History events
1529 — (13th of Sivan, 5289) Thirty Jews burned at Bösing, near Presburg
1577 — (5th of Sivan, 5337) Portuguese Marranos were granted permission to settle in Brazil
1671 — (22th of Sivan, 5431) Frederick William the Hohenzollern the Margrave of Brandenburg readmitted the Jews to his domain including the capital at Berlin. Although they were permitted to live and trade where they wished they had to pay a protection tax of 8 Thalers, and a gold florin for every wedding and funeral. In addition, Jews were not allowed to sell their houses to other Jews and were only permitted to have prayer rooms but no Synagogues
1942 — (5th of Sivan, 5702) In Koritz, on the eve of Shavuot, 2,200 Jews were taken to the edge of town and shot into pre-dug pits. The dead included the wife and 13 year old daughter of Moshe Gildenman who was soon to become famous as the partisan “Uncle (Dyadya) Misha”. Gildenman succeeded in escaping with his son, Simcha, and a few others with one pistol and five rounds of ammunition. His groups slowly grew in strength and were eventually absorbed into Saburov’s brigade group. They were always known as Uncle Misha’s Jewish groups. During the war, Gildenman received the Order of the Red Star and finished the war with his son in Berlin. After the war, his son returned to Koretz and upon meeting the Ukrainian who killed his mother and sister — shot him
1943 — (16th of Iyar, 5703) Members of the Jewish community at Drogobych, Ukraine, are exterminated in the Bronica Forest
1948 — (12th of Iyar, 5708) Today, “at dawn the Golani staff reported that the enemy was repelled but that they were expecting another attack. The full report read: ‘Our forces repelled yesterday a heavy attack of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry that lasted about 8 hours. The attack was repelled by the brave stand of our men, who used Molotov cocktails and their hands against the tanks. 3″ mortars and heavy machinery took their toll on the enemy. Field cannons caused a panicked retreat of the enemy, who yesterday left Tzemah. This morning our forces entered Tzemah and took a large amount of booty of French ammunition and light artillery ammunition. We have captured 2 tanks and an armored vehicle of the enemy. The enemy is amassing large reinforcements. We are expecting a renewal of the attack.’”
1948 — (12th of Iyar, 5708) The former American icebreaker USCGC Northland became “the first warship of the Israeli Sea Corps” when it was commissioned as the INS Eilat. The ship would be renamed INS Matspen in 1957 when it began serving as a barracks
1948 — (12th of Iyar, 5708) Egyptian dive-bombers struck at Tel Aviv four times today without, however, causing serious damage” while other “Egyptian planes, flying high on their regular visits throughout the day, dropped clusters of small bombs on the city’s fringe; In the South, Beit Eshel was shelled by the Egyptians and Yad Mordechai was a target for heavy infantry assaults” all of which were repulsed
1949 — (22th of Iyar, 5709) The National Geographic Society USA issued new maps of Europe and the Near East which show “Palestine partitioned into Israel and the Arab states.
1969 — (4th of Sivan, 5279) Israeli planes shot down three Egyptian Mig 21s in the Suez Canal zone during what would become known as the War of Attrition
People
1916 — (18th of Iyar, 5676) Birthdate of novelist Harold Robbins author of a series of bestsellers including Moneychangers, Carpetbaggers and Betsy