Throughout 1933, many unforgettable events made headline news across the world. The year saw many political changes that would pave the way for the Second World War, such as Adolf Hitler rising to power in German and beginning his rule as dictator for a minimum of four years. Gaining an incredibly influential position, the Nazi Party eliminated political opposition to govern a single-party state, and the year marked the start of their persecution of certain members of society opposed to fascism, including Jewish people and communists.
The United States (and the rest of the world) was deep into the Great Depression, and we welcomed a new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to tackle unemployment and the country’s failing economy. In other, more positive news, the first singing telegram was delivered in New York City, and the original King Kong film had its premiere. You can explore original 1933 newspapers for yourself in our archive, and you can discover which events made the front pages on your chosen date.
1933 Timeline
Turn the page to:
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- The Rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany
- Communism, Civil Liberties and Jewish Persecution in Germany
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
January
January 2: At Melbourne Cricket Ground, cricket legend Don Bradman leads Australia to an 111 run victory after scoring an unbeaten 103 during the second ‘Bodyline’ Test.
January 2: Troops from the United States leave Nicaragua.
January 3: Minnie D. Craig becomes the first female to hold a speaking position in the United States when she is elected to be the Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives.
January 5: In San Francisco, construction takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge
January 5: In New York, the premiere for the film Cavalcade takes place. The film is directed by Frank Lloyd, stars Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard and is based on the play written by Noël Coward. The film would go on to win the Best Production Award in 1934.
January 5: The 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, passes away at the age of 60.
January 6: Clyde Barrow (Bonnie and Clyde) walks into a trap laid out for another criminal and ends up killing Tarrant County Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis.
January 7: In the Netherlands, the first edition of People and Fatherland is published.
January 9: Against wage reduction in Amsterdam, confectionery workers go on strike.
January 11: Between Australia and New Zealand, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith begins the first commercial flight.
January 12: The independence of the Philippines is recognized by the United States Congress.
January 12: In Spain, the uprising of the Guardia Civil results in the deaths of 25 people.
January 15: Almost 100 people lose their lives in Spain when political violence breaks out.
January 16: In cricket, and during the third test match in Adelaide, English bowler Harold Larwood fractures the skull of Australian batsman Bert Oldfield.
January 16: American author and film director, Susan Sontag, is born in New York City.
January 17: In cricket, Don Bradman, the Australian batting champion, takes just his second test wicket and bowls English player Walter Hammond for 85 during the 3rd test in Adelaide. The English team are defeated by 338 runs.
January 17: Going against the wishes of current President Herbert Hoover, the United States Congress votes in favor of Philippine independence.
January 18: In New Mexico, the White Sands National Monument is established.
January 18: American inventor and sound expert, Ray Dolby, is born in Portland, Oregon. Dolby was the inventor of the Dolby noise limiting system.
January 20: In Prague, Czechoslovakia, the erotic romance film starring Hedy Lamarr, Ecstacy, has its premiere. The film causes a sensation and Lamarr was just 18 years old at the time.
January 23: In the United States, the 20th amendment is ratified. This amendment to the United States Constitution changed the date of presidential inaugurations to January 20th, starting in 1937.
January 24: In New York City, the play Design for Living by Noël Coward has its premiere.
January 25: The 11th President of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino, is born in Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines.
January 27: Sir Horace Rumbold, the British ambassador, dines with the Head of the German President’s Office, Otto Meisnner.
January 28: In France, the government of Paul Boncour falls.
January 28: In Germany, the government of Von Schleicher falls.
January 28: Choudhry Rahmat Ali coins the name “Pakistan,” and the name begins to be pushed and accepted by Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, in order to create a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia. Ali publishes a pamphlet Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever? which sparked the Pakistan Movement.
January 30: German President and World War One General, Paul von Hindenburg, gives Adolf Hitler the role of Reich Chancellor of Germany. Hitler then goes on to form a government with Franz von Papen, the Vice Chancellor.
January 30: The Lone Ranger, a popular radio drama, runs on ABC Radio. The show would continue to run on the station for 21 years.
January 30: In Melbourne, the Australian Tennis Championships take place. Coral McInnes Buttsworth is defeated by Joan Hartigan Bathurst to win Bathurst the women’s title, and Jack Crawford wins his 3rd consecutive men’s title when he defeats Keith Gledhill.
January 30: Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, German President and World War One General, hears from his former colleague General Erich Ludendorff. Ludendorff’s letter stated “this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation inconceivable misery.”
January 31: Following the fall of Paul Boncour’s government, the government of Édouard Daladier takes power in France.
January 31: Adolf Hitler promises to offer parliamentary democracy.
1933 was a very significant year in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power
Image: Wikimedia Commons
February
February 1: The membership of non-Catholic unions is forbidden by Dutch bishops.
February 1: After the request of new German chancellor, Adolf Hitler, President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the German Parliament. On the same day, Hitler gives an address to the people of Berlin, known as his Proclamation to the German People.
February 2: In Germany, communist meetings and demonstrations are banned by Nazi politician Hermann Göring.
February 2: Without results, the second international conference on disarmament comes to an end. The conference attempts to reduce the size of armies for the major powers, while Germany is allowed 200,000 men. Germany leaves the conference due to the plan postponing its limitations for 4 years.
February 3: In Germany, a secret speech is given to military leaders by Adolf Hitler, stating that he aims to rearm Germany against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles issues after the First World War. He also announces his plan to adopt a policy of “Lebensraum” in eastern Europe. It would become an ideological principle of the Nazi Party and would provide a reason for German territorial expansion into central and Eastern Europe.
February 3: In Washington D.C., the first interstate legislative conference begins for the United States.
February 3: In Germany, the social-democratic newspaper called Vorwarts is banned by Hermann Göring, German Minister.
February 3: Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe leaves to travel to Berlin.
February 4: In Germany, the freedom of the press is limited by President Paul von Hindenburg.
February 5: The crew onboard the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën ship break out in mutiny following pay cuts.
February 6: USS Ramapo, the Patoka-class replenishment oiler, recorded the highest-ever sea wave of the time, measuring 34m high during the North Pacific hurricane. This record measurement excludes tsunamis.
February 6: In the United States, the 20th Amendment goes into effect. The Constitution states “The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.”
February 7: In Suriname, two demonstrators are killed by colonial troops.
February 8: The first flight of an all-metal Boeing 247 takes place.
February 9: In the King and Country debate within the Oxford Union, the student debating society passes a resolution which states “That this house will in no circumstances fight for its King and country.”
February 10: In New York City, the first singing telegram is delivered by the New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company.
February 10: The Dutch De Zeven Provinciën ship is bombed by a Dutch seaplane amidst the mutiny that broke out a few days prior.
February 10: In Germany, the end of Marxism is promised by new chancellor Adolf Hitler.
February 10: Beginning on February 5, the mutiny that broke out on the De Zeven Provinciën ship comes to an end, resulting in the deaths of 23 people. The remaining people involved in the mutiny surrender.
February 12: In Germany, Catholic aid for Nazis is demanded by Franz von Papen, Vice-Chancellor.
February 15: The German communist party’s invincible force is praised by Karl Radek, Marxist active.
February 15: In the United States, the President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt. However, Anton Cermak, Chicago Mayor, ends up mortally wounded and would pass away from his injuries on March 6.
February 16: In Germany, the magazine Germania (a Catholic newspaper), issues a warning against both Communists and Nazis.
February 17: In the United States, the news magazine Newsweek publishes its first issue.
February 17: In the United States, the Blaine Act is accepted by the Senate, which submits the proposed 21st Amendment that would bring prohibition to an end. It would officially come to an end on November 5.
February 18: Japanese artist, poet, singer and second wife of the Beatles member John Lennon, Yoko Ono, is born in Tokyo, Japan.
February 19: Hermann Göring, German Minister, implements a ban on all Catholic newspapers.
February 20: In the United States, the congressional action to repeal the prohibition law is completed by the US House of Representatives.
February 20: In New York City, Alien Corn, the play by Sidney Howard, has its premiere.
February 21: American jazz singer, pianist, songwriter and civil rights activist, Nina Simone, is born in Tyron, North Carolina.
February 22: At Daytona Beach, Florida, the world land speed record of 272.46 mph is set by Malcolm Campbell, while driving his famous Blue Bird car.
February 24: In Berlin, Germany, the final demonstration by the German Communist Party takes place.
February 24: In one 1933 WW2 events, the Japanese are told by the League of Nations to retreat from Manchuria.
February 25: In the United States, the first genuine aircraft carrier is named (USS Ranger).
February 25: In the United States, a major NFL rule change takes place, with players now allowed to throw the ball anywhere behind the line.
February 25: The Boston Red Sox baseball team is purchased by Thomas Yawkey, an American industrialist and Major League Baseball executive.
February 26: At Crissy Field, San Francisco, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Golden Gate Bridge takes place.
February 26: Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe is kept in a cell overnight.
February 27: In Germany, the German parliament building, the Reichstag, is destroyed by a fire. It is suspected that the fire was started by the Nazis, who in turn blame, trial, and later execute Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe.
February 27: In Paris, Intermezzo, the play by Jean Genet, has its premiere.
February 28: In the United States, the first female is appointed in the Cabinet when Frances Perkins becomes the Secretary of Labor.
February 28: Thanks to controversial “bodyline” tactics in cricket, the England team wins the Ashes in Australia.
February 28: In Germany, following the Reichstag fire, President Paul von Hindenburg signs the Reichstag Fire Decree. This was on the advice of Adolf Hitler, and removes many of Germany’s civil liberties. On the same day, the German Communist Party (KPD) is outlawed, although not banned formally, since the government in Germany blames communists for the fire.
February 28: Carl von Ossietzky, a pacifist and anti-fascist writer, is sent to Esterwegen-Papenburg concentration camp after being arrested.
March
March 1: In the United States, bank holidays are declared in six states, in order to prevent run on banks.
March 2: In New York City, the original film King Kong, starring Fay Wray and directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, has its premiere.
March 2: At the age of 73, Thomas J. Walsh, United States Senator for Montana, passes away after a heart attack.
March 3: In Germany, Earnest Thalmann, the presidential candidate for the German Communist Party (KPD) is arrested.
March 3: In Japan, the country experiences the most powerful earthquake in 180 years when the Sanriku earthquake hits and measures 8.4 on the Richter scale. Approximately 3,000 people lose their lives in and around Honshū.
March 3: In Taiwan, the Ching Yun University is formed.
March 3: In South Dakota, Mount Rushmore becomes a dedicated monument.
March 4: In Austria, the parliament is dissolved by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. The parliament becomes suspended after a disagreement over procedure, and Dollfuss enforces authoritarian rule by degree, which is an origin of Austrofascism.
March 4: In New York City, the play Strike Me Pink premieres.
March 4: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States. Since the United States was currently in the midst of the Great Depression, the President famously stated in his inauguration speech that “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” This day marks the start of his “First 100 Days” in office, in which the President attempts to ease the effect of the depression, and his inauguration is the last to occur on March 4.
March 4: In the United States, Francis Perkins becomes the first female member of the United States Cabinet when she becomes United States Secretary of Labor.
March 5: A bank holiday is declared in the United States by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bank holiday freezes all financial transitions and closes all banks until March 13.
March 5: In Germany, the Nazi party wins a majority in parliament, with 43.9% of the votes.
March 6: The play Both Your Houses, written by playwright Maxwell Anderson, has its premiere in New York City.
March 6: The free city of Danzig (Gdańsk) becomes occupied by Poland.
March 9: In Berlin, Germany, Dimitrov, Popov & Vassili, Bulgarian communists, are arrested.
March 9: With a new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in office, the United States Congress was called into a special session. This was to begin Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “100 Days,” during which the President aimed to try and ease the ongoing Great Depression in the United States.
March 10: Long Beach, California experiences a major earthquake. The earthquake shakes Southern California and results in the deaths of 115 people.
March 10: In the United States, Nevada becomes the first state to regulate narcotics.
March 12: The first of many “Fireside Chats” is begun by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. These chats were a series of radio addresses given to the American public in the evenings, taking place between 1933 and 1944. By doing these addresses, the President could squash any rumors and directly explain his policies and intentions to the public, particularly regarding his measures to ease the Great Depression.
March 13: In the United States, and after a bank holiday, the banks in the nation are allowed to reopen.
March 13: In Germany, Joseph Goebbels becomes the Minister of Information and Propaganda.
March 14: In Indonesia, the Indonesian Association football club Persib Bandung is established as the Bandoeng Inlandsche Voetbal Bond.
March 14: In England, English actor Michael Caine is born.
March 14: In Chicago, Illinois, Quincy Jones, American jazz artist, is born.
March 15: In the United States, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization, begins its coordinated attack on discrimination and segregation.
March 15: In the United States, the American jurist and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is born in Brooklyn, New York.
March 15: In Paris, France, French film director Philippe de Broca is born.
March 15: In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rises from 53.84 to 62.10. Achieved during the Great Depression, the gain of 15.34% continues to be the largest percentage gain in a day for the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted measurement stock market index.
March 15: The Austrofascist dictatorship begins in Austria when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss manages to keep members of the National Council from convening.
March 16: In Germany, Hjalmar Schacht is appointed as the President of the Bank of Germany by Adolf Hitler.
March 18: In the United States, Maribel Vinson becomes the Ladies’ Figure Skating champion.
March 18: In the United States, Roger Turner becomes the Men’s Figure Skating champion.
March 20: In Germany, the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau is completed. The camp will open for the first time on March 22.
March 20: In the United States, the first of a series of meetings called by Jewish organizations begin. The organizations call for an international, anti-Nazi boycott in response to the increasing persecution Jews in Germany.
March 20: The man responsible for the attempted assassination attack on President Franklin D. Roosevelt earlier in the year, Giuseppe Zangara, is executed by the electric chair.
March 21: In Germany, the day of Potsdam takes place, in which the Reichstag reopens after its fire the month prior. At the ceremony, Chancellor Adolf Hitler and German President Paul von Hindenburg famously shake hands in public.
March 22: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, known as the Cullen-Harrison act, making wine and beer, of up to 3.2% alcohol, legal.
March 23: In Germany, dictatorial powers are given to Adolf Hitler by the Reichstag with the passing of the Enabling Act.
March 23: In Berlin, the Kroll Opera opens.
March 24: As a Norwegian dependency, Peter I island is incorporated.
March 25: At Donington Park, Leicestershire, the first car race on the circuit takes place.
March 24: The 92nd Grand National race takes place.
March 27: In the United States, the Farm Credit Administration is authorized.
March 27: In one of the most tense 1933 events, Japan stuns the world by leaving the League of Nations. In turn, Japan would continue to occupy Manchuria against the League’s demands. The cancellation period is exactly two years, which means Japan’s exit will become official on March 27, 1935.
March 27: Eric William Fawcett and Reginald Gibson discover Polythene.
March 28: In the United States, Mississippi is defeated by Kentucky, 46-27, in the first SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament.
March 28: In the air over Belgium, the Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth Argosy biplane airliner, called the City of Liverpool, sets fire and crashes. As a result, all three crew members and all twelve passengers lose their lives and the incident is the deadliest in British civil aviation history to date. It is also unknown whether the fire on board the plane was started deliberately.
March 29: Gareth Jones, a Welsh journalist, writes the first report in the West about the Holodomor famine-genocide occurring in Ukraine.
March 31: In the United States, the Soperton News newspaper in Georgia becomes the first newspaper to be published on pine pulp paper.
March 31: In the United States, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is established. The CCC was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to provide work to unmarried and unemployed men who were struggling to find work during the Great Depression.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, photographed in 1933.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
April
April 1: In cricket, batsman Wally Hammond, who plays for the England team, hits 24 fours and 10 sixes in an unbeaten Test record in the drawn second test against New Zealand.
April 1: In Germany, Heinrich Himmler becomes the Police Commander.
April 1: In Germany, the Nazis proclaim a one-day boycott of all Jewish businesses in the country.
April 1: In rugby, the Home Nations Rugby Championship takes place, with Ireland being defeated by Scotland 8-6. The game, which was played at Lansdowne Road, wins Scotland the Championship and the Triple Crown.
April 2: In cricket, English batsman Wally Hammond scores a record of 336 runs in a test match at Eden Park, Auckland. This was part of the English cricket team’s tour of New Zealand.
April 3: For the first time, an airplane is flown over Mount Everest as part of the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition. The flight is led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.
April 3: In hockey, the Canadiens team is beaten 1-0 when Maple Leaf player Ken Doraty finally scores after 1 hour 44 minutes of overtime. At the time, the game is the longest North American hockey game to take place.
April 3: In Siam, Thailand, an anti-monarchist rebellion breaks out.
April 4: 73 crew members, out of a total 76, lose their lives when the United States’ Akron crashes off the coast of New Jersey. The accident is considered to be the worst in aviation history up to this date, and until 1950.
April 5: In The Hague, Netherlands, the International Court of Justice declares that Greenland belongs to Denmark. It also condemns the landings of Norway on eastern Greenland, and Norway accepts the decision.
April 5: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive order 6102 after declaring a national emergency. The Order makes it illegal for citizens of the United States to own significant amounts of monetary gold or bullion.
April 7: The first two Nazi anti-Jewish laws are put into place in Germany, which bans Jewish people from legal and public service. The law is known as the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, and is also aimed at political opponents.
April 7: In the United States, the Cullen-Harrison Act comes into effect, which allows the sale of low alcohol beer. As a result, this day becomes known as National Beer Day. The act also comes into effect 8 months before the official repeal of prohibition in December.
April 7: In Seattle, Washington, the University Bridge opens for public traffic.
April 8: The Manchester Guardian newspaper warns the public of unknown terror from the Nazi Party in Germany.
April 9: In Paris, France, French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo is born.
April 11: In Germany, Nazi politician Hermann Göring starts his position as Premier of Prussia.
April 11: Taking off from Lymphe, England, aviator Bill Lancaster attempts to make a speed record to the Cape of Good Hope. He completely vanishes, and his body would be discovered in the Sahara Desert in 1962.
April 12: In California, the Moffett Federal Airfield is commissioned.
April 13: In the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup final is played in Toronto, Canada. The Toronto Maple Leafs are beaten by the New York Rangers, 1-0, for a 3-1 series win.
April 13: In the United Kingdom, the Children and Young Persons Act is passed.
April 15: In Los Angeles, California, American actress Elizabeth Montgomery is born.
April 17: In the National Football League, the New York Giants are defeated by the Chicago Bears, winning the Bears their first ever NFL game with the final score 23-21.
April 17: Leslie Pawson wins the 37th Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 31 minutes.
April 19: In Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, American actress Jayne Mansfield is born.
April 19: In the United States, the nation officially leaves the gold standard.
April 21: In Germany, Martin Heidegger, a philosopher, becomes the rector of the University of Freiburg. He joined the Nazi party in 1933, the year after giving the lectures behind The Essence of Truth. While his philosophy and description of human existence did not refer directly to Nazism, in recent years, some of his anti-Semite writings have surfaced.
April 21: The kosher ritual, shechita, is outlawed in Nazi Germany.
April 22: In the Netherlands, left-wing radio addresses are forbidden by the Dutch government.
April 23: In Veenendaal, Netherlands, the Dovvo soccer team is established.
April 23: American Baseball Hall of Fame player, Tim Keefe, passes away at the age of 76.
April 24: In Germany, the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses starts, with the Bible Students’ office in Magdeburg being seized.
April 24: In Nazi Germany, Jewish physicians are excluded from official insurance schemes. This forces many to give up their practices.
April 25: In Major League Baseball, Dick Bartell, player for the Philadelphia Phillies, becomes the first league player to achieve 4 consecutive doubles in 9 innings.
April 26: Jewish persecution in Germany reaches a more extreme level in Germany when Jewish children are banned from attending school.
April 26: In San Antonio, Texas, American comedian Carol Burnett is born.
April 26: The Sacred Cod of Massachusetts is stolen from the State House by editors of the Harvard Lampoon. It would be returned two days later.
April 27: In Germany, the establishment of the Ministry of Aviation is authorized by Adolf Hitler. The ministry is created partly to help revive the German Luftwaffe under the watchful eye of Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring.
April 27: In Washington D.C., the reception of a cosmic radio signal is indicated by Karl Jansky.
April 27: The John Lewis Partnership acquires the Jessop & Son department store in Nottingham. This marks the partnership’s first shop outside of London.
April 27: In Germany, the Stahlhelm organization officially joins the Nazi party.
April 29: In Abbott, Texas, American country singer Willie Nelson is born.
April 30: Operated by Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd., the first internal air service to Scotland, Renfrew-Campbeltown, takes place. Hired to fly the route is Winifred Drinkwater, who is deemed to be “the world’s first female commercial pilot.
May
May 2: In Germany, Adolf Hitler establishes a ban on trade unions.
May 2: In Scotland, the first modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster occurs, with Aldie and John Mackay claiming they saw “something resembling a whale.” This alleged sighting sparks popular interest and curiosity around the Scottish folklore story, bringing it to worldwide attention.
May 3: In the United States, Nellie T Ross becomes the first female director of the US Mint and takes office on this day.
May 3: American soul singer and funk music originator, James Brown, is born in Barnwell, South Carolina.
May 3: To the British Crown, Dáil Éireann abolishes the oath of allegiance in the Irish Free State.
May 3: Following talks with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the situation of the global economy, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald arrives back in the United Kingdom.
May 4: American poet and writer Archibald Macleish wins the Pulitzer Prize for his long poem Conquistador.
May 5: In The New York Times, a report is written that Karl Jansky has detected radio waves from the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The birth of radio astronomy follows on from this report.
