Guerre," a historical novel on about 16th
century France. The story was turned into an opera in 1961 with music
by William Bergsma. In 1984 a French film version was released "The
Return of Martin Guere." An American version, "Somersby," was made in
1993 set during the Civil War.
(SFC, 12/5/98,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre)
1941 Daphne du Maurier authored
the novel "Frenchman's Creek."
(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.T12)
1941 Frances Macgregor (d.2002 at
95), sociologist and photographer, published ""Twentieth Century
Indians." The collection of photos helped prompt Congress to devote
more money to Indian reservations.
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A25)
1941 Robert McCloskey (d.2003),
author and illustrator, wrote "Make Way for Ducklings." It was set in
Boston and became a children's classic.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.D8)
1941 H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
published the 2nd volume of his “Days” trilogy, “Newspaper Days.” The
first volume was “Happy Days” and the 3rd was “Heathen Days.”
(WSJ, 9/29/07, p.W8)
1941 Phyllis Moir wrote "I Was
Winston Churchill’s Private Secretary."
(SFEM, 12/15/96, p.16)
1941 Paul Nash completed his
masterpiece of war wreckage "Totes Meer" (Dead Sea).
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 Alberto Moravia in his novel
"The Fancy Dress Party" presented a satirical portrait of Mussolini.
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 Margret E. Rey (1906-1996)
and her husband Hans A. Rey (d.1977) published their first "Curious
George" book with Houghton Miflin. Six more came out over 25 years. The
Reys were German Jews and had escaped with the original manuscript out
of Germany in 1940. A film version was produced in 2006.
(SFC, 12/23/96, p.A16)(SSFC, 11/11/01, Par
p.25)(WSJ, 2/2/06, p.D8)
1941 Leo Rosten (1908-1997) wrote
Hollywood: "The Movie Colony, The Movie Makers." It was one of the
first sociological examinations of the film industry.
(SFC, 2/21/97, p.A25)
1941 Budd Schulberg authored the
novel “What Makes Sammy Run,” a classic satire on a young man’s climb
in Hollywood.
(WSJ, 12/16/06, p.P10)
1941 Bertram Smythies (d.1999 at
86), British naturalist, published "The Birds of Burma." Most of the
original copies were lost but a 2nd edition in 1953 was published.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A20)
1941 George R. Stewart, novelist,
wrote "Storm." A fictional character in the book called a hurricane
"Maria." The idea of naming hurricanes with female names was taken up
by military meteorologists in WW II.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, Z1 p.8)
1941 George E. Taylor (d.2000 at
94), historian and political scientist, authored "America in the New
Pacific."
(SFC, 4/21/00, p.D4)
1941 Eudora Welty sold a
collection of short stories to Doubleday. The book was titled "A
Curtain of Green." Welty had preferred "The Key and Other Stories" as
the title.
(SFEC, 12/6/98, BR p.12)
1941 British writer Rebecca West,
pen name for Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983), authored “Black Lamb
and Grey Falcon,” on the history and culture of Yugoslavia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_West)
1941 Ira Gershwin (d.1983), Kurt
Weill and Moss Hart (d1961) collaborated in the production of "Lady in
the Dark."
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.E4)
1941 "The Hut Sut Song," written
by attorney Leo V. Killion, became a hit. It was a spoof on Swedish
folk songs and was used in the 1953 film "From Here to Eternity."
(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A25)
1941 The 1942 film Casablanca was
set in 1941 in Morocco. In 1998 Richard E. Osborne published his book
"The Casablanca Companion: The Movie Classic and Its Place in History,"
in which the events of the movie are tied to the actual events of
history.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, Par p.6)
1941 Wystan Hugh Auden (d.1973),
English born American poet, critic and playwright, wrote the libretto
for Benjamin Britten’s first music drama, "Paul Bunyan."
(WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1941 Alex Kramer (d.1998 at 94)
and his wife, Joan Whitney, wrote the song "High On a Windy Hill,"
which began a No. 1 hit for Jimmy Dorsey. The Canadian-born songwriter
wrote most of his 125 songs with his wife.
