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  • Germany
    1939
    Computer

    One of The Earliest Examples of an Electromechanical relay Computer.

    Germany
    1939

    Early digital computers were electromechanical; electric switches drove mechanical relays to perform the calculation. These devices had a low operating speed and were eventually superseded by much faster all-electric computers, originally using vacuum tubes. The Z2, created by German engineer Konrad Zuse in 1939, was one of the earliest examples of an electromechanical relay computer.




  • Germany
    1939
    Heinrich Himmler

    Invasion of Poland

    Germany
    1939

    When Hitler and his army chiefs asked for a pretext for the invasion of Poland in 1939, Himmler, Heydrich, and Heinrich Müller masterminded and carried out a false flag project code-named Operation Himmler. German soldiers dressed in Polish uniforms undertook border skirmishes which deceptively suggested Polish aggression against Germany. The incidents were then used in Nazi propaganda to justify the invasion of Poland, the opening event of World War II.




  • Ostrava, Czech Republic
    Jan, 1939
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    His role in the invasion of Poland

    Ostrava, Czech Republic
    Jan, 1939

    After some time off to recover in Zwittau, Schindler was promoted to second in command of his Abwehr unit and relocated with his wife to Ostrava, on the Czech-Polish border, in January 1939. He was involved in espionage in the months leading up to Hitler's seizure of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March. Emilie helped him with paperwork, processing and hiding secret documents in their apartment for the Abwehr office. As Schindler frequently traveled to Poland on business, he and his 25 agents were in a position to collect information about Polish military activities and railways for the planned invasion of Poland.




  • Cambridge, England
    1939
    Alan Turing

    Ludwig Wittgenstein's Lectures about The Foundations of Mathematics

    Cambridge, England
    1939

    When Turing returned to Cambridge, he attended lectures given in 1939 by Ludwig Wittgenstein about the foundations of mathematics. The lectures have been reconstructed verbatim, including interjections from Turing and other students, from students' notes. Turing and Wittgenstein argued and disagreed, with Turing defending formalism and Wittgenstein propounding his view that mathematics does not discover any absolute truths, but rather invents them.




  • France
    1939
    Igor Stravinsky

    His Wife's Death

    France
    1939

    From their moving to Anglet until his wife's death in 1939, Stravinsky led a double life, dividing his time between his family in Anglet, and Vera in Paris and on tour. Katya reportedly bore her husband's infidelity "with a mixture of magnanimity, bitterness, and compassion".




  • U.S.
    1939
    Howard Hughes: The Aviator

    TWA Takeover

    U.S.
    1939

    Hughes is commonly credited as the driving force behind the Lockheed Constellation airliner, which Hughes and Frye ordered in 1939 as a long-range replacement for TWA's fleet of Boeing 307 Stratoliners, Hughes personally financed TWA's acquisition of 40 Constellations for $18 million, the largest aircraft order in history up to that time. The Constellations were among the highest-performing commercial aircraft of the late 1940s and 1950s and allowed TWA to pioneer nonstop transcontinental service. During World War II, Hughes leveraged political connections in Washington to obtain rights for TWA to serve Europe, making it the only U.S. carrier with a combination of domestic and transatlantic routes.




  • U.S.
    1939
    Antibiotic

    The Discovery of The First Naturally Derived Antibiotic

    U.S.
    1939

    In 1939, coinciding with the start of World War II, Dubos had reported the discovery of the first naturally derived antibiotic, tyrothricin, a compound of 20% gramicidin and 80% tyrocidine, from B. brevis. It was one of the first commercially manufactured antibiotics and was very effective in treating wounds and ulcers during World War II.


  • U.S.
    1939
    Cameras

    Argus C9

    U.S.
    1939

    Kodak got into the market with the Retina I in 1934, which introduced the 135 cartridges used in all modern 35 mm cameras. Although the Retina was comparatively inexpensive, 35 mm cameras were still out of reach for most people, and roll film remained the format of choice for mass-market cameras. This changed in 1936 with the introduction of the inexpensive Argus A and to an even greater extent in 1939 with the arrival of the immensely popular Argus C3. Although the cheapest cameras still used roll film, 35 mm film had come to dominate the market by the time the C3 was discontinued in 1966.


  • France
    1939
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle was put in command of the French Fifth Army's tanks

    France
    1939

    At the outbreak of World War II, De Gaulle was put in command of the French Fifth Army's tanks (five scattered battalions, largely equipped with R35 light tanks) in Alsace.


  • Dartmouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom
    1939
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip completed a term as a cadet at the Royal Naval College

    Dartmouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom
    1939

    After leaving Gordonstoun in early 1939, Philip completed a term as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.


  • Catalonia, Spain
    Jan, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Franco's troops conquered Catalonia

    Catalonia, Spain
    Jan, 1939

    Franco's troops conquered Catalonia in a whirlwind campaign during the first two months of 1939.


  • Victoria, Australia
    Thursday Jan 12, 1939
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Black Friday Bushfires

    Victoria, Australia
    Thursday Jan 12, 1939

    The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were among the worst natural bushfires (wildfires) in the world. Almost 20,000 km2 (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land was burned, 71 people died, several towns were entirely obliterated and the Royal Commission that resulted from it led to major changes in forest management. Over 1,300 homes and 69 sawmills were burned, and 3,700 buildings were destroyed.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    1939
    Library of Congress

    Putnam retired in 1939

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    1939

    Putnam retired in 1939.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Monday Jan 30, 1939
    The Holocaust

    Germany began a genocide policy against Jews

    Berlin, Germany
    Monday Jan 30, 1939

    In 1939 that marked the transition in Nazi racial antisemitism toward genocide. To justify the murder of the Jews both to the perpetrators and to bystanders in Germany and Europe, the Nazis used not only racist arguments but also arguments derived from older negative stereotypes, including Jews as communist subversives, as war profiteers and hoarders, and as a danger to internal security because of their inherent disloyalty and opposition to Germany.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Monday Jan 30, 1939
    Joseph Goebbels

    Goebbels continued his intensive antisemitic

    Berlin, Germany
    Monday Jan 30, 1939

    Goebbels continued his intensive antisemitic propaganda campaign that culminated in Hitler's 30 January 1939 Reichstag speech.


  • Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
    Saturday Feb 4, 1939
    Frank Sinatra

    1st Marriage

    Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
    Saturday Feb 4, 1939

    Sinatra had met Barbato in Long Branch, New Jersey in the late 1930s, where he spent most of the summer working as a lifeguard.He agreed to marry her after an incident at "The Rustic Cabin" which led to his arrest.


  • Spain
    Monday Feb 27, 1939
    Francisco Franco

    United kingdom and France officially recognized the Franco regime

    Spain
    Monday Feb 27, 1939

    By early 1939 only Madrid and a few other areas remained under control of the government forces. On 27 February Chamberlain's Britain and Daladier's France officially recognized the Franco regime.


  • Spain
    Sunday Mar 5, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Peace deal

    Spain
    Sunday Mar 5, 1939

    Only Madrid and a few other strongholds remained for the Republican forces. On 5 March 1939 the Republican army, led by the Colonel Segismundo Casado and the politician Julián Besteiro, rose against the prime minister Juan Negrín and formed the National Defence Council (Consejo Nacional de Defensa or CND) to negotiate a peace deal.


  • France
    Monday Mar 6, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Negrín fled to France

    France
    Monday Mar 6, 1939

    Negrín fled to France on 6 March, but the Communist troops around Madrid rose against the junta, starting a brief civil war within the civil war. Casado defeated them, and began peace negotiations with the Nationalists, but Franco refused to accept anything less than unconditional surrender.


  • Geneva, Switzerland
    1939
    League of Nations

    A total of 63 countries became member states of the League of Nations

    Geneva, Switzerland
    1939

    Between 1920 and 1939, a total of 63 countries became member states of the League of Nations. The Covenant forming the League of Nations was included in the Treaty of Versailles and came into force on 10 January 1920, with the League of Nations being dissolved on 18 April 1946; its assets and responsibilities were transferred to the United Nations.


  • Czechoslovakia (Present Day Czechia and Slovakia)
    Mar, 1939
    World War II

    Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia

    Czechoslovakia (Present Day Czechia and Slovakia)
    Mar, 1939

    In March 1939, Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state, the Slovak Republic.


  • Czech Rep. (Czechoslovakia that time)
    Wednesday Mar 15, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Invade Prague

    Czech Rep. (Czechoslovakia that time)
    Wednesday Mar 15, 1939

    On 15 March 1939, in violation of the Munich accord and possibly as a result of the deepening economic crisis requiring additional assets, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to invade Prague, and from Prague Castle he proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.


