April 2

1550 All Jews are expelled from Genoa, Italy.

1902 Birth: Jan Tschichold, German typographer, book designer, teacher and writer. After the election of Hitler in Germany, all designers had to register with the Ministry of Culture, and all teaching posts were threatened for anyone who was sympathetic to communism. Armed Nazis arrested him and his wife in 1933, and Soviet posters were found in his flat, casting him under suspicion of collaboration with communists. All copies of Tschichold's books were seized by the Gestapo "for the protection of the German people". After six weeks a policeman somehow found him tickets for Switzerland, and he and his family managed to escape Nazi Germany.

1917 WW1: US President Woodrow Wilson, reelected on the slogan 'He kept us out of war,' asks Congress to declare war on Germany. "...On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom: without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world....This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity..."

1917 WW2: The Battle of Vimy Ridge commences when the Canada Corps launches an artillary bombardment of the German trenches. It is considered a major event in Canadian history for the primary role the Canadian Corps played in the attack. They shelled the German trenches for a week, using over one million shells. The German artillery pieces were hidden behind the ridge, but by observing the sound and light from their firing, the Canadians were able to locate and destroy about 83% of the German guns. The Canadians also made many night trench raids during this week, although General Arthur Currie thought this was a stupid risk and a waste of men. The German troops called this period the "Week of Suffering". The attack was so loud, the sound of guns could be heard plainly in southern England, some one hundred miles from the front.

1918 WW1: Freiherr von Arz on the Opening of the Spring Offensive: "Among other things, the wound of our enemies in the west is so deep today that it can never heal again. I should be telling a lie if I said that the latest German successes surprised me; of these victories I was confident. The splendid leadership of the great masters of war, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who have known their own aim, the depth and thoroughness of the German mind, and the high moral earnestness of the German soldiers were sufficient guarantee for success to the onlooker acquainted with the circumstances. The change from trench to active warfare makes the superiority of the German Army appear still more conspicuous. When the barbed-wire defences are left some miles behind, and the manoeuvres take place in the open field, then the alertness and experience of the non-commissioned officers, who have been trained by years of instruction during peace, and our thoroughly trained General Staff get their reward. Millions of fighters can be raised out of the soil, but it is not so easy to obtain even a fraction of the necessary leaders of all ranks. The facts we must keep before us when judging of the position on the western front.  The German company and battalion commanders are a hundred times better than the English, and in that form an important guarantee of success. The victorious and confident feelings of the German troops had not suffered any change by reason of the bad weather, the cold and rain which set in on March 27th. Against the wet and cold they were protected by the huge quantities of booty, consisting of coats, jackets and canvas, which they had found, while the rich lots of foodstuffs, which were found everywhere piled up in the British army depots, most advantageously supplemented their own rations. These unexpectedly large supplies have enabled many of the troops to live completely on what they find, so that their own supplies can be saved for a later period." (Count Czernin on Brest-Litovsk Treaty click here.)

1921 Weimar: German physicist Albert Einstein arrives in New York to give a lecture at Columbia University on his new theory of relativity. It will open up a totally new way of thinking and will displace much of the scientific theory which has preceded it.

1926 Weimar: Baden-Baden, a rotor ship invented by Anton Flettner leaves Hamburg, Germany, to make a transatlantic crossing. It arrived in New York on 29 May 1926 using a unique propulsion. Instead of sails, Flettner used two 9-ft diameter, 50-ft high cylinders, mounted vertically on the deck at the bow and the stern. Driven by 45-hp electric motors, they applying the aerodynamic power of the Magnus Effect which builds air pressure behind a rotating cylinder. Although a theoretical success, it was not sufficiently effective for commercial application.

1930 Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia. Note: He is the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement.

 

1935 Sir Watson-Watt is granted a patent for RADAR.

1940 WW2: Hitler orders the invasion of Norway for April 9. "...He arrived at it over a period of six months during which the proposal was debated at length in the highest echelons of the German Armed Forces. Hitler's own attitude shifted during that time from lukewarm verging on indifference to determination. Since the war the decision has been both praised and condemned; here it is presented as an example of decision-making in a developing situation. Even though the occupation of Norway and Denmark had no significant effect on the outcome of the war, it established a milestone in the history of warfare by demonstrating the effective reach of modern military forces. Although lacking the resources to capitalize on it, the Germans had made a move of potential value to them in the development of a global strategy. It confronted the United States as well as Great Britain with a strategic threat. It brought Germany, theoretically at least, into a position to strike outward from the mainland of Europe..."

1942

1944 WW2: The Soviet Union announces that its troops have crossed the Prut River and entered Romania, one of Germany's allied countries.

1945 WW2 Churchill to Eisenhower: "…I am however all the more impressed with the importance of entering Berlin, which may well be open to us, by the reply from Moscow to you, which in paragraph 3 says, `Berlin has lost its former strategic importance.' This should be read in the light of what I mentioned of the political aspects. I deem it highly important that we should shake hands with the Russians as far to the east as possible…"

1945 Holocaust: Hitler prophesies the world's eternal gratefulness for having instigated the stamping out of the Jews. (Days)

1947 The UN Security Council votes to appoint the US as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands.

1953 Death: Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal of the Luftwaffe. Sperrle joined the Freikorps at the end of the war after the disbanding of the Air Service, before rejoining the German Army. He entered the newly formed Luftwaffe in 1935 and served as commander of the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War, with Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen serving as his chief of staff. He led the German Air Fleet 3 against France in May and June 1940. In July 1940, he was made a generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe. Sperrle advised that Britain's Royal Air Force had to be destroyed to ensure a successful invasion of Britain. Air Fleet 3, stationed in northern France, played a major role in the Battle of Britain, from June 1940 to April 1941. Field Marshal Sperrle was captured by the Allies and charged with war crimes in the High Command Trial at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials but was acquitted.

1972 Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist in the early 1950's during the Red Scare.

1972 Death: Franz Halder, Colonel-General and Chief of the General Staff of the German army (OKH) from September 1, 1938 until fired by Hitler on September 24, 1942. He was arrested by the Gestapo on July 21, 1944, and held in concentration camps until released by the Allies in 1945.

2006 Death: Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg, German wife of freedom fighter Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg.