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May 14 in German History
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May 14, 1316
Birth of Karl IV (King Wenceslas) in
Prague, Bohemia. Karl raised Bohemia to a central power and
after his rise to the rank of German King, Bohemia controlled
that position for centuries. Karl was the son of the powerful
John of Luxemburg. In 1343 Karl's father gave him the regency
of Bohemia. In 1343 through Karl's efforts Bohemia was raised
to an archbishopric and Bohemia thus gained autonomy in the
Church. At this same time efforts were underway to depose the
German King, Ludwig IV, as the Pope had excommunicated him in
1324. By 1346 an election was arranged and Karl was elected
German King. However, Ludwig did not recognize the election
and continued to reign. Thus there were two German kings
until Ludwig's death in 1347. In 1355 Karl also became the
Holy Roman emperor. In 1348 he established the University of
Prague, the first central European university. In 1356 he
promulgated (with the consent of the German Diet) the Golden
Bull which established firm guidelines for the election of
the German king by seven electors (the archbishops of Mainz,
Cologne and Trier and the electors of Bohemia, Brandenburg
and Saxony.)
May 14, 1565
Death of Nikolaus von Amsdorf in Eisenach,
Germany. Amsdorf was a professor of theology at the
University of Wittenberg. He was a close friend of Martin
Luther's. After the trial at the Diet of Worms, he was one of
those responsible for hiding Luther at the Wartburg. In later
years he struggled against what he considered the too liberal
directions of Philipp Melanchton.
May 14, 1608
Formation of the Protestant Union.
May 14, 1867
Birth of Kurt Eisner in Berlin, Germany.
Eisner was a journalist and member of the SPD. In 1918 he
organized and led a revolt which overthrew the Bavarian
monarchy and established the Bavarian Republic. Eisner became
the first prime minister of the Bavarian Republic. He was
assassinated in 1919 by a right wing student.
May 14, 1884

Birth of Claudius Dornier (1884-1969) in Kempten,
Germany. Dornier worked, in his youth, at the Zeppelin airship factory in Friedrichshafen. In 1911 he designed the
first all-metal plane and with it founded a new division of
the Zeppelin company, the Dornier aircraft company. The
Dornier company is today a division of Daimler-Benz.
May 14, 1885
Birth of Otto Klemperer in Breslau, Germany
(now in Poland). Klemperer was one of the world's leading
conductors. He conducted the operas of Hamburg, Barmen,
Strassburg, Cologne, Wiesbaden and Berlin. During the Nazi period he conducted in Los Angeles and after the war in
Budapest.
May 14, 1893
Death of Ernst Kummer in Sorau, Germany.
Kummer was the mathematician who introduced the concept of
ideal numbers. Kummer was a professor of mathematics at
the University of Berlin. He demonstrated with his ideal
numbers he proved the insolubility of Fermat relation for all
but a limited number of prime numbers. He also developed the
Kummer surface.
May 14, 1906
Death of Carl Schurz in New York (born in
Liblar, Germany). Schurz, a liberal political thinker in his
youth, took part in the revolution of 1848. He was imprisoned
for that activity but escaped and immigrated to the United
States. A resident of Wisconsin he soon became strongly
involved in the antislavery movement. He served as a general
in the Civil War. After the war he worked for the dignity and
rights of the former slaves. He was elected to the Senate
from the state of Missouri in 1869. Under President Hayes he
was secretary of the interior. After his retirement from
government he edited the New York Evening Post and The
Nation.
May 14, 1940
The Netherlands surrender to Germany in
World War II.
May 14, 1955
The Warsaw Pact is created with East
Germany as a member. (West Germany had joined NATO on May 9,
1955).
May 14, 1998
President Bill Clinton of the United States
visits Tempelhof Airport to commemorate the 50th Anniversary
of the Berlin Air Lift.
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