May 5

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

May 5, 1352

Birth of Rupert in Amberg, Germany, an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

May 5, 1525

Death of Friederich III (the Wise), Elector of Saxony in Lochau, Germany. Friederich served as the protector of Martin Luther after the imperial ban of 1521. He housed Luther at the castle named the "Wartburg" where Luther translated the Bible. Friedrich was a patron of Albrecht Dürer, and Luchas Cranach the Elder. He founded the University of Wittenberg in 1502.

May 5, 1747

Birth of Leopold II in Vienna, an Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

May 5, 1818

Birth of Karl Marx in Trier, Germany.

May 5, 1833

Birth of August Fick in Petershagen, Germany. This linguist was a pioneer in Indo-European language studies. He made the first comprehensive study of the common vocabulary of Indo-European languages.

May 5, 1953

In honor of the 135th birthday of Karl Marx the East German city of Chemnitz was changed to Karl Marx City.

May 5, 1955

West Germany is granted sovereignty by the United States, Great Britain and France.

May 5, 1859

Death of Peter Dirichlet in Düren, Germany. Düren was a mathematician who was active at the universities of Breslau, Berlin and Göttingen. He was a significant contributor to number theory. He developed the "Dirichlet problem" in the area of harmonic functions.

May 5, 1977

Death of Ludwig Erhard in Fürth, Germany. Erhard, the "Father of the Economic Miracle", was active in German economic redevelopment beginning as early as 1945. In 1949 he became the minister of economics during the chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer. In that position he developed his vision of the "social market economy". Erhard became the chancellor of West Germany in 1963.

May 5, 1996

Voters turn down a proposed merger of Berlin and Brandenburg.