(SFC, 2/17/98, p.B8)
1941 Bluesman Muddy Waters
recorded "Plantation Recordings" (Columbia). His songs included
"Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Got My Mojo Workin."
(NH, 9/96, p.62)(SFEC, 10/27/96, DB p.9)
1941 Jay McShann recorded
"Swingmatism."
(SFC, 8/22/96, F4)
1941 Gene Kruppa, jazz drummer,
hired Anita O'Day (1919-2006) as his vocalist.
(WSJ, 7/28/99, p.A21)(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A1)
1941 Shostakovich, a local fire
warden, composed his Seventh Symphony, the "Leningrad," during the
German siege of his native city.
(SFC, 10/18/96, C9)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1941 Michael Tipett, English
composer, completed his oratorio "A Child of Our Time."
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 The US Air Force Band was
formed as part of the US Army Air Corp.
(SFC, 10/12/97, DB p.11)
1941 Roman Cycowski, former singer
in the popular European group, Comedian Harmonists, took up a job as
cantor of the Beth Israel Temple in SF and served for 25 years.
(WSJ, 2/5/98, p.A20)
1941 In Nevada the El Rancho Vegas
opened with 63 rooms. It was the first major resort built on the Las
Vegas strip. It was destroyed by fire in 1960.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, DB p.64)
1941 The United Council of Church
Women, a major ecumenical group, was founded.
(SFC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.7)
1941 Charles A. Federer Jr.
(d.1999 ) founded Sky and Telescope Magazine for amateur astronomers.
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A26)
1941 Gerald Ford (1908-2006), 41st
vice-president and 38th president of the United States, graduated from
Yale University law school.
(SFC, 12/27/06, p.A11)
1941 Henry Luce, the founder of
Time and Life, tagged this era "The American Century."
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.D7)
1941 Diana Trilling (1905-1996)
began her ten year stint as literary editor of The Nation.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A24)
1941 Cheerios, the breakfast
cereal, began to be produced.
(SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)
1941 The Berelson Co. under
William E. Berelson (d.1997 at 90) initiated the commercial freezing of
strawberries in Cal.
(SFC, 5/15/97, p.A26)
1941 Batting helmets were worn for
the first time in baseball.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.B8)
1941 Pres. Roosevelt issued a
top-secret order to equip a civilian schooner as a warship and send it
south of the Philippines where the Japanese fleet was believed to be
patrolling. The Japanese attacked Pearl harbor before the Lanikai
wooden schooner set sail.
(SFC, 11/3/00, p.D5)
1941 In the US rubber was rationed.
(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941 The Federal Communications
Commission adopted a US television standard of 525 lines per picture.
(SFC, 12/29/99, p.E3)
1941 Voice of America (VOA) was
created shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 2003 Alan L. Heil,
Jr. authored "Voice of America: A History."
(Econ, 7/26/03, p.78)
1941 The US Army asked Prof. Ancel
Keys (1904-2004) of the Univ. of Minnesota to help develop an army
ration that soldiers could carry in combat. His package was called the
K ration.
(SFC, 11/24/04, p.B6)
1941 Carl Karcher (1917-2008), an
Ohio-born farm boy, bought a hot-dog stand in southern California and
soon expanded to 3 stands and then a drive-in barbecue joint called
Carl’s. In 1956 he opened his first two Carl’s Jr. fast-food burger
outlets, which were among the first to later offer salad bars and
grilled-chicken sandwiches. By 2008 there were 1,121 Carl’s Jr.
restaurants in the US and 3,036 franchised or company-operated
restaurants world-wide.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1941 The US annual median income
was $1,070, or about $20 per day.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1941 Matt Cvetic (d.1962 at 53)
infiltrated the Communist party in Pittsburgh. The 1951 film "I Was a
Communist for the FBI" was based on his true story. In 2001 Daniel J.
Leab authored "I Was a Communist for the FBI."