May 6: In the United States, the 59th Kentucky Derby takes place. American jockey Don Meade wins with a time of 2:06:8 aboard Brokers Tip.
May 6: A trade agreement is signed between the USSR and Italy.
May 7: In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, NFL quarterback Johnny Unitas is born. After playing for the Baltimore Colts and the San Diego Chargers, Unitas is considered to be “one of the greats.”
May 8: In India, pacifist and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi starts a fast to protest against British oppression, lasting 21 days.
May 9: In Spain, a general strike is called for by anarchists.
May 10: In Germany, the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF, German Labor Front) is created. The DAF acted as the labor organization under the Nazi Party, replacing the trade unions which Adolf Hitler had recently banned.
May 10: In Germany, the public book burnings are staged. The book burnings are a campaign that was held by the German Student Union, who burnt books in Nazi Germany and Austria that were viewed as representing ideologies against Nazism.
May 10: War is declared by Paraquay on Bolivia.
May 10: A de Come, a Suriname worker’s union leader, is exiled to the Netherlands.
May 11: American religious leader, Louis Farrakhan, is born in New York City.
May 12: In the United States, and as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mission to create jobs for the unemployed and ease the effects of the Great Depression, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administrations are formed. These administrations aimed to create jobs for farmers primarily, and other unemployed members of society.
May 15: In the United States Senate, the first voice amplification system is used.
May 17: In Norway, the Nasjonal Samling (the nationalist-socialist party of Norway) is created by Vikdun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort.
May 18: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Act (TVA), which allows the creation of dams and in turn creates jobs for those in need.
May 18: In Comiskey Park, United States, the first major league All-Star game in baseball is announced. The game is scheduled for July 6 and will be played as part of the Chicago World’s Fair.
May 18: On Nazino Island, approximately 6,000 forced Soviet Union deportees arrive. After just thirteen weeks on the island, the majority of the deportees will pass away as a result of violence, disease and cannibalism. As one of the most terrifying 1933 events, the deportation became known as the Nazino Tragedy.
May 19: In Finland, the Cavalry General C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed the field marshal.
May 21: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a telegraph to light up the Mount Davidson Cross.
May 22: In the United States, the first World Trade Day is celebrated.
May 24: In Moscow, USSR, Dmitri Shostakovich’s composition Preludes has its premiere.
May 26: In the Netherlands, a second emergency government is formed under Hendrikus Colijn.
May 26: At the age of 35, American country singer Jimmie Rodgers passes away after a pulmonary hemorrhage.
May 26: In Germany, the Nazis introduce a law which legalizes eugenic sterilization, in their efforts to “cleanse” German society of impurity.
May 27: In Austria, the communist party is banned.
May 27: In Chicago, Illinois, the Century of Progress Exposition is opened. The exposition aimed to celebrate the city’s centennial.
May 27: In the United States, the Federal Securities Act is signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is the first piece of federal legislation to regulate the stock market in American history, following the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
May 27: In the United States, the short film 3 Little Pigs is released by Walt Disney. The film would go on to win the Academy Award for the Best Animated Film in 1934.
May 27: After becoming the rector of the University of Freiburg, German philosopher Martin Heidegger gives his inaugural address. The address, The Self-Assertion of the German University, has been understood by some as supporting the Nazi regime.
May 30: In the United States, the Indianapolis 500, annual automobile race, takes place. Driver Mark Billman is killed on lap 79 after crashing, and both driver Lester Spangler and mechanic “Monk” Jordan lose their lives on lap 132. Louis Mayer emerges victorious, accompanied by riding mechanic Lawson Harris.
Vintage playing cards from the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, 1933 and 1934
Image: Flickr
June
June 1: English comedian and silent film star Charlie Chaplin marries Paulette Goddard.
June 2: In the United States, the building of the first swimming pool inside the White House is authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
June 5: In French Championships Men’s Tennis, the home favorite player, Henri Cochet, is defeated 8-6, 6-1, 6-1 by Australian player Jack Crawford. This achievement would be Crawford’s only French title win.
June 5: In French Championships Women’s Tennis, Simonne Mathieu is defeated 6-2 ,4-6, 6-4 by English player Margaret Scriven. Scriven is the first woman from England to win the women’s singles title in Paris.
June 5: In the United States, a joint resolution is made in Congress to officially remove the country from the gold standard. This nullifies the right of creditors to ask for payment in gold.
June 6: In the United States, the first drive-in theatre opens in New Jersey. This opening would mark the start of the drive-in movie craze, which has become a staple aspect of America’s 20th century movie culture.
June 6: In the United States, the US Employment Service is established.
June 7: In Paris, 7 Deadly Sins, a ballet chanté created by Kurt Weills and George Balanchine has its premiere.
June 8: In Major League Baseball, Philadelphia Hall of Fame player Jimmie Foxx smashes three consecutive home runs in a game against the New York Yankees.
June 8: In Brooklyn, New York City, American comedian and actress Joan Rivers is born.
June 9: In Spain, President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora assumes power.
June 9: In Major League Baseball, Walter Johnson becomes the manager of the Cleveland team.
June 10: In the US Open Men’s Golf, player Ralph Guldahl is outlasted by amateur player Johnny Goodman by a single stroke. That single stroke would win Goodman his only major championship.
June 10: In the United States, gangster John Dillinger robs a bank for the first time. From the bank in Carlisle, Ohio, he escapes with $10,600.
June 10: In the United States, outlaws and famous criminal couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow flip their car into a ravine. Parker experiences severe third degree burns, which will impact her for the rest of her life.
