April 3

1880 Birth: Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher. In 1903, he published the book Geschlecht und Charakter (Sex and Character); it gained popularity after Weininger's theatrical suicide at the age of 23. Today, the book is dismissed as sexist and anti-Semitic by some, however it continues to be held up as a great work of lasting genius and spiritual wisdom by others. Weininger shot himself in the house in Vienna where Beethoven had died, the man he considered one of the greatest geniuses of all. This made him a cause célèbre, inspired several imitation suicides, and turned his book into a success. Isolated parts of Weininger's writings were used by Nazi propaganda, despite the fact that Weininger actively argued against the ideas of race upheld by the Nazis. Adolf Hitler is reported to have said something to the effect of "There was only one decent Jew, and he killed himself." Nevertheless, Weininger's books were denounced by the Nazis, most probably because Weininger encouraged women to think for themselves, and to determine their own future, which went directly against the Nazi idea of the role of women in society.

1917 Vladimir Lenin arrives at Petrograd Station in Russia from exile, marking the beginning of Bolshevik leadership in the Russian Revolution.

1918 WW1: The Allied Supreme War Council, in a meeting at Beauvais, appoints Ferdinand Foch as supreme commander of Allied forces, including the Americans. Foch Immediately sends reserves to aid the British at the Somme. "Gen. Foch is charged by the British, French, and American Governments with the coordination of the action of the Allied Armies on the western front; to this end there is conferred on him all the powers necessary for its effective realization. To the same end, the British, French, and American Governments confide in Gen. Foch the strategic direction of military operations. The Commander-in-Chief of the British, French, and American Armies will exercise to the fullest extent the tactical direction of their armies. Each Commander-in-Chief will have the right to appeal to his Government, if in his opinion his Army is placed in danger by the instructions received from Gen. Foch."

1918 WW1: William G Sharp on the Paris Gun: "The Secretary of State has received from Ambassador Sharp in Paris a graphic report of his visit to the scene of the horrible tragedy which occurred on the afternoon of Good Friday in a church by the explosion of a German shell projected from far back of the enemy lines a distance of more than seventy miles. The appalling destruction wrought by this shell is, as the Ambassador remarked, probably not equalled by any single discharge of any hostile gun in the cruelty and horrors of its results. In no other one spot in Paris, even where poverty had gathered on that holy day to worship, could destruction of life have been so great. Nearly a hundred mangled corpses lying in the morgues, with almost as many seriously wounded, attested to the measure of the toll exacted. Far up to the high, vaulted arches, between the flying buttresses well to the front of the church, is a great gap in the wall, from which fell upon the heads of the devoted worshipers many tons of solid masonry. It was this that caused such a great loss of life..."

1919 Weimar: Dietrich Eckart (above) and Rudolf Gorsleben are arrested by the Communists. Only Eckart's quick-witted answers during interrogation prevent their execution along with the other Thule hostages. "...he developed an ideology of a "genius higher human", based on earlier writings by Lanz von Liebenfels; he saw himself in the tradition of Arthur Schopenhauer and Angelus Silesius, and also became fascinated by Mayan beliefs. Eckart also loved and strongly identified with Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, but never had much sympathy for the scientific method. Moving back to Munich, Eckart joined the Rudolf von Sebottendorff's mystic right-wing Thule Society in 1913 and became politically active; in 1915, he also wrote the nationalist play "Heinrich der Hohenstaufe", in which he postulated a claim to world leadership for the German people. Later on, between 1918 and 1920, Eckart was the editor of the anti-semitic periodical Auf gut Deutsch, which he published with the help of Alfred Rosenberg and Gottfried Feder. A fierce critic of the newly-formed Weimar Republic, he vehemently opposed the treaty of Versailles, which he viewed as treason, and propagated the so-called Dolchstoßlegende, according to which the Social Democrats and Jews were to blame for Germany's defeat..."

1922 Weimar: W.A. Harriman & Co. opens its European headquarters in Berlin with the aid of the Hamburg-based M.M. Warburg & Co. Government investigators later said it was during this time that Harriman first became acquainted with the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen. Harriman subsequently agreed to set up a bank for Thyssen (Union Banking Corporation) in New York City. The following year, Thyssen will become one of Hitler's largest financial backers.

1922 The new Central Committee of the Communist Party in Russia appoints Joseph Stalin as General Secretary of the Communist Party and de facto leader of the country.

1926 Volkishness: Lanz von Liebenfels and ONT brothers Ladislaus and Wilhem travel to Szent Balazs and construction on the new priory of Marienkamp starts shortly thereafter. (Roots)

1930 Birth:  Helmut Kohl. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 (West Germany between 1982 and 1990) and also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973-1998. His 16-year tenure was the second longest of any German chancellor in the history of Germany, being surpassed only by Otto von Bismarck. During his time in office, he was the architect of the German reunification and together with French President François Mitterrand the Maastricht Treaty which created the European Union.

