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October
16 in German History
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October 16, 1708
Birth of the biologist Albrecht von Haller
in Bern, Switzerland. He was a professor of medicine,
anatomy, and surgery at the University of Göttingen. He was
the first to understand the system of respiration. He
demonstrated the function of nerves. His 8-volume Elementa
Physiologiae Corporis Humani is a classic in medicine.
October 16, 1813

Beginning of the Battle of Leipzig (through
October 19). The Battle of Leipzig was one of the decisive
battles against Napoleon. Napoleon had retreated from Moscow
and would be defeated at Waterloo by Wellington and Blücher.
October 16, 1827
Birth of Arnold Böcklin in Basel,
Switzerland. The painter is characterized by his metaphysical
symbolism and his love of the Italian landscape.
October 16, 1854
Birth of Karl Kautsky in Prague, Austrian
Empire (now in the Czech Republic). Kautsky studied at the
University of Vienna and there joined the Social Democratic
Party. He was a close friend of Friedrich Engels. He the
primary author of the Erfurt Program which oriented the party
to an evolutionary variety of Marxism.
October 16, 1927

Birth of Günter Grass in Danzig, Germany
(now in Poland). Grass is doubtlessly the most known of
Germany's living novelists. After WWII he was a member of the
literary association , Gruppe 47. Die Blechtrommel appeared
in 1959, Katz und Maus in 1961, Hundejahre in
1963, Örtlich betäubt in 1969, Der Butt in
1977, Unkenrufe in 1992 and Ein weites Feld in
1995. The film version of Die Blechtrommel won an
Academy Award in the United States.
October 16, 1941
The German army reaches a position only 60
miles from Moscow.
October 16, 1946

Defendants at the Nuremberg trial
Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign
minister, is executed in Nürnberg, Germany by the War Crimes
Commission. He had met Hitler and joined the Nazi Party in
1932. In 1935 he negotiated the agreement with Great Britain
which allowed the building of a German navy (disallowed by
the Versailles Treaty). In 1939 he negotiated the non
aggression pact with the Soviet Union. He was tried by the
Nürnberg court after the war, found guilty of war crimes and
hanged. While in prison he wrote his memoirs, Zwischen
London und Moskau.
October 16, 1946
Wilhelm Keitel is executed for war crimes
in Nürnberg, Germany. He was head of Germany's armed forces
during WWII. He was completely loyal to Hitler.
October 16, 1946
Fritz Sauckel is hanged in Nürnberg,
Germany. Sauckel was the Nazis' head of slave labor
procurement during World War II. Tried in Nürnberg, he was
found guilty of war crimes.
October 16, 1946
The Austrian Nazi leader Arthur
Seyss-Inquart is executed in Nürnberg.
October 16, 1946
General Alfred Jodl is executed in
Nürnberg.
October 16, 1946
Execution of Alfred Rosenberg in Nürnberg,
Germany. Rosenberg moved to Munich, Germany in 1919 where he
joined the young Nazi party. He edited the party's paper, Völkischer
Beobachter. It was he who drew from the English racist
Houston Stewart Chamberlain's views and warned of a Jewish
plot to take over the world. He was designated by Hitler to
lead the party while Hitler was in prison in the 20's.
Possibly his most influential book was Der Mythus des 20.
Jahrhunderts in 1934 in which he developed the basis of
the idea of "German racial purity". After the war
at the war crimes trials in Nürnberg Rosenberg was executed
by the allies.
October 16, 1946
Julius Streicher, one of the strongest
voices of anti-Semitism among the Nazis is hanged in
Nürnberg after being found guilty of war crimes. Streicher
who had been an elementary school teacher in Nürnberg joined
the Nazi party and developed as one of those pushing strongly
in anti-Semitic directions. He founded and edited the
strongly anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sturmer in 1923
and through that position along with his party position was
instrumental in the passage of the Nürnberg Laws in 1935.
October 16, 1946
Execution of Wilhelm Frick in Nürnberg,
Germany. Frick was the minister of the interior for Adolf
Hitler. He had been with Hitler in Munich and became a member
of the Reichstag in 1924. He was instrumental in drafting the
Nürnberg Laws of 1935. (The Nürnberg Laws removed legal
protections from the Jews.) After the war he was tried in
Nürnberg and executed for war crimes.
October 16, 1946
Execution of Hans Frank in Nürnberg,
Germany. Frank joined the Nazi Party in 1921. In the early
years he served as Hitler's personal attorney. When the Nazis
came to power he became the minister of justice. In 1939
after the conquest of Poland, Frank was appointed governor of
Poland. He directly ordered the execution of hundreds of
thousands in that position. He was captured in 1945, tried at
Nürnberg and hanged.
October 16, 1963
Election of Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor.
October 16, 1973

Henry Kissinger, an immigrant from Germany,
wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
October 16, 1994
The Federal Republic of Germany holds
parliamentary elections. The CDU/CSU gets 41.4% of the vote,
the SPD 36.4%, the FDP 6.9%, the Green Party 7.3%. The
CDU/CSU-FDP coalition continues. Helmut Kohl (CDU) continues
as chancellor.
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