June 11: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, American actor Gene Wilder is born.
June 12: The London Economic Conference takes place.
June 13: In Schenectady, New York, the first sodium vapor lamps are installed.
June 13: In the United States, the Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation is authorized.
June 13: In Germany, Nazi politician Hermann Göring creates the Gestapo – Geheime Staats Polizei (German Secret State Police).
June 14: In Major League Baseball, players Joe McCarthy and Lou Gehrig are thrown out of their game. While Gehrig ends up with no suspension, he is able to continue his playing streak of 1,249 games. McCarthy, on the other hand, is suspended from his next three games.
June 16: In the United States, the National Industrial Recovery Act is established as law. This law enabled the President to regulate industry in the country, creating fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery from the Great Depression. In 1935, the law would be considered unconstitutional and would be struck down.
June 16: In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is established, providing deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions.
June 17: In the United States, the Kansas City Massacre occurs, in which bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd kills an FBI agent, 4 policemen and a gangster. The person they intended to rescue, Frank Nash, is also killed.
June 19: In Austria, Nazi organizations are banned by the government under Dollfuss.
June 21: In Germany, Nazi control reaches another level when all non-Nazi political parties are banned, officially creating a single-party state.
June 23: In the United States on NBC, Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club starts its 35 and a half year run.
June 24: In Los Angeles, American Western actor John Wayne marries Josephine Saenz.
June 25: In Kosciusko, Mississippi, American civil rights activist James Meredith is born.
June 25: In Berlin, Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen delegates convene in order to protest against the Nazi’s persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
June 26: At the Arlington Park race track near Chicago, the first electronic pari-mutuel betting machine is unveiled by the American Totalizator Company.
June 27: In golf, the Ryder Cup takes place, and Great Britain would win its last cup victory until 1957.
June 29: In boxing, American defending champion Jack Sharkey is defeated by Italian boxer Primo Carnera in round 6. The match takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and Carnera becomes the third European boxer to win the lineal world heavyweight title.
June 29: At the age of 46, American actor Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, dies from a heart attack.
June 30: In the LPGA Western Open Women’s Golf, Jane Weiller is beaten by June Beebe.
June 30: In Antwerp, Belgium, 50,000 people gather to demonstrate against war and fascism.
1933 was the year Germany became a single-party state, governed by the Nazi Party. This image shows Adolf Hitler (left) with leading members of the party.
Image: Flickr
July
July 1: In Germany, the Nazi regime declares that women who are married should not work.
July 1: In Dresden, Germany, the opera Arabella, by Strauss and von Hofmannsthal, has its premiere at the Semperoper Opera House.
July 1: In Canada, all Chinese immigration is suspended by Parliament.
July 1: In London, the London Passenger Transport Board starts operating, unifying earlier services.
July 1: In the United States, a failed coup attempt is led by Gerald MacGuire, involving Smedley Butler, a senior United States Marine Corp Officer, against President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
July 2: In baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals are beaten by the New York Giants. Pitcher for the New York Giants, Carl Hubbell, manages to work 18 innings of shutout ball, without a walk.
July 3: At the age of 80, previous President of Argentina, Hipólito Yrigoyen, passes away.
July 4: In Oakland, California, work on the Oakland Bay Bridge begins.
July 4: In India, Mahatma Gandhi is sentenced to prison.
July 5: In Germany, the party Catholic Center breaks up.
July 6: In baseball, the first Major League All-Star game takes place. At the game, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, baseball legend Babe Ruth hits his first All-Star home run.
July 6: One of the first movie appearances for The Three Stooges occurs when the short film Nertsery Rhymes, starring Ted Healy and His Stooges has its premiere.
July 7: In tennis, the Wimbledon finals take place. American player Ellsworth Vines is defeated by Australian player Jack Crawford, winning Crawford his only Wimbledon singles title. In the women’s final, local favorite player Dorothy Round loses to American player Helen Wills Moody, defending her title successfully.
July 8: In the United States, the Public Works Administration (PWA) takes effect. The PWA is a public works construction agency on a large scale, which was overseen by the Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes. The PWA is another response to the Great Depression jobs crisis by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
July 8: In golf, the British Men’s Open takes place, with American golfer Craig Wood defeated by fellow American golfer Denny Shute. Shute wins by 5 strokes in the 36-hole Saturday playoff, and he achieves his only Open title.
July 8: Between the Wallabies of Australia, and the Springboks of South Africa, the first rugby union test match is played at Newlands, Cape Town.
July 8: In American football, the Frankford Yellow Jackets team is sold and re-born as the Philadelphia Eagles.
July 10: In Eastchester Township, New York, the first radio system for the police begins operation.
July 12: In the United States, the first minimum wage law, at 33 cents per hour, is passed by Congress.
July 12: American actor and dancer Fred Astaire marries socialite Phyllis Livingston Potter.
July 14: In Germany, the mandatory sterilzation of people with hereditary illness begins when the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring is enacted. This is one of the first reproductive controls issued by Germany, in order to “cleanse” society of people considered to be biological threats.
July 15: American Aviator Wiley Post embarks on his first solo flight around the world. He completes the flight in 7 days and 19 hours.
July 15: Between France, Germany, Britain and Italy, the Four-Power pact is signed. This international treaty was signed in order to ensure better international security.
July 15: The International Left Opposition (ILO) becomes the International Communist League (ICL).
July 17: Under mysterious circumstances, and following a successful cross of the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft, Lithuania, crashes in Germany.
