July 24

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

July 24, 1683

The first German settlers leave for the U. S. on board the Concord.

July 24, 1864

Birth of Frank Wedekind in Hannover, Germany. Wedekind was dramatist in the transition period between Realism and Expressionism with a foretaste of the Theater of the Absurd. Noted dramas by Wedekind include Frühlings Erwachen, Erdgeist, and Die Büchse der Pandora. His Lulu dramas inspired Alban Berg's opera, Lulu.

July 24, 1880

Birth of Ernest Bloch in Geneva, Switzerland. The musician immigrated to America. He is noted for post romantic traditions and Jewish cultural and liturgical themes.

July 24, 1896

Birth of Hermann Kasack in Potsdam, Germany.

July 24, 1943 

The beginning of “Operation Gomorrha”.  The bombing of Hamburg, with an attempt to destroy the city, consisted of 5 consecutive nights of bombing by the Royal Air Force and two days of daytime bombing by the U. S. Air Force.  The bombing created a firestorm by the second day. An estimated 34, 000 citizens of Hamburg were killed. 

July 24, 1944 

The beginning of  “Operation Cobra” in which the Allies of WWII began to break out of their positions at Normandy.

July 24, 1953 

Walter Ulbricht becomes the first General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany.  (The Socialist Unity Party was the Communist party of East Germany.)

July 24, 2003

Death of the German writer, Heinz Knobloch.

 

July 24, 2008

Presidential candidate, Obama, visits Berlin.  200,00 come to his address in which he calls for solutions to the great problems of the world.