  • Lithuania
    Monday Mar 20, 1939
    World War II

    1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania

    Lithuania
    Monday Mar 20, 1939

    Hitler also delivered 20 March 1939 ultimatum to Lithuania, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region, formerly the German Memelland.


  • Danzig (Present Day Gdańsk, Poland)
    1939
    World War II

    Free City of Danzig

    Danzig (Present Day Gdańsk, Poland)
    1939

    Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig, the United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence.


  • Spain
    Sunday Mar 26, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Nationalists started a general offensive

    Spain
    Sunday Mar 26, 1939

    On 26 March, the Nationalists started a general offensive.


  • Madrid, Spain
    Tuesday Mar 28, 1939
    Francisco Franco

    Madrid fell to the Nationalists

    Madrid, Spain
    Tuesday Mar 28, 1939

    On 28 March 1939, with the help of pro-Franco forces inside the city (the "fifth column" General Mola had mentioned in propaganda broadcasts in 1936), Madrid fell to the Nationalists.


  • Germany
    Friday Mar 31, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Offended by the British "guarantee"

    Germany
    Friday Mar 31, 1939

    Offended by the British "guarantee" on 31 March 1939 of Polish independence, he said, "I shall brew them a devil's drink".


  • Spain
    Friday Mar 31, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Nationalists occupied all Spanish territory

    Spain
    Friday Mar 31, 1939

    On 28 March the Nationalists occupied Madrid and, by 31 March, they controlled all Spanish territory.


  • Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939
    Francisco Franco

    Victory was proclaimed

    Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939

    Victory was proclaimed on 1 April 1939, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered. On the same day, Franco placed his sword upon the altar of a church and in a vow, promised that he would never again take up his sword unless Spain itself was threatened with invasion.


  • Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939
    09 PM
    World War II

    Spanish Civil War ended

    Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939
    09 PM

    The Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War in April 1939.


  • Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939
    Spanish Civil War

    Franco proclaimed victory in a radio speech

    Spain
    Saturday Apr 1, 1939

    Franco proclaimed victory in a radio speech aired on 1 April, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.


  • U.S.
    1939
    Black Friday

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a presidential proclamation proclaiming Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday in November rather than the last Thursday

    U.S.
    1939

    Thanksgiving Day's relationship to Christmas shopping led to controversy in the 1930s. Retail stores would have liked to have a longer shopping season, but no store wanted to break with tradition and be the one to start advertising before Thanksgiving. For this reason, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a presidential proclamation proclaiming Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday in November rather than the last Thursday, meaning in some years one week earlier, in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.


  • Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England, United Kingdom
    1939
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip met the Princess

    Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England, United Kingdom
    1939

    In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Louis Mountbatten asked Philip to escort the King's two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria, and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark.


  • Albania
    Wednesday Apr 12, 1939
    World War II

    Italy conquered Albania

    Albania
    Wednesday Apr 12, 1939

    Italy conquered Albania in April 1939.


  • Australia
    1939
    Anna May Wong

    Wong visited Australia for more than three months

    Australia
    1939

    Being sick of the negative typecasting that had enveloped her throughout her American career, Wong visited Australia for more than three months in 1939. There she was the star attraction in a vaudeville show entitled 'Highlights from Hollywood' at the Tivoli Theatre in Melbourne.


  • New York., U.S.
    1939
    Anna May Wong

    The Campbell Playhouse

    New York., U.S.
    1939

    Wong performed on radio several times, including a 1939 role as "Peony" in Pearl Buck's The Patriot on Orson Welles' The Campbell Playhouse.


  • U.S.
    1939
    Anna May Wong

    Support of the Chinese struggle against Japan

    U.S.
    1939

    Between 1939 and 1942, Wong made few films, instead engaging in events and appearances in support of the Chinese struggle against Japan.


  • Zaoyang, Xiangyang, Hubei, China
    Thursday Apr 20, 1939
    Second Sino-Japanese War

    The Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang

    Zaoyang, Xiangyang, Hubei, China
    Thursday Apr 20, 1939

    From the beginning of 1939, the war entered a new phase with the unprecedented defeat of the Japanese at Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang, then 1st Battle of Changsha, Battle of South Guangxi and Battle of Zaoyi.


  • U.S.
    May, 1939
    DC Comics

    The introduction of Batman

    U.S.
    May, 1939

    The themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27 (May 1939).


