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.
On 13, Monday December 1943, WWII: Massacre of Kalavryta: The occupying 117th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht) machine-gun all adult males from Kalavryta in Greece, subsequently burning the town.
On 13, Monday December 1943, Ferguson Jenkins born, Canadian baseball player
On 13, Monday December 1943, David W. Huff born, American rock singer and guitarist of David and the Giants
On 13, Monday December 1943, Erich Garske died, German political activist (b. 1907)
On 13, Saturday December 1958, Lynn-Holly Johnson born, American ice skater and actress
On 13, Saturday December 1958, Tim Moore died, American comedian (b. 1887)
On 13, Friday December 1968, Prompted by growing unrest and proliferation of pro-communist terrorist actions, Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva enacts the so-called AI-5, the fifth of a series of non-constitutional emergency decrees that helped stabilize the country after the turmoils of the early 1960s.
On 13, Wednesday December 1978, The first Susan B. Anthony dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint.
On 13, Wednesday December 1978, Cameron Douglas born, American actor
On 13, Tuesday December 1988, Paul Johnston born, English cricketer
On 13, Tuesday December 1988, Roy Urquhart died, British general (b. 1901)
On 13, Monday December 1993, Shaun Edwards born, rules footballer (Greater Western Sydney)
On 13, Monday December 1993, Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, and is succeeded as leader by Jean Charest.
On 13, Monday December 1993, The Majilis of Kazakhstan approves the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and agrees to dismantle the more than 100 missiles left on its territory by the fall of the USSR.
On 13, Monday December 1993, Florence Davidson died, Canadian First Nations artist (b. 1896)
On 13, Monday December 1993, George Bellew died, genealogist and armorist (b. 1899)
On 13, Monday December 1993, Tommy Sexton died, Canadian comedian (b. 1957)
On 13, Sunday December 1998, Sir Lew Grade died, British businessman (b. 1906)
On 13, Sunday December 1998, Ariadna Welter died, Mexican actress (b. 1930)
On 13, Saturday December 2008, Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923), died.
On 13, Friday December 2013, Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, holds his first Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting. The states and territories agree to have sole responsibility for the environmental assessment of major developments and to focus on boosting the school attendance rates of Indigenous children. It is confirmed that the national paid parental leave scheme will include state public servants.
On 13, Friday December 2013, Andrew Plain, sound editor, died.
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch
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