December 15

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

December 15, 1878

Birth of Hans Carrosa in Tölz, Germany. Carrossa was a physician who wrote successful novels and poetry. He was a great admirer of Goethe. Among his works are Dr. Bürgers Ende (1913), Der Arzt Gion (1931) and Führung und Geleit (1933).

December 15, 1914

Serbian troops retake Belgrade from Austria in WWI. In the battle 227,000 Austrians and 170,000 Serbians die.

December 15, 1917

A formal truce is signed removing Russia from WWI.

December 15, 1928

Birth of the Austrian artist Friedrich Hundertwasser (original name, Friedrich Stowasser) in Vienna.

December 15, 1958

Death of Nobel Prize winning Physicist, Wolfgang Pauli in Zürich.

December 15, 1961

The trial of the Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, ends in Tel Aviv, Israel. Eichmann had been born in Solingen, Germany. He joined the Nazi Party in 1932. He became a member of the SS (Schutzstaffel) in 1932. During the Nazi years he was in charge of eliminating Jews in Vienna, Prague and Berlin. He was present at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in 1942 when the "final solution" was concretized. He was to coordinate arrangements. At the end of the war Eichmann escaped Germany and lived in Argentina. He was discovered by the Israeli secrete service in 1960. He was then secreted out of Argentina and taken to Israel, tried for crimes against humanity, found guilty and hanged on May 31, 1962 in Tel Aviv.