  • Spain
    1939
    Spanish Civil War

    There were harsh reprisals against Franco's former enemies

    Spain
    1939

    After the end of the war, there were harsh reprisals against Franco's former enemies. Thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and at least 30,000 executed. Other estimates of these deaths range from 50,000 to 200,000, depending on which deaths are included. Many others were put to forced labor, building railways, draining swamps, and digging canals.


  • Austria
    May, 1939
    The Holocaust

    100,000 Austrian Jews had left the country

    Austria
    May, 1939

    About 100,000 Austrian Jews had left the country by May 1939, including Sigmund Freud and his family, who moved to London.


  • France
    May, 1939
    Edward VIII

    NBC radio broadcast

    France
    May, 1939

    In May 1939, the Duke was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the World War I battlefields of Verdun. In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of the dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say. I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind. There is no land whose people want war." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 22, 1939
    Benito Mussolini

    The Pact of Steel

    Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 22, 1939

    The Axis agreement with Germany was strengthened by signing the Pact of Steel on 22 May 1939, which bound together Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in a full military alliance.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 22, 1939
    World War II

    Pact of Steel

    Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 22, 1939

    After the Franco-British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalized their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.


  • Palestine
    Tuesday May 23, 1939
    David Ben-Gurion

    The British 1939 White paper

    Palestine
    Tuesday May 23, 1939

    The British 1939 White paper stipulated that Jewish immigration to Palestine was to be limited to 15,000 a year for the first five years, and would subsequently be contingent on Arab consent.


  • Athens, Greece
    1939
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip repatriated to Greece

    Athens, Greece
    1939

    Then Philip repatriated to Greece, living with his mother in Athens for a month in mid-1939.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    1939
    Library of Congress

    Roosevelt appointed Archibald MacLeish

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    1939

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Archibald MacLeish as his successor. Occupying the post from 1939 to 1944 during the height of World War II. MacLeish became the most visible librarian of Congress in the library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism on behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Room of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, commissioning artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room; and established a "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building for important documents such as the Declaration, Constitution and The Federalist Papers.


  • Warsaw, Poland
    Jul, 1939
    Alan Turing

    Warsaw Meeting

    Warsaw, Poland
    Jul, 1939

    After the July 1939 Warsaw meeting at which the Polish Cipher Bureau had provided the British and French with the details of the wiring of Enigma rotors and their method of decrypting Enigma code messages, Turing and Knox started to work on a less fragile approach to the problem. Their approach was more general, using crib-based decryption for which he produced the functional specification of the bombe (an improvement of the Polish Bomba).


  • Moscow, U.S.S.R.
    1939
    Laser

    Valentin A. Fabrikant predicted the use of stimulated emission to amplify "short" waves

    Moscow, U.S.S.R.
    1939

    In 1939, Valentin A. Fabrikant predicted the use of stimulated emission to amplify "short" waves.


  • Sofia, Bulgaria
    1939
    Nikola Tesla

    The Medal of the University St. Clement of Ochrida

    Sofia, Bulgaria
    1939

    The Medal of the University St. Clement of Ochrida (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1939).


  • Kentucky, U.S.
    1939
    KFC

    The Idea

    Kentucky, U.S.
    1939

    In 1939, the first commercial pressure cookers were released onto the market, mostly designed for steaming vegetables. And as Sanders was not was unhappy with the 35 minutes it took to prepare his chicken, he bought one of the pressure cookers and modified it into a pressure fryer, which he then used to fry chicken. The new method reduced production time to be comparable with deep frying, while, in the opinion of Sanders, retaining the quality of pan-fried chicken.


  • Germany
    Tuesday Aug 22, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Military mobilization is ordered

    Germany
    Tuesday Aug 22, 1939

    Accordingly, on 22 August 1939 Hitler ordered a military mobilization against Poland.


  • Soviet Union (Present-Day Russia)
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939
    Joseph Stalin

    Non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany

    Soviet Union (Present-Day Russia)
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939

    The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on 23 August 1939.


  • Moscow, Russia
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939
    World War II

    Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

    Moscow, Russia
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939

    The situation reached a general crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilize against the Polish border. On 23 August, when tripartite negotiations about a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom and Soviet Union stalled, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. The Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those two powers to divide-up Poland between them.


