Category Archives: 1940s

23 Nazi doctors go on trial in Nuremberg 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 9 1946)


Video: 'Defendants plead not guilty at the Doctors' Trial of War Criminals before the US ...HD Stock Footage'

(Monday, December 9, 1946) — The “subsequent Nuremberg trials” began today with the “Doctors’ trial,” prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia. Continue reading 23 Nazi doctors go on trial in Nuremberg 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 9 1946)

119 killed in deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 7 1946)


Video: 'Winecoff Hotel Fire'

(Saturday, December 7, 1946, 3:15 a.m. local time) — The 15-story Winecoff Hotel on Peachtree Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta was destroyed early this morning killing 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff, in the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history. Continue reading 119 killed in deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 7 1946)

French cruiser opens fire on Haiphong, Vietnam, killing thousands of civilians 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Nov 23 1946)


Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (Nov. 23 1946, at 32:27)

(Saturday, November 23, 1946, 9:45 a.m. ICT; during the Haiphong incident) — The French cruiser Suffren bombarded the Vietnamese coastal city of Haiphong today, killing 6,000 Vietnamese people in the first armed clash in a series of outbreaks that would lead to the Battle of Hanoi on Dec. 19, 1946, and with it the official outbreak of the First Indochina War.

‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ premieres in New York City 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Nov 21 1946)


Video: 'The Best Years of Our Lives' trailer

(Thursday, November 21, 1946, 8:30 p.m. EST)The Best Years of Our Lives, an American drama film about three returning servicemen who fight to adjust to life after World War II, premiered tonight at the Astor theater in New York City.

Directed by William Wyler, the film starred Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold Russell.

Kennedy, Nixon elected to House as GOP captures Congress in midterm elections 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Nov 5 1946)


Image: 'JFK & Nixon (Back Row on Right)'

(Tuesday, November 5, 1946; during the United States elections, 1946) — Future presidents Democratic John F. Kennedy, 29, and Republican Richard Nixon, 33, first won election to Congress today as Republicans captured control of both the Senate and the House in midterm elections.

Ten former high Nazi officials executed in Nuremberg 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 16 1946)


Video: 'Post-Nuremburg Executions and Hermann Goering's Suicide (1946)'

(Wednesday, October 16, 1946, 1:16-2:45 a.m. CET; during the Nuremberg trials) — One by one, ten remaining Nazi war criminals on death row were hanged this morning in a gymnasium in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice premises. Continue reading Ten former high Nazi officials executed in Nuremberg 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 16 1946)

Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering commits suicide hours before scheduled execution 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 15 1946)


Video: 'Nazi Documentary | Hitler's second man [Chapter 3/3]' (Oct. 15, 1946, at 44:02)

(Tuesday, October 15, 1946, 10:45 p.m. CET; during the Nuremberg trials) — Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, the second-most powerful man in Hitler’s Germany, committed suicide with a potassium cyanide capsule tonight in his prison cell in Nuremberg, just hours before he and ten other former high Nazi officials were to have been executed. Continue reading Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering commits suicide hours before scheduled execution 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 15 1946)

12 Nazi leaders sentenced to be hanged 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 1 1946)


Video: 'Nuremberg trials' (21 videos of Oct. 1 1946)

(Tuesday, October 1, 1946, afternoon CEST; during the Nuremberg trials) — twelve of the original twenty-four defendants indicted in the Nuremberg war crimes trials were sentenced to death today in Nuremberg, Germany. Continue reading 12 Nazi leaders sentenced to be hanged 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 1 1946)

Nuremberg judgment: Nazi Germany guilty of ruthless war 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 30 1946)


Video: 'Nuremberg trials' (14 videos of Sep. 30 1946)

(Monday, September 30, 1946, 10:00 a.m.-4:22 p.m. CEST; during the Nuremberg trials) — Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and sixteen other arch-conspirators of the Nazi regime were found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal today in Nuremberg, Germany, and it was virtually certain that all or most of them would hang or be shot.

Sentences will be announced tomorrow.