January 22

January 22

January 22, 1729

Gotthold Ephriam Lessing born in Kamenz, Germany. Lessing was the dominant literary figure of the early 18th century in Germany. He was a dramatist, aesthetic philosopher and critic. Significant works by Lessing include, Laokoon: oder über die Grenzen der Malerei und Poesie (1766), Minna von Barnhelm (1767), Elilia Galotti (1772) and Nathan der Weise (1779).

January 22, 1758

Königsberg is occupied by Russia. Prussia had lost the battle at Groß Jägersdorf against Russia. As a result the Prussian city of Königsberg was occupied by Russia from 1758-1762. (It was taken by Russia again at the end of World War II and remains a Russian city with the name of Kaliningrad.)

January 22, 1761

Birth of Georg Nissen in Haderslev, Denmark. A Danish diplomat, Nissen, lived in Vienna, where he met and married the widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Konstanze. In cooperation with her he wrote the first biography of Mozart. In 1820 he and his wife moved to Salzburg where he lived until his death in 1826.

January 22, 1840

Death of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in Göttingen, Germany. Blumenbach, a comparative anatomist, is the "father of physical anthropology". He was a professor at the University of Göttingen. It was he who created the classification of "Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, and American." He is the author of Collectionis suae Craniorum Diversarum Gentium Illustrateae Decades (1790-1828).

January 22, 1877

Birth of Hjalmar Schlacht in Tinglev, Germany. A banker, Schlacht, was a key figure in German financial matters from the beginning of the century through World War I and the Weimar Republic into the National Socialist period. Schlacht had been the director of the Dresdner Bank from 1908. In 1916 he was named the director of the German National Bank. In 1923 he was currency commissioner in the finance ministry. In that position he headed a rigorous program to stop the inflation and stabilize the mark. Also in 1923 he was appointed head of the Reichsbank. From 1934 to 1937 he was the Minister of Economics.

January 22, 1911

Birth of Bruno Kreizky in Vienna, Austria. He was arrested by the Gestapo for a combination of his political affiliations and Jewish birth. After having been arrested and imprisoned he fled to Sweden in 1938. In 1970 he was elected Chancellor of Austria. He remained in that office until his resignation in 1983.

January 22, 1945

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn was born on January 22, 1945 in Skalsko in the Czech Republic. (His family was among the Sudeten Germans driven out of their homeland at the end of World War II.) In 1968 he joined the Dominican Order. He studied in Vienna and Paris. He was ordained a priest in 1970. He was became the archbishop of Vienna in 1995. He was made a cardinal in 1998 by Pope John Paul II. He was one of the leaders in the preparation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church .

Kardinal Christoph Schönborn wurde am 22. Januar 1945 in Skalsken, CZ geboren. Nach der Vertreibung der Familie 1945 aus dem Sudetenland lebte er in Österreich und Deutschland. 1968 trat er den Dominikanerorden in Warburg (Westfalen) ein. 1970 wurde er zum Priester geweiht. 1995 wurde er der Erzbischof von Wien. Seit 1998 ist er Kardinal. Er leistete wichtige Mitarbeit als Sekretär des Redaktionskomitees des Katechismus der katholischen Kirche (1993).

January 22, 1945

Death of Else Lasker-Schüler in Elberfeld, Germany. Laske-Schüler was a writer in Berlin until the rise of the Nazis. In 1933 she fled to Switzerland. In 1940 she moved to Jerusalem. Among her works are Styx (1902), Meine Wunder (1911), Hebräische Balladen (1913), and Der Wunderrabbiner von Barcelona (1921).