  • Germany
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939
    World War II

    Delayed attack

    Germany
    Wednesday Aug 23, 1939

    Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland, and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Friday Aug 25, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Anglo-Polish alliance

    England, United Kingdom
    Friday Aug 25, 1939

    Contrary to predictions that Britain would sever Anglo-Polish ties, Britain and Poland signed the Anglo-Polish alliance on 25 August 1939.


  • Germany
    Tuesday Aug 29, 1939
    The Holocaust

    List of 30,000 people to send to concentration camps

    Germany
    Tuesday Aug 29, 1939

    The German army, the Wehrmacht, was accompanied by seven SS Einsatzgruppen ("special task forces") and an Einsatzkommando, numbering altogether 3,000 men, whose role was to deal with "all anti-German elements in the hostile country behind the troops in combat". Most of the Einsatzgruppen commanders were professionals; 15 of the 25 leaders had PhDs.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Wednesday Aug 30, 1939
    World War II

    Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin

    Berlin, Germany
    Wednesday Aug 30, 1939

    On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig, and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Thursday Aug 31, 1939
    World War II

    Stormy meeting

    Berlin, Germany
    Thursday Aug 31, 1939

    The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a stormy meeting with the British ambassador Neville Henderson, Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected.


  • Western Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    WWII Begun

    Western Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded western Poland under the pretext of having been denied claims to the Free City of Danzig and the right to extraterritorial roads across the Polish Corridor, which Germany had ceded under the Versailles Treaty.


  • Europe & Middle East
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    John F. Kennedy

    Europe tour

    Europe & Middle East
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    In 1939 Kennedy toured Europe, the Soviet Union, the Balkans, and the Middle East in preparation for his Harvard senior honors thesis. He then went to Czechoslovakia and Germany before returning to London on September 1, 1939, the day that Germany invaded Polandto mark the beginning of World War II.


  • Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    Joseph Stalin

    WWII Began

    Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 starting World War II.


  • Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    World War II

    World War II Begins

    Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as a pretext to initiate the attack.


  • Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    The Holocaust

    Germany invaded Poland

    Poland
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, triggering a declaration of war from France and the UK, it gained control of an additional two million Jews, reduced to around 1.7 – 1.8 million in the German zone when the Soviet Union invaded from the east on 17 September.


  • Poland (and then Europe)
    Friday Sep 1, 1939
    United Nations

    World War II was broke up

    Poland (and then Europe)
    Friday Sep 1, 1939

    World War II was broke up.


  • Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
    Sep, 1939
    Igor Stravinsky

    Stravinsky sailed (alone) for The United States

    Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
    Sep, 1939

    Despite the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the widowed Stravinsky sailed (alone) for the United States at the end of the month, arriving in New York City and thence to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to fulfill his engagement at Harvard.


  • Westerplatte, Poland
    Saturday Sep 2, 1939
    World War II

    First battle of the war

    Westerplatte, Poland
    Saturday Sep 2, 1939

    The Battle of Westerplatte is often described as the first battle of the war. Beginning from 1 August till 7 August.


  • Germany
    Saturday Sep 2, 1939
    Joseph Goebbels

    Goebbels proclaimed it illegal to listen to foreign radio stations

    Germany
    Saturday Sep 2, 1939

    On 2 September 1939 (the day after the start of the war), Goebbels and the Council of Ministers proclaimed it illegal to listen to foreign radio stations. Disseminating news from foreign broadcasts could result in the death penalty.


  • United Kingdom and France
    Sunday Sep 3, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Britain and France declared war on Germany

    United Kingdom and France
    Sunday Sep 3, 1939

    In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Sep 3, 1939
    Winston Churchill

    Winston is back

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Sep 3, 1939

    On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany, Chamberlain reappointed Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty and he joined Chamberlain's war cabinet. Churchill later claimed that the Board of the Admiralty sent a signal to the Fleet: "Winston is back".


  • France and United Kingdom
    Monday Sep 4, 1939
    World War II

    France and Britain declared war on Germany

    France and United Kingdom
    Monday Sep 4, 1939

    The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, France and Britain, along with their empires, declared war on Germany. The alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of a cautious French probe into the Saarland.


  • Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Sep 4, 1939
    Alan Turing

    Turing Reported To Bletchley Park

    Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Sep 4, 1939

    On 4 September 1939, the day after the UK declared war on Germany, Turing reported to Bletchley Park, the wartime station of GC&CS.