(WSJ, 2/12/00, p.A25)
1941 US scientists began work on
the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb.
(TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 Walter H. Zinn (d.2000 at
93), nuclear physicist, oversaw the construction of the world's first
nuclear reactor in Chicago. Zinn directed the Argonne center to develop
nuclear power for peaceful use from 1946-1956.
(SFC, 2/26/00, p.A19)
1941 The first urban freeway was
constructed in Michigan.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A16)
1941 Barney Kilgore (32) was named
managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. He developed the modern WSJ.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.C1)
1941 Henry Ford threatened to
close down in union disputes but finally signed a union contract just
months before Pearl Harbor.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1941 A strike at Disney led to the
departure of a group of animators who formed United Pictures of America.
(WSJ, 7/31/97, p.A1)
1941 Liebmann Brewery, maker of
Rheingold Beer, began promoting the beer with pictures of model Jinx
Falkenburg (d.2003 at 84), a Chilean-born actress and tennis player.
(SFC, 7/4/03, p.A25)(SFC, 8/29/03, p.A28)
1941 Thompson Products pioneered
heat-dissipating sodium-filled valves.
(F, 10/7/96, p.70)
1941 Willy’s Motors began delivery
of a reconnaissance vehicle that came to be known as the "Jeep."
(F, 10/7/96, p.69)
1941 West Bend Aluminum Co. of
West Bend, Wisc., began producing its penguin aluminum ice bucket.
(SFC, 1/21/98, Z1 p.3)
1941 In Britain the first test
flight of Frank Whittle’s jet engine was made. Plans for the engine
were then secretly taken to the US where General electric worked on an
American version.
(TL, 1988, p.112)(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A20)
1941 Penicillin was discovered by
Dr. Alexander Fleming. [see 1928,1929]
(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941 Prof. William Reeves
(1916-2004) and William M. Hammon isolated the 2 viruses that caused
western equine and St. Louis encephalitis and proved that they were
carried by a mosquito named Culex tarsalis.
(SFC, 9/21/04, p.B7)
1941 George Beadle, geneticist,
and Edward Tatum, chemist, identified genetic mutations that disabled
specific steps in the synthesis of a complex molecule. They thus showed
that a gene was a thing on a chromosome that specified an enzyme.
(NH, 6/01, p.33)
1941 The Alaskan Kenai National
Moose Range was established over a site of 1.7 million acres.
(AAM, 3/96, p.84)
1941 Los Angeles began diverting
water from 4 of the 5 streams that feed Mono Lake.
(NH, 9/96, p.62)
1941 In San Francisco a building
opened on western Taraval near Ocean Beach. It was initially a bait
shop that connected to a bar called the Oar House, surrounded by empty
streets and sand dunes. It later became known as the Riptide
neighborhood bar.
(SSFC, 12/7/08, p.A2)
1941 The Narragansett Bay Plum
Beach Lighthouse at North Kingston, R.I., closed. A restoration in 2003
removed 60 tons of pigeon guano.
(SFC, 12/2/03, p.A2)
1941 John Roebling sold his 1,050
acres of the Lake Wales Ridge in Florida to his friend Richard
Archibald for one dollar. In 1974 Archibald purchased 3,000 more acres
of the Ridge to add to his Archibald Biological Station. [see 1920s]
(PacDisc, Spring ‘96, p.6)
1941 Henri Bergson (1859-1941),
French philosopher, died. He is said to have taught that man acts first
and thinks later as opposed to Descartes who said man thinks before he
acts.
(AHD, 1971, p.125)(WSJ, 11/21/95, p.A-12)
1941 Natalio Botana, Argentine
newspaper magnate, died.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A24)
1941 Frederic J. Fisher
(1878-1941) died. He and his brother Charles T. Fisher (1880-1963)
established the Fisher Body Co. in 1908. They sold their operations to
GM in 1926.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1941 Howard Heinz (b.1877), son of
food founder Henry Heinz, died. He had taken over company operations in
1919 following the death of his father.