July 18: Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champion, marries Broadway singer Hannah Williams.
July 19: In baseball, a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians (as the team were known at the time) takes place. For the first time in Major League Baseball history, two brothers who play on opposing teams both score home runs, Rick Ferrell for the Red Sox and Wes Ferrell for the Cleveland Indians.
July 20: With dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler, Pacelli (Pius XII), the Vatican State Secretary, signs an accord.
July 20: In London, a march against anti-Semitism takes place, with 500,000 people in attendance.
July 20: In Nuremberg, Germany, 200 Jewish merchants are arrested and forced to parade the streets.
July 21: In Palestine, Haifa Harbor opens.
July 22: At the Hippodrome in New York, Caterina Jarboro becomes the first black female opera singer to perform in the United States when she sings Aida.
July 22: In the United States, Memphis gangster Machine Gun Kelly and bank robber Albert Bates kidnap an Oklahoma oilman names Charles Urschel, and demand $200,000 in ransom.
July 23: The 27th Tour de France takes place, with French cyclist Georges Speicher winning.
July 24: In Germany, Marinus van der Lubbe has a deed of accusation signed against him for the Reichstag fire back in February, by Judge Vogt.
July 24: During a battle with local police in Iowa, members of the Barrow Gang are injured or captured.
July 25: Duke Ellington performs on the first Dutch live radio concert.
July 26: In baseball, and in the Pacific Coast League, star player Joe DiMaggio’s 61 game hitting streak comes to an end.
July 26: In London, electricity is first generated by Battersea Power Station.
July 28: The USSR is formally recognized by Spain.
July 28: In English law, the Grand Jury is abolished.
July 30: In Paris, France, the International Lawn Tennis Challenge takes place. André Merlin is defeated by Fred Perry, winning Britain a 3-2 victory against France. This British victory brings the French 6 title win streak to an end.
American tennis player Helen Wills Moody playing in 1932
Image: Picryl
August
August 1: In baseball, the Major League Baseball record for the most consecutive scoreless innings is set by Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell, in a New York Giants game against the Boston Braves.
August 1: In Batavia, the Dutch colonial regime arrests the first President of Indonesia, Sukarno.
August 1: In the United States, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) is established. U.S. Army Officer Hugh S. Johnson becomes the NRA’s first director.
August 1: In the United States, the National Recovery Administration displays the Blue Eagle emblem for the first time in public.
August 2: In the USSR, a 227km ship canal, built using forced labor, opens. The canal is named the Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal, and connects the White Sea with Lake Onega and the Baltic.
August 2: In Germany, President Paul von Hindenberg passes away from lung cancer at the age of 86. His death meant Hitler became the head of state and head of government in Germany, which solidified his role as the absolute dictator of Germany.
August 3: In baseball, the New York Yankees are defeated by the Philadelphia A’s for the first time in 308 games.
August 4: American business magnate and CEO of Las Vegas Sands casino, Sheldon Adelson, is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
August 7: In the village of Sumail, more than 3000 Assryians are slaughtered by the Iraqi government. Following the traumatic event, the day would become known as Assyrian Martyrs Day, and the event would be known as the Simele massacre.
August 10: In the US National Championship for Women’s Tennis, Helen Wills Moody is defeated by defending champion Helen Jacobs at Forest Hills, New York.
August 12: After a military coup in Cuba, dictator Machado y Morales flees.
August 12: In Britain, Winston Churchill publicly expresses the dangers of German rearmament in a speech for the first time.
August 13: In the PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Willie Goggin is beaten by Gene Sarazen for the third of his PGA Championship titles.
August 13: Dutch cyclist Jacques van Egmond becomes the world champion amateur cyclist.
August 14: In Tillamook, Oregon, two billion board feet of lumber is destroyed in a fire. It becomes known as the Tillamook Burn, and after destroying 240,000 acres, it is put out on September 5.
August 17: In baseball, Major League player Lou Gehrig plays 1,308 consecutive games, setting a new record.
August 17: In the USSR, the GIRD-R1 rocket is tested.
August 17: The film The Private Life of Henry VIII is released. In 1934, the leading actor Charles Laughton would win an Academy Award for his performance in the role, making the film the first British production to win an Oscar.
August 18: In Paris, France, Polish-French film director Roman Polanski was born. Polanski was married to actress Sharon Tate at the time she was murdered by the Manson family.
August 22: In Prague, Czechoslovakia, the International Zionists Congress opens.
August 23: At the Broadcasting House in London, a 6-round boxing match takes place between Lauri Raiteri and Archie Sexton. The match is the first boxing match to be televised, and is aired by BBC.
August 23: Following another hunger strike, Mahatma Gandhi is released from jail in India.
August 24: In Cairo, Egypt, the Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat, is born.
August 25: In China, the Diexi earthquake hits Mao County, Sichuan, resulting in the deaths of 9,000 people.
August 30: In Portugal, the secret police (PIDE) is created by dictator Salazar.
August 30: In Marienbad, Czechoslovakia, Theodor Lessing, a German-Jewish philosopher, is shot. He would pass away the following day from his injuries.
September
September 3: Communism Peak, the highest point in the USSR at 7495m high, is reached by Yevgeniy Abalakov.
September 4: In Glenview, Illinois, the first airplane flies at a speed exceeding 300 mph.
September 4: In Cuba, a coup against president Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada occurs, started by Fulgencio Batista.
September 8: In Spain, the second Spanish government of Manuel Azaña is established.
September 10: In the US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Australian player Jack Crawford is defeated by English player Fred Perry, losing Crawford his chance of winning the Grand Slam.