  • Warsaw, Poland
    Friday Sep 8, 1939
    World War II

    German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw

    Warsaw, Poland
    Friday Sep 8, 1939

    On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw. Sight of Warsaw lasted from 8 to 28 September, Germany occupied Warsaw until 1945.


  • Germany
    1939
    Bicycle

    Military Usage

    Germany
    1939

    The German Volksgrenadier units each had a battalion of bicycle infantry attached. The Invasion of Poland saw many bicycle-riding scouts in use, with each bicycle company using 196 bicycles and 1 motorcycle. By September 1939, there were 41 bicycle companies mobilized.


  • Kutno, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland
    Saturday Sep 9, 1939
    World War II

    Battle of the Bzura

    Kutno, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland
    Saturday Sep 9, 1939

    The Polish counter offensive to the west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht. The Battle of the Bzura fought between 9 and 19 September 1939, It began as a Polish counter-offensive, but ended with German victory, German forces took all of western Poland.


  • New York, U.S.
    1939
    Stan Lee

    Graduating high school

    New York, U.S.
    1939

    Stan graduated from high school early, aged sixteen and a half, in 1939 and joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip returned to Britain

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939

    At the behest of the Greek king, George II, Philip returned to Britain in September to resume training for the Royal Navy.


  • Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    1939
    Stan Lee

    Working at Timely Comics

    Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    1939

    With the help of his uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division of pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman's company. Timely, by the 1960s, would evolve into Marvel Comics.


  • Bitche, France
    Tuesday Sep 12, 1939
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle attacked at Bitche

    Bitche, France
    Tuesday Sep 12, 1939

    On 12 September 1939, he attacked at Bitche, simultaneously with the Saar Offensive.


  • United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939
    Edward VIII

    Back to the United Kingdom

    United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939

    On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly, and Edward, although an honorary field marshal, was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France.


  • Scotland, United Kingdom
    1939
    Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

    Outbreak of World War II in the Balmoral Castle estate

    Scotland, United Kingdom
    1939

    At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939, enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze.


  • Russia (U.S.S.R.)
    Sep, 1939
    World War II

    Ceasefire with Japan

    Russia (U.S.S.R.)
    Sep, 1939

    Soviets signed ceasefire with Japan.


  • Eastern Poland
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939
    Adolf Hitler

    Soviets invaded eastern Poland

    Eastern Poland
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939

    On 17 September, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland.


  • Poland
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939
    World War II

    Soviets invaded Poland

    Poland
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939

    Soviets invaded Poland from the east. The military operations lasted from 17 September to 6 October. Parting Poland to two divisions, division is ruled by Nazi Germany and the other by the Soviets.


  • Changsha, China
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939
    World War II

    First Battle of Changsha

    Changsha, China
    Sunday Sep 17, 1939

    Japan launched its first attack against Changsha, a strategically important Chinese city, but was repulsed by late September.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Sep 21, 1939
    World War II

    Cash and Carry

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Sep 21, 1939

    In November 1939, the United States was taking measures to assist China and the Western Allies, and amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. Cash and carry was a policy by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced at a joint session of the United States Congress on September 21, 1939, subsequent to the outbreak of war in Europe. It replaced the Neutrality Acts of 1937, by which belligerents could purchase only nonmilitary goods from the United States as long as the recipients paid immediately in cash and assumed all risk in transportation using their own ships.


  • Germany
    Thursday Sep 21, 1939
    The Holocaust

    Letter from Reinhard Heydrich to the Einsatzgruppen

    Germany
    Thursday Sep 21, 1939

    According to a letter dated 21 September 1939 from SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA or Reich Security Head Office), to the Einsatzgruppen, each ghetto had to be run by a Judenrat, or "Jewish Council of Elders", to consist of 24 male Jews with local influence.


  • Balmoral Castle, Balmoral Estates, Ballater, United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939
    Queen Elizabeth II

    Elizabeth and Margaret should be evacuated to Canada

    Balmoral Castle, Balmoral Estates, Ballater, United Kingdom
    Sep, 1939

    In September 1939, Britain entered the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret should be evacuated to Canada to avoid the frequent aerial bombing. This was rejected by their mother. The princesses stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, until Christmas.


  • Moscow, Russia
    Sep, 1939
    World War II

    Mutual assistance pacts

    Moscow, Russia
    Sep, 1939

    The Soviet Union forced the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the states that were in the Soviet "sphere of influence" under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact—to sign "mutual assistance pacts" that stipulated stationing Soviet troops in these countries.


