Category: On this Day

In reaction to the currency reform in West Germany, the Soviet Union blocked all access to West Berlin. It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. Western Allies launched the Berlin airlift to transport supplies to the blocked area. In Germany, the planes became known as “raisin bombers” or “candy […]

The crash occurred near Msagali, Tanzania, when a passenger train with some 1200 passengers rolled back down Igandu hill after its brakes had failed.

Just over half of the electorate voted for “Brexit”, Britain’s exit from the EU. The UK had been part of the union since 1973.

The IOC is responsible for organizing the Olympic Games and similar events. The committee was established at the initiative of French educator, Pierre de Coubertin.

The initially successful attack soon proved a disaster for the Germans as wintry conditions and fierce Soviet resistance caused massive losses and ultimately forced them to retreat.

An international team of scientists confirmed that the skeletal remains found in a cemetery in Embu, Brazil are those of the Nazi war criminal. Mengele was a physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp and conducted horrific experiments on some of the inmates.

The island had been administered by Denmark (earlier Denmark-Norway) for centuries. The Self-Government Act grants Greenland full responsibility for its inner affairs, while Denmark retains control of foreign policy.

In a feat of “exceptional courage and gallantry”, as stated by the Polish author Kazimierz Smoleń, the four prisoners left via the front gate in a stolen SS staff car, dressed as SS officers. During World War II, the Nazi regime murdered 1.1 million people in Auschwitz. Only 144 are known to have escaped.