(www.hfp.heinz.org/aboutus/heinzhistory.html)
1941 Jorge Amado (1912-2001),
Brazilian Communist novelist, was exiled to Argentina.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.D2)
1941 The Brazilian government
founded the steelmaker CSN. It was privatized in the early 1990s.
(Econ, 11/14/09, SR p.10)
1941 The British seized Eritrea
from the Italians.
(WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1941 Britain created its Special
Air Service (SAS) to create havoc behind German lines.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.60)
1941 Pelham Graham (PG) Wodehouse
(1881-1975), English-US writer, made 5 radio broadcasts from Nazi
Germany. This kept him out of England for the last 34 years of his life.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.87)
1941 In Burma Aung San founded the
Burmese Army. He is considered the father of the nation.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.4)
1941 Eritrea was the focal point
of American participation in the early part of the war. The first
American military advisors and contract civilians arrived in Asmara.
(www.kagnewstation.com/history/chapter4/index.html)
1941 The French colonialists chose
Norodom Sihanouk (19) from the ranks of royalty to serve as king of
Cambodia.
(WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A8)
1941 Physicist Neils Bohr met with
Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen. In 2000 the meeting was portrayed in a
play by Michael Frayn: "Copenhagen.’
(WSJ, 4/12/00, p.A24)
1941 Germany invaded Yugoslavia
and Ante Pavelic led a pro-Nazi dictatorship that controlled
newly-independent Croatia. Alojzije Stepinac, archbishop of Zagreb,
initially embraced the Pavelic government.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A22)
1941 The Germans seized Latvia and
many Latvians joined the Nazi ranks. The Latvian Legion was formed
under the German Waffen SS and its 2 divisions helped prolong the war
by defeating the Soviet Army in several battles. Viktors Arajs headed
the feared Kommando unit that was responsible for war crimes against
Jews.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A14)
1941 Hitler completed his seizure
of the Balkans and began his blitz of London and then sent 148
divisions against his former ally, Russia.
(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941 The amber room in St.
Petersburg was dismantled by German officers and shipped to Konigsberg
for safekeeping. The Allied bombing in 1945 was thought to have
destroyed the work.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A16)
1941 Japan invaded Indonesia and
ended the Dutch era of colonial power. East Timor, under Portuguese for
some 400 years, was also invaded.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)
1941 Japanese forces land in
Thailand. After negotiations Thailand allows Japanese to advance
towards British-controlled Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Burma.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm)
1941 Japan’s Tokai Bank was
founded. In 2001 it joined with Sanwa Bank and Tokyo Trust Bank to form
UFJ Holdings. In 2005 it became part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Group.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.C1)
1941 In Lithuania arrests and
deportations totaled some 34,260 people.
(Dr, 7/96, V1#1, p.3)
1941 In Lithuania Alexandras
Lileikis (d.2000 at 93) was chief of the Saugumas secret police force
of Vilnius. He ordered the arrests of Jewish men, women, and children,
who were turned over to the occupying Germans and subsequently
executed. Lileikis was indicted in 1998, but maintained his innocence
until he died.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)(SFC, 9/29/00, p.D6)
1941 The German minority in
Lithuania was repatriated in accord with German and Russian
negotiations.
(DrEE, 9/28/96, p.3)
1941 At the Rainis Forest in the
Telsiai region 74 Lithuanians were killed by Soviet NKVD and KGB troops.
(Voruta #27-28, 7/1996, p.2)
1941 In Lithuania German forces
slaughtered some 12,000 Jews in Stoklishki (Alytus).
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941 In Mexico Rev. Marcial Maciel
founded the Legion of Christ, a conservative Roman Catholic order to
minister to the wealthy and multiply its beneficial impact on society.
In 1946 Pope Pius XII ordered Father Maciel to recruit Latin American
leaders. In 1997 8 men went public with allegations of sexual abuse by
Father Maciel dating to the 1940s and 1950s.
(WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A13)
1941 In Mexico Fidel Velasquez
Sanchez (1900-1997) was first elected head of the Confederation of
Mexican Workers.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D8)
1941 Peru and Ecuador went to war
over a border conflict.
