The fall of the Berlin Wall, part II:
As word spread out across both East and West Berlin concerning a new travel policy by the Eastern Communist government, thousands of Berliners on both sides of the wall inundated border guards at multiple checkpoints. People started climbing atop the wall and demanded that the guards open the gates.
28 years after its construction (back when JFK was President), the Berlin Wall was now obsolete.
November 9, 1989 - 22 years ago today.
The fall of the Berlin Wall, part I:
Prior to a scheduled press conference, Communist official Günter Schabowski is handed a note which states vaguely that East Berliners will be allowed to pass into West Berlin if they have proper permission to do so.
Schabowski proceeds read the note to the reporters at the end of the press conference.
He is then asked when the policy will take place; flustered by such a question and unaware of exactly when, given the vagueness of the note, he states it will be effective immediately.
Soon after, word reaches media outlets across Western Germany and gets picked up in East Germany as well. Thousands of people from both sides of the Berlin Wall gather around guards manning checkpoints, demanding that the checkpoints be opened.
November 9, 1989 - 22 years ago today.
An American GI and Japanese woman.
Tokyo, Japan - January 21, 1946.
American soldiers from the 2nd Armored Division partaking in a sing-along.
Barenton, France - 1944.
The plot on Hitler’s life:
Every year on the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch since coming to power, Adolf Hitler made a speech in honor of the failed revolution at the original site of the party’s failed revolution.
After viewing the dictator’s speech in 1938, Georg Elser, an opponent of Hitler and Nazism realized just how lax security was inside the beer hall. Soon after, Elser made up his mind - he would assassinate Adolf Hitler at the same spot the very next year.
Despite having no experience in bomb making, Elser was able to procure the necessary materials and fabricate it. At the time of Hitler’s speech a year later he went ahead with his plan and planted a bomb inside the beer hall in the ceiling above Hitler.
As Hitler gave his speech, the bomb ticked away. Elser left the hall early in anticipation of the explosion.
And so did Hitler - at the last minute, instead of taking a plane back to Berlin, he chose to take a train and made an early departure from the hall thirteen minutes before the bomb exploded.
Elser was arrested by officials who did not believe such a man could produce a bomb on his own - they tortured to try and make him confess that he received British help, despite acting alone. Throughout the war he was held in various concentration camps; weeks before the war’s end he died at Dachau.
November 8, 1939 - 72 years ago today.
CBS World News Today:
Covering the latest developments around the world concerning WWII, with special attention given to Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa which commenced the same day.
Originally broadcast: November 8, 1942 - 69 years ago today
This day in history:
British and American troops invade French North Africa (codenamed Operation Torch) after pressure from the Soviet Union to open up a second front in order to relieve pressure from German forces.
Cities targeted included Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. A week later Allied forces claimed victory.
November 8, 1942 - 69 years ago today
The Beer Hall Putsch:
The Nazi party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, attempts to start a revolution and overthrow the Weimar Republic. Along with high ranking officials and armed supporters, Hitler storms a beer hall and yells:
The national revolution has broken out! The hall is filled with six hundred men. Nobody is allowed to leave. The Bavarian government and the government at Berlin are deposed. A new government will be formed at once.
The movement went nowhere and was put to an end a day later. At one point during the Putsch, Hitler himself came close to death when the man who he was locking arms with, in defiance of authorities, was shot and instantly killed.
For his part in leading a failed revolution against the state, Hitler received a five year prison sentence but ended up serving just over one year behind bars. His trial helped attain national publicity for himself and the Nazi party.
During his time in prison he dictated his book Mein Kampf to fellow participant Rudolf Hess. Hitler also received lots of fan mail from his supporters as well as preferential treatment from prison guards, and even bought a Mercedes limousine.
November 8, 1923 - 88 years ago today.
US Army nurses practicing the use of gas masks.
Governors Island, New York - November 27, 1941.
This day in history:
John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States after beating opponent and then-Vice-President Richard Nixon in an extremely close race.
Kennedy carries five states with a margin of victory less than one percent.
November 8, 1960 - 51 years ago today.
