Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
On Friday, 13 February 1920, Switzerland rejoins the League of Nations.
On Tuesday, 13 February 1945, WWII: Soviet forces capture Budapest, Hungary, from the Nazis.
On Tuesday, 13 February 1945, Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces bombing of Dresden, Germany. 22,000-25,000 are estimated to have died.
On Saturday, 13 February 1960, Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.
On Friday, 13 February 1970, Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut album is released; often regarded as the first true heavy metal album.
On Wednesday, 13 February 1980, The 1980 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
On Tuesday, 13 February 1990, German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
On Tuesday, 13 February 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy protection, Chapter 11.
On Monday, 13 February 1995, 2,000 rally at Sydney Airport causing disruption.
On Monday, 13 February 1995, 21 Bosnian Serb commanders are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a tribunal on human rights violations during the Wars in the Balkans.
On Sunday, 13 February 2000, The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.
On Saturday, 13 February 2010, A by-election is held for the Victorian state electorate of Altona. Despite a double digit swing to the Liberal Party, the safe seat is retained by the Australian Labor Party candidate, Jill Hennessy.
On Friday, 13 February 2015, Patties Foods issues the first of several recalls of Nanna’s brand frozen berries, after an outbreak of Hepatitis A caused by contaminated fruit.
On Friday, 13 February 2015, died Faith Bandler, 96, activist.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch
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