  • U.K
    Friday Sep 29, 1939
    Operation Mincemeat

    The deception paper used by the British

    U.K
    Friday Sep 29, 1939

    On 29 September 1939, soon after the start of the Second World War, Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence, circulated the Trout memo, a paper that compared the deception of an enemy in wartime to fly fishing.


  • Kraków, Poland
    Oct, 1939
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    Arriving in Kraków

    Kraków, Poland
    Oct, 1939

    Schindler first arrived in Kraków in October 1939, on Abwehr business, and took an apartment the following month. Emilie maintained the apartment in Ostrava and visited Oskar in Kraków at least once a week. In November 1939, he contacted interior decorator Mila Pfefferberg to decorate his new apartment. Her son, Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg, soon became one of his contacts for black-market trading. They eventually became lifelong friends.


  • Kock, Poland
    Monday Oct 2, 1939
    World War II

    Battle of Kock

    Kock, Poland
    Monday Oct 2, 1939

    The Battle of Kock was the final battle in the invasion of Poland by the German at the beginning of World War II in Europe. It took place between 2–5 October 1939, near the town of Kock, in Poland.


  • France
    Oct, 1939
    Charles de Gaulle

    Reynaud asked for a staff posting under De Gaulle

    France
    Oct, 1939

    At the start of October 1939 Reynaud asked for a staff posting under de Gaulle, but in the event remained at his post as Minister of Finance.


  • Germany
    Friday Oct 6, 1939
    World War II

    Public peace overture

    Germany
    Friday Oct 6, 1939

    On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected, and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which would be postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather.


  • Germany
    Oct, 1939
    The Holocaust

    Hitler signed a "euthanasia decree"

    Germany
    Oct, 1939

    In October 1939 Hitler signed a "euthanasia decree" backdated to 1 September 1939 that authorized Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, the chief of Hitler's Chancellery, and Karl Brandt, Hitler's personal physician, to carry out a program of involuntary euthanasia. After the war this program came to be known as Aktion T4, named after Tiergartenstraße 4, the address of a villa in the Berlin borough of Tiergarten, where the various organizations involved were headquartered.


  • Geneva, Switzerland
    1939
    United Nations

    Empty headquarters

    Geneva, Switzerland
    1939

    When war broke out in 1939, the League closed down and its headquarters in Geneva remained empty throughout the war.


  • U.S.
    Tuesday Oct 31, 1939
    Thanksgiving

    Last Thursday in November

    U.S.
    Tuesday Oct 31, 1939

    On October 31, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a presidential proclamation changing the holiday to the next to last Thursday in November, for business reasons.


  • Kraków, Poland
    Nov, 1939
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    Meeting Itzhak Stern

    Kraków, Poland
    Nov, 1939

    Also that November, Schindler was introduced to Itzhak Stern, an accountant for Schindler's fellow Abwehr agent Josef "Sepp" Aue, who had taken over Stern's formerly Jewish-owned place of employment as a Treuhander.Property belonging to Polish Jews, including their possessions, places of business, and homes were seized by the Germans beginning immediately after the invasion, and Jewish citizens were stripped of their civil rights.


  • Kraków, Poland
    Nov, 1939
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    Business Consultant

    Kraków, Poland
    Nov, 1939

    Schindler showed Stern the balance sheet of a company he was thinking of acquiring, an enamelware factory called Rekord Ltd owned by a consortium of Jewish businessmen that had filed for bankruptcy earlier that year. Stern advised him that rather than running the company as a trusteeship under the auspices of the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (Main Trustee Office for the East), he should buy or lease the business, as that would give him more freedom from the dictates of the Nazis, including the freedom to hire more Jews.


  • Kraków, Poland
    Monday Nov 13, 1939
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    German Enamelware Factory DEF

    Kraków, Poland
    Monday Nov 13, 1939

    With the financial backing of several Jewish investors, including one of the owners, Abraham Bankier, Schindler signed an informal lease agreement on the factory on 13 November 1939 and formalized the arrangement on 15 January 1940. He renamed it Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (German Enamelware Factory) or DEF, and it soon became known by the nickname "Emalia". He initially acquired a staff of seven Jewish workers (including Abraham Bankier, who helped him manage the company) and 250 non-Jewish Poles.


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