(WSJ, 1/20/98, p.A1)
1941 Nazi documents from this year
showed that the Einsatzgruppe, a Nazi-run Serbian police unit, executed
11,164 people, mostly Serbian Jewish men, suspected communists and
Gypsies. The unit was allegedly run by Peter Egner, who emigrated to
the US in 1960, and received citizenship in 1966. In 2009 Serbian
authorities sought his extradition.
(AP, 4/14/09)
1941 According to later day
Holocaust researchers a force in Ukraine under the command of Roman
Shukhevych took part in pogroms in which 4,000 Jews were killed. In
2007 Shukhevych was posthumously named a Hero of Ukraine.
(AP, 11/16/07)
1941 The Viet Minh, a nationalist
movement led by Communists, was founded in Vietnam. Pham Van Dong was a
founding member.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
1941-1942 The Baroness Hilla Rebay, onetime mistress
of Solomon Guggenheim and the first director of his museum, painted her
"Animato," what may well be the first abstract image of a female orgasm.
(WSJ, 2/14/96, p.A-12)
1941-1942 Taylor’s "Practical Encyclopedia of
Gardening" was published.
(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A16)
1941-1942 Varian Fry (d.1967) helped some 2,000
refugees escape from Nazi-occupied France.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.C2)
1941-1942 The Asiatic fleet composed of US,
Australian, Dutch and British allies struggled to slow down the
Japanese advance while outnumbered 10:1. In the 1st three months the
Americans lost 22 ships, 1,826 men, and 519 men taken prisoner.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A4)
1941-1942 About 80,000 Czech Jews were rounded up and
sent to Terezin, a holding camp, prior to being sent to Auschwitz. The
survival rate was 10%.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A2)
1941-1942 Some 97% of the Gottscheers were moved
north within Slovenia from the area of Kocevje to Rann (later Brezice).
Their peak population numbered some 25,000. They were driven out of
their new homes by Yugoslav partisans after which they wound up in
Austria and then dispersed around the world.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.A12)
1941-1942 In Lithuania at the beginning of the war
there were about 60,000 Jews in Vilnius. A year later, only 18,000
remained. In 1998 Schoschana Rabinovici published her non-fiction
account: "Thanks To My Mother" a description of the murder of Polish
Jews in Vilnius through the eyes of a child.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, BR p.8)
1941-1942 The German siege of Sevastopol lasted from
Nov 15 to Jul 2.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941-1943 In the US the government classified some
600,000 residents of Italian descent as enemy aliens. In Pittsburg,
California, some 2,000 of 7,000 residents were forced to move.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.C13)
1941-1943 The three Jewish Bielski brothers, escaped
Nazi-occupied Poland and established a refuge in the forests of
Belarus. By the end of WWII they succeeded in saving some 1,200 men,
women and children. In 2003 Peter Duffy authored "The Bielski Brothers:
The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews and
Built a Village in the Forest." Their story was depicted in the 2009
film “Defiance,” directed by Edward Zwick.
(SSFC, 7/13/03, p.M4)(WSJ, 1/2/08, p.W1)
1941-1944 Germany occupied the Crimean peninsula.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)
1941-1944 Necdet Kent (d.2002), Turkish diplomat, was
posted to Marseilles, France, and gave Turkish citizenship to dozens of
Turkish Jews living in France who did not have proper identity papers
to save them from deportation to the Nazi gas chambers.
