October 18

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

October 18, 1748

The Treaty of Aachen ends the War of Austrian Succession.

October 18, 1777

Birth of Heinrich von Kleist in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany. Kleist was one of the outstanding writers of the 19th century. He read deeply of Kant and found many emotional conflicts in his attempts to realize Kant's ideals. One sees much of these conflicts in Kleist's writings. Among Kleist's works are, Robert Guiskard, Amphitryon, Der zerbrochene Krug, Das Kätchen von Heilbronn, Michael Kohlhaas, and Prinz Friedrich von Homburg. Kleist committed suicide in Berlin on the banks of the Wannsee in 1811.

October 18, 1799

Birth of Christian Friedrich Schönbein in Metzingen, Germany. A chemist, Metzingen discovered and gave the name to ozone and discovered nitrocellulose (guncotton). He was a professor of chemistry at the University of Basel.

October 18, 1900

Lotte Lenya (Karoline Blamauer) born in Penzig, Austria. After an early career on stage as an actress/dancer she married the writer, Kurt Weill in 1926. In 1927 she appeared in the Marxist oriented work Mahagonny which Weill had produced with Bert Brecht. In 1928 she played in Die Dreigroschenoper. In 1933 she and Weill fled before the Nazis to France and then to New York. As Weill continued his musical career she developed a reputation on stage both before and after Weill's death in 1950. Lenya also appeared in a number of films. She died in 1981 in New York.

October 18, 1902

Birth of the physicist, Ernst Pascual Jordan in Hannover, Germany. Jordan was a professor of physics at the Universities of Rostock, Berlin, and Hamburg. He was one of the early contributors to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.

October 18, 1941

Start of the mass deportations of Jews to concentration camps.

October 18, 1945

The first of the WWII war crimes trials held in Berlin.

October 18, 1977

The Lufthansa plane which had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists on October 13 is taken by commandos and the passengers are freed.

October 18, 1977

The convicted terrorist, Andreas Bader, is found shot in a prison Cell. He had been one of the leaders of the Bader-Meinhoff terrorist group.

October 18, 1989

Erich Honecker removed from power in East Germany. Egon Krenz assumes power in East Germany.