History events
1389 — (22th of Nissan, 5149) A priest of Prague, hit with a few grains of sand by small Jewish boys playing in the street, insists that the Jewish community purposely plotted against him. Thousands were slaughtered, the synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed, and homes were pillaged. King Wenceslaus insisted that the responsibility rested with the Jews for venturing outside during Holy Week
1905 — (13 Nisan 5665). Pogrom in Melitopol lasted two days and was stopped by a self‑defence group of Jewish and Russian youth. Having been repelled, the pogrom‑makers began looting shops and stores owned by Christians
1926 — (4st of Iyar, 5686) “The completion of the first stage in the development of Palestine as the Jewish homeland was announced” today “by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the Chairman of the United Palestine Appeal following the receipt of a cablegram from Dr. Chaim Weizmann” which said that “immigration figures just compiled show that 100,000 new Jewish settlers entered Palestine from 1919 to 1925.”
1928 — (28 Nisan 5688). The satirical theatre Mata’e (The Broom), which operated until August 9, 1952, was founded.
1938 — (17 Nisan 5698) The newspaper The Palestine Post reported that 16 Arab militants were killed and dozens wounded in a battle between the British army and Arabs in the so-called «terror triangle» — the area between Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin. The battle lasted more than 6 hours. On the British side, one soldier was wounded; four Jews were killed as a result of Arabs firing on a taxi traveling from Hanita to Nahariya; a bomb was thrown into an Arab café in Haifa, killing one person and wounding eight
1942 — (1 Iyar 5702) Shoah. Fifty‑two people were killed in the Warsaw Ghetto. The event is known as the “Night of Blood”
1942 — (1st of Iyar, 5702) The death camp at Sobibor went into operation. To mark the opening 2,500 Jews from Zamosc were transported there and sent to their deaths. Only one was chosen to work and lived
1942 — (1 Iyar 5702) Shoah. In Brailov (Vinnytsia Oblast), 180 Jews were shot; probably at the same time, in Mezhirov near Brailov, 279 Jews were killed. Employable Jews from Mankivka (Cherkasy Oblast) were sent to a labour camp in Buky
1945 — (5st of Iyar, 5705) A list of 801 Jews, that came to be known as “Schindler’s List” was typed today. The people whose names were listed on the 13 page document were spared from a trip to the gas chamber. In 2009, employees at the New South Wales State Library found the list in boxes containing German news clippings and manuscripts by the Australian author Thomas Keneally, who wrote the bestselling novel “Schindler’s Ark,” which was the basis of the famous film about Oskar Schindler and his efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust
1948 — (9th of Nissan, 5708) Following a failed attempt by the Arab Liberation Army to isolate the Jewish community in the lower quarter of the town of Tiberius, the Haganah went on the offensive and secured the town for the as yet un-born Jewish state
1954 — (15 Nisan 5714) Colonel Nasser seized power in Egypt.
2002 — (6 Iyar 5762) Statistics of Israeli casualties since September 29, 2000: 466 killed, of whom 152 were soldiers; 3 827 wounded, of whom 1 130 were soldiers.
2016 — (10 Nisan 5776) Terrorist attack. A bus explosion in Jerusalem injured 21 people. On social media, under the hashtag #BusRoofFlying (or similar), Arabs shared joyful comments about the attack and called for new assaults. Many comments mentioned the need for the “continuity of the uprising” that had begun in autumn 2015, known as the El‑Quds Intifada
People
1165 — (4 Iyar, 4925) Maimon ben Maimon and his family leave Fez for Eretz Israel
1577 — (1st of Iyar, 5337) Rabbi Nathan Shapiro of Horadno, author of Mevo Shearim passed away
1772 — (15 Nisan 5532) David Ricardo, economist and classical political economist, was born in London. He died on September 11, 1823.
1845 — (11 Nisan 5605) Simon von Lemel, Austrian industrialist and public figure, died at the age of 79
1881 — (19th of Nissan, 5641) Earl of Beaconsfield, English premier, died
1882 — Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, physicist and inventor of the transistor (1928), was born in Lviv. He died on August 28, 1963
1902 — (11th of Nissan, 5662) Birthdate of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as “the Rebbe” who was the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe
1915 — (4 Iyar 5675) Helena Joyce Davidman, American poet, writer, and film critic, was born. She joined the Communist Party of the USA in 1938 and was baptised in 1948. She died on June 13, 1960.
1930 — (30 Nisan 5690) N. Eidelman, writer, historian, and literary critic, was born. He died on November 29, 1989.
1935 — Paul Rothschild, American music producer, was born. He died on March 30, 1995.
1940 — (10 Nisan 5700) Joseph Leonard Goldstein, American geneticist and Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine (1985), was born
1947 — (5th of Iyar, 5707) Boxer Benny Leonard passed away at the age of 51. Born in 1896, Leonard was the lightweight boxing champion from 1917 to 1925. This was the heyday of Jewish pugilism with as many as seven Jews holding the championship of different weight categories
1948 — (9 Nisan 5708) Baruch Mizrahi, an Irgun (Etzel) fighter and participant in the first stage of the War of Independence, was executed by Arabs from the Qawuqji Army.
1953 — (3 Iyar 5713) Sarah Adler, American Yiddish theatre actress, died at the age of 95
1955 — (26th of Nisan, 5715) Albert Einstein passed away