(AP, 9/20/02)
1941-1944 Alexandras Lileikis was chief of the
Saugumas secret police force of Vilnius, Lithuania. He ordered the
arrests of Jewish men, women, and children, who were turned over to the
occupying Germans and subsequently executed.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)
1941-1944 Some 40,000 Jews are believed to have been
slaughtered in Vilnius, Lithuania. An estimated 60,000 Jews lived there
when the Nazis moved in and fewer than 5,000 remained when the Soviets
recaptured the country. The Nazis killed some 240,000 Jews in Lithuania.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A15)
1941-1944 Jonas Stelmokas served as a unit commander
in 2 voluntary Nazi-sponsored detachments that helped the Nazis kill
thousands of Jews and partisans. In 1997 he was to be deported from
Lansdowne, Pa., in the US after he was accused of being a former member
of the Lithuanian police force that helped Nazis kill Jews. In 1998
Stelmokas (82) was ordered to be deported but appealed.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A4)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A3)
1941-1944 The Siege of Leningrad, 400 miles northwest
of Moscow, took place and led to the death of at least one million
Russians from starvation and disease. Leningrad has since been renamed
to St. Petersburg. It broke in Jan, 1944.
(WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-15)
1941-1945 The 1985 book "Eagle Against the Sun" by
Ronald H. Spector is one of the best single volume histories of WW II.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)
1941-1945 In 2006 Evan Thomas authored “Sea of
Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945,”
a study of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.
(WSJ, 12/16/06, p.P11)
1941-1945 During WW II some 368 underwater mines were
placed to guard the entrance to the SF Golden Gate.
(G, Winter, p.2)
1941-1945 Ralph K. Davies spent the war years as
petroleum administrator for Interior Secretary Harold Ickes.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A11)
1941-1945 Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who helped
build the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, established bay area ship yards
that were able to launch a "Liberty Ship" every 24 hours. He expanded a
health plan begun on his earlier dam projects that grew to become
Kaiser Permanente, the world’s largest health maintenance organization.
The Kaiser Richmond yard built 747 ships.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W31)(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941-1945 Croatia was occupied by Nazi forces and
with its Moslem allies some 700,000 Serbs and 75,000 Jews and Gypsies
were killed. [This was a letter with reference to the Encyclopedia
Britannica as source material] The Independent State of Croatia was set
up after the German and Italian invasions and run by the fascist
Ustashe regime as a puppet state. The central Ustashe aim was to
cleanse Croatia of "foreign" elements and to turn Croatia into a "100%
Roman Catholic state." Jasenovac is the site of the largest Ustashe
death camp, and some estimates claim as many as several hundred
thousand dead. Ante Pavelic was the leader of the Ustashe regime.
(WSJ, 10/11/95, p. A-1)(WSJ, 4/3/96, p.A-22)(WSJ,
5/20/99, p.A21)
1941-1945 The Herzegovina region of Bosnia became a
stronghold of the Croatian Ustashe movement allied to the Nazis. Local
clergy was seen condoning and supporting Ustashe mass slayings of
ethnic Serbs.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1941-1945 Some 148,000 Bessarabian Jews were killed
in Rybnitsa and other ghettos and concentration camps on the East bank
of the Dniester during the Nazi occupation.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941-1945 In Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, the
German SS ran Jewish ghetto as a holding station for Jews on their way
to death camps.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A11)
1941-1945 Gen’l. Hideki Toho served as Premier and
Minister of War in Japan.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941-1953 Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), (Josif
Vissarionovitch Dzhugashvili), Communist party leader. He was Sec. of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953, and Premier
from 1941-1953.
(AHD, 1971, p.1255)(AHD, p.1255)
1941-1945 In 2005 Catherine Merridale authored
“Ivan’s War: The Red Army 1941-1945.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.86)
1941-1945 Sweden maintained neutrality during the war
but allowed German troops to cross its territory to invade the Soviet
Union. It also allowed 250,000 German troops to use the railroad system
to travel between occupied Norway and Germany. The Swedish navy
provided escort service for German military supply ships and Swedish
industry helped make up for German losses in the ball-bearing industry
due to Allied bombing raids.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A13)
1941-1971 Jean Lipman (d.1998 at 88) edited Art in
America. She grew the magazine up from a scholarly journal into an
influential art publication.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D4)
1941-1983 Wagon Wheel dinner sets were manufactured
of cream-colored clay from Ada, Okla. After 1956 they were made of red
clay from Sapulpa, Okla.
(SFC, 7/29/98, Z1 p.23)
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