1933 Church and Reich: The Kreuz und Adler (Cross and Eagle) organization is founded by Catholic supporters of the new Nazi state. Formation of this group is initiated by Papen, who assumes the title of Protector.

1939 Press Reaction to Hitler's April 1 Speech: "Although Hitler's speech at Wilhelmshaven was overshadowed by the British pledge to Poland, it was clearly bitter and threatening, particularly against Britain's efforts to protect Eastern European States from Germany."--London Times

1939 More Press Reaction to Hitler's April 1 Speech: "It is evident from the speech which Hitler made yesterday at Wilhelmshaven that Britain's warning of her willingness to go to war if Poland is attacked at this juncture of affairs of Europe has been read with care in Germany. It was a truculent speech, in the usual Hitler manner, filled with derision for the democracies and boasts of Germany's willingness to measure her strength with that of any other nation in war as well as in peace. But it proposed no immediate action other than a possible denunciation of Germany's naval treaty with Britain - which would amount merely to an empty gesture - and it refrained significantly from any ultimatum to Poland."--New York Times

1939 Even More Press Reaction to Hitler's April 1 Speech: "The Wilhelmshaven speech was distinguished by a reaffirmation of German's desire for peace, and at the same time a thinly disguised threat to Poland.... Chancellor Hitler declared that Germany did not dream of attacking other nations, and he offered as proof his decision to call the next Congress of the National Socialist Party the Congress of Peace. He would do well to wait until that desire for peace is expressed clearly in the acts of the Berlin Government, before congratulating himself."--Le Temps

1939 Hitler issues a war directive marked "Most Secret" and has it delivered by hand to his senior war commanders. "Since the situation on Germany's eastern frontier has become intolerable and all political possibilities have been exhausted," it began, "I have decided upon a solution by force." Preparations for the attack on Poland, "Case White" (Operation White), "must be made so that the operation can be carried out any time from September 1, 1939." (Shirer I)

1940

1940 WW2: Churchill resigns as Minister for the Coordination of Defense and is appointed to chair the Ministerial Defense Committee, significantly increasing his responsibilities, even though he had not been success in his previous post. One of his first acts is to obtain consent for the mining of the Norwegian Leads. (WWIIDBD)

1941 WW2: Hungarian and German troops march into Yugoslavia.

1941 WW2: The British evacuate Benghazi in the face of the German advance.

1942 WW2: The Japanese continue their all-out assault on the US and Filipino troops at Bataan.

1942 Holocaust: 129 German Jews from Augsburg are deported to Izbica and Belzec. The once 1000-strong Jewish community ceases to exist. (Atlas)

1943 WW2: The German defenders continue to hold off attacks by Patton's troops around El Guettar.

1945 WW2 Stalin to FDR: "I have received your message on the question of negotiations in Berne. You are absolutely right that, in connection with the affair regarding negotiations of the Anglo-American command with the German command somewhere in Berne or some other place, there ‘has developed an atmosphere of fear and distrust deserving regrets. You insist there have been no negotiations yet. It may be assumed that you have not yet been fully informed. As regards my military colleagues, they, on the basis of data which they have on hand, do not have any doubts that the negotiations have taken place, and that they have ended with an agreement with the Germans, on the basis of which the German commander on the Western Front, Marshal Kesselring, has agreed to open the front and permit the Anglo-American troops to advance to the east, and the Anglo-Americans have promised in return to ease for the Germans the peace terms. I think that my colleagues are close to the truth. Otherwise one could not have understood the fact that the Anglo-Americans have refused to admit to Berne representatives of the Soviet command for participation in the negotiations with the Germans. I also cannot understand the silence of the British, who have allowed you to correspond with me on this unpleasant matter, and they themselves remain silent, although it is known that the initiative in this whole affair with the negotiations in Berne belongs to the British. I understand that there are certain advantages for the Anglo-American troops as a result of these separate negotiations in Berne or some other place, since the Anglo-American troops get the possibility to advance into the heart of Germany almost without resistance on the part of the Germans, but why was it necessary to conceal this from the Russians, and why were your Allies, the Russians, not notified? As a result of this at the present moment the Germans on the Western Front in fact have ceased the war against England and the United States. At the same time the Germans continue the war with Russia, the Ally of England and the United States. It is understandable that such a situation can in no way serve the cause of preservation of the strengthening of trust between our countries…I personally and my colleagues would never have made such a risky step, being aware that a momentary advantage, no matter what it would be, is fading before the principal advantage of the preservation and strengthening of the trust among the Allies."

1946 Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside Manila in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.

1948 Cold War: President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

1965 Death: Ernst Kirchweger, Austrian communist and resistance fighter; the first person to die as a result of political conflict in Austria's Second Republic.