September 1

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

September 1, 1692

Birth of Egid Quirin Asam in Tegernsee, Germany. He and his brother, Cosmas Damian, were leading masters of the baroque style of illusionist decoration in the late baroque period.

September 1, 1751

Birth of Emanuel Schikaneder in Straubing, Germany. Schikaneder wrote the text to Mozart's opera, Die Zauberflöte.

September 1, 1776

Death of Ludwig Heinrich Hölty in Mariensee, Germany. The poet, Hölty, was a member of the poet's association, Göttinger Hain. He was strongly influenced by Friedrich Klopstock.

September 1, 1854

Birth of Engelbert Humperdinck in Sieberg, Germany. Among the operas composed by Humperdinck are, Dornröschen, Königskinder, and Hänsel und Gretel.

September 1, 1858

Birth of Carl Freiherr von Welsbach in Vienna, Austria. Welsbach invented the gas mantle, a device which greatly augmented the light output from gas lamps.

September 1, 1939

German troops invade Poland in WWII. (Russian troops would invade Poland from the East on September 17.)

September 1, 1981

Death of Albert Speer in London (born in Mannheim, Germany). Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect and the minister of armaments and war production from 1942-1945. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931. In his role as minister he organized and expanded the use of slave labor in war production. Speer was tried at the Nürnberg war crimes trials and pled guilty. He was imprisoned in Spandau Prison in Berlin until 1946. After his release from prison he wrote Erinnerungen (1969), Spandauer Tagebücher (1975) and Der Sklavenstaat (1981).