March 31

History events
1283 — (2th of Nisan, 5043) Massacre of the Jews of Mayence in Germany
1492 — (3th of Nisan, 5252) Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon issued the Alhambra Decree or Edict of Expulsion, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion
1688 — (10th of Nisan, 5448) The German Jews received permission to participate in the tobacco industry “but only on condition that they would build houses in Christianshavn, a suburb of Copenhagen on the island of Amager
1781 — (4th of Nisan, 5541) Today “the Hungarian government issued a decree known as the Systematica gentis Judaicae regulatio, which wiped out at one stroke the decrees that had oppressed the Jews for centuries. The royal free towns, except the mining-towns, were opened to the Jews, who were allowed to settle at leisure throughout the country. The regulatio decreed that the legal documents of the Jews should no longer be composed in Hebrew, or in Yiddish, but in Latin, German, and Hungarian, the languages used in the country at the time, and which the young Jews were required to learn within two years.”
1871 — (8th of Nisan, 5631) A poem in Hebrew about the Western Wall by Henry Vidaver, who served as a rabbi at Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, B’nai Jeshrun in New York and Sherith Israel in San Francisco, appeared in the newspaper Havatzelet
1894 — (22th of Adar II, 5654) As of today, there are about 4,000 Polish Jews living in Zarephath, Hebron, Tiberias and Jerusalem. They came to Palestine to seek refuge from Russian persecution
1925 — (5th of Nisan, 5685) The town of Afula was founded in the Jezreel Valley.
1935 — (25th of Adar II, 5695) The Italian liner Roma arrived in Haifa carrying 1,650 passengers, which is believed to the largest number of people ever brought to Palestine on one ship.
1937 — (18th of Nisan, 5697) “The anti-Jewish demonstrations begun before Easter continued” in the Free City of Danzig where “Jewish shops were picketed today
1941 — (2th of Nisan, 5701) After 7,500 Jews arrived from Vienna, a decree was issued to establish a ghetto at Kielce
1942 — (12th of Nisan, 5702) In the western Ukraine, the Gestapo organized the first deportation of 5,000 Jews from Stanislawow ghetto to Belzac death camp.It was one of the biggest transports to Belzec in the first phase of the camp
1944 — (6th of Nisan, 5704) It was announced that every Jew in Hungary would be required to wear a yellow badge as of April 5th
1948 — (19th of Adar II, 5708) as part of Operation Balak, “the airlift to Israel of fighter planes and military supplies” a Skymaster “flew directly from Prague to an airstrip near Be’er Tuivah, landing there today” with equipment immediately used in Operation Nahshon
1952 — (4th of Nisan, 5712) The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had become the ninth nation to ratify the agreement to eliminate trade barriers on the import of educational, scientific or cultural materials, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Forty tons of Jerusalem stone, hewn from the Castel quarry, went into the building of the UN headquarters in New York as Israel’s contribution to the project. The stone was sufficient for 300 sq.m. of flooring. Israel purchased 40,000 tons of wheat from South Africa
1953 — (14th of Nisan, 5713) The number of Israeli unemployed as of this date was 16,350
1979 — (2th of Nisan, 5739) In Jerusalem, Israel, Gali Atari &; Milk and Honey win the twenty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing «Hallelujah
1995 — (22th of Adar II, 5755) Al HaMishmar, a “paper owned by and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine and Mapam” which was first published in 1943 ceased publication today
2014 — (28th of Adar II, 5744) Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted today of receiving bribes to facilitate the construction of the Holyland housing project in Jerusalem a decade ago

People
1661 — (11th of Nisan, 5421) Spanish-born and Hamburg educated publisher Joseph b Abraham Athias who settled in Amsterdam where he became a printer producing such volumes as “Tikkun Sefer Torah” (Order of the Book of the Law” “was taken into the Printers’ Guild today
1905 — (23th of Adar II, 5665) Dorothy Levitt, the first English woman ever to compete in a motor race drove from the Adelpi Hotel in Liverpool to Coventry and then on to the De-Dion showroom in Great Marlborough Street in London, retracing the 205-mile trip she had made the day before
1923 — (13th of Nisan, 5683) Birthdate of Shoshana Damari
1935 — (25th of Adar II, 5695) Hebrew novelist Samuel I. Agnon was awarded the Bialik Prize in Hebrew Literature. The Bialik Prize was established in memory of the dean of Hebrew literature, Chaim Nachman Bialik and is considered the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize
1945 — Mother Maria of Paris, a Russian nun who had saved many French Jews by hiding them, was killed by the Nazis
1953 — (14th of Nisan, 5713) Birthdate of Ehud Banai, an Israeli singer and songwriter