May 7

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

May 7, 973

Death of the Emperor Otto I in Memleben, Germany. Otto became the German king in 936 and the Holy Roman Emperor in 962. He brought order to the empire, which was greatly fragmented, strengthened the position of the church, and made possible a period of prosperity and development of culture referred to as the "Ottonian renaissance".

May 7, 1523

Death of Franz von Sickingen in Ebernburg, Germany. A character in Goethe's play, Götz von Berlichingen, the historic Sickingen was a defender of the Protestant cause in Germany. His end came when he declared war on Richard of Greiffenclau, the archbishop of Trier and was defeated. After that defeat he gradually lost support and gradually all of his holdings.

May 7, 1824

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony was publicly performed for the first time.

May 7, 1825

Death of the composer Antonio Salieri in Vienna, Austria. Salieri was brought to the imperial court in Vienna at age 16. He was a friend of Joseph Hayden and Ludwig van Beethoven. There is little historic evidence of the antagonism between him and Mozart as portrayed in the film, Amadeus .

May 7, 1833

Birth of the composer, Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg, Germany

May 7, 1855

Birth of Oskar Miller in Munich, Germany. Miller, an electrical engineer founded the Deutsches Museum of science and technology in Munich. He also founded AEG corporation. (Now a part of the Daimler-Benz group).

May 7 1887

Death of Carl Ferdinand Walther in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. (born in Langenschursdorf, Germany). Walter was a highly conservative Protestant theologian. In 1839 he immigrated to Missouri, U. S. A. There, he founded the Missouri Synod of Lutheranism. He had gained his education at the University of Leipzig

May 7, 1908

Birth of Max Grundig in Nürnberg. Max Grunding was the industrialist who founded the Grunding electronics company.

May 7, 1915

The British luxury liner, Lusitania, is sunk by a German submarine. 1198 die. Of the dead 124 are Americans and public feeling in the U. S. against Germany rises considerably.

May 7, 1919 The German delegation is summoned to the Trianon Palace at Versailles to learn the terms of the treaty prepared by the representatives of the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan which over 3 1/2 months have worked out the details. There was to be occupation of the Rhineland for a minimum of 15 years. The Rhineland was to be permanently demilitarized, Alsace-Lorraine was to be given to France, Parts of far eastern Germany were to be given to Poland, Danzig was to be a free state, all Germany's colonies were to be forfeited. Germany was to accept full responsibility for the war. There were to be trials for war crimes. The German army was to be limited to 100,000 soldiers. The production of military planes was forbidden and there would be no air force. There were to be large reparations in money and goods. The German representatives who had been called to Versailles refused to sign reminding the allies of the agreement to an armistice based on the 14 points of Wilson. From Berlin Chancellor Scheidemann denounced the treaty. However the allies had maintained the naval blockade of Germany and it was soon clear that the only alternative to signing the treaty was starvation. (There are protests on June 21 and Germany signs under protest on June 28.)