September 11: In Antwerp, Belgium, the Antwerps Sportpaleis opens as the largest indoor arena in Europe.
September 12: In Spain, a new government is formed by Alejandro Lerroux.
September 12: In the Netherlands, a ban on uniforms is accepted by parliament.
September 12: In London, and while waiting for a red light to change on Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, physicist and inventor Leó Szilárd develops the idea of a nuclear chain reaction.
September 13: In New Zealand, Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first female Member of Parliament.
September 18: In Montreal, Quebec, NHL coach and former player, Scotty Bowman, is born.
September 19: In baseball, the pennant is grasped by the New York Giants.
September 20: In American football, the Pittsburgh Steelers play their first NFL game, losing 23-2 against the New York Giants.
September 21: After being accused in Germany of being responsible for the Reichstag fire earlier this year, the trial for Marinus van der Lubbe begins.
September 23: In baseball, and despite committing 5 errors, the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 16-12 at their game in Fenway Park, Boston.
September 25: In Smyrna, Georgia, the first state poorhouse is opened.
September 25: In Nanjing and Jiangxi province, China, the fifth “extermination campaign” against communists begins.
September 26: In New York City, the play by Sidney Kingsley, Men in White, has its premiere.
September 26: In Tampico, Mexico, a hurricane destroys the town.
September 29: In New Rochelle, New York, baseball legend Lou Gehrig marries Eleanor Twitchell.
The memorial of Marinus van der Lubbe, the Dutch communist who was put on trial, and eventually executed for, the Reichstag fire in Berlin that occurred on February 27, 1933.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
October
October 1: At Yankee Stadium, baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his final pitching appearance in Major League Baseball. He pitches all 9 innings in a season ending with a 6-5 New York Yankees win against the Boston Red Sox.
October 1: In Austria, the Fatherland’s Front leader Engelbert Dollfuss is seriously injured when an assassination is attempted against him.
October 2: In New York City, the comedy play by Eugene O’Neill, Ah, Wilderness, has its premiere.
October 2: In Dippenhall, Hampshire, English developmental biologist and Nobel Prize winner, John B. Gurdon, is born.
October 3: In Belgium, the Flemish National Covenant is formed by Gustave “Staf” de Clerq.
October 4: The first issue of the American Esquire magazine is published.
October 6: In England, the Milk Marketing Board is established.
October 7: In the 30th baseball World Series, the Washington Senators are defeated by the New York Giants 4 games to 1.
October 7: Starting operations with 250 planes, five French airline companies merge to form Air France.
October 8: In San Francisco, as a monument for firefighters, the Coit Tower is dedicated.
October 8: In Spain, a new government is formed by Martinez Barrios.
October 10: Procter & Gamble’s “Dreft,” the first synthetic detergent, is put on sale.
October 10: Near Chesterton, Indiana, all 7 people on board the United Airlines Boeing 247 are killed when a bomb destroys the plane during a transcontinental flight. This event is the first proven case of sabotage in civil aviation, despite a suspect never being identified.
October 12: Unofficially, Alcatraz becomes a federal prison when the United States Army Disciplinary Barracks are obtained by the United States Department of Justice. The Department had already planned to absorb the island as a penitentiary into its Federal Bureau of Prisons.
October 12: In Allen County, Ohio, gangster John Dillinger escapes from jail.
October 12: In the United States, gangster George Francis Barnes, also known as Machine Gun Kelly, is sentenced to life in prison.
October 13: In Liverpool, England, the British Interplanetary Society is established.
October 13: In Paris, France, Tovarich, by JDJ Boularan, has its premiere.
October 13: In Geesteren, the STEVO football team is established.
October 14: From the League of Nations, Nazi Germany announces its withdrawal, as well as from the World Disarmament Conference. This is following the UK, United States and France denying Germany’s request to increase its defense armaments.
October 14: In Estonia, the new constitution is approved on just the third consecutive referendum.
October 15: In England, the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine is run for the first time.
October 16: In the United States, following the horrific parricides committed by Victor Licata, the legal prohibition of cannabis is called for.
October 17: Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein arrives in the United States with his wife after fleeing Nazi Germany. Einstein’s move to the United States would be permanent, and he would assume a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
October 19: In Germany, the Berlin Olympic Committee votes in favor of the introduction of basketball in 1936.
October 22: In boxing, Italy holds onto the IBU heavyweight title when boxer Primo Carnera defeats Spanish opponent Paulino Uzcudun on points.
October 23: In Greencastle, Indiana, and after escaping prison earlier in the month, gangster John Dillinger robs Central National Bank with his gang, leaving with $75,000.
October 23: In Birmingham, England, Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain opens the city’s 40,000th council house on the Weoley Castle estate.
October 24: In New York City, Mulatto, a play by Langston Hughes, has its premiere.
October 26: In France, the government of Albert Sarraut is established.
November
November 3: In West Bengal, India, economist and Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen is born.
November 5: In American football, the Chicago Bears’ 30-game winning streak comes to an end when they are beaten by the Patriots, 10-0.
November 5: In Spain, the Basque people vote in favor of autonomy.
November 7: In Pennsylvania, United States, Sunday sports become permitted, with voters overturning blue law. The first Sunday football game in the state would take place on November 12.
November 7: In New York City, Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected to be the 99th mayor of the city.
November 8: In another effort to create jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The administration was short-lived, and was primarily aimed to help the country get out of the depression. The CWA mostly created manual-labor work, and millions of jobs were created for men across the nation.
November 11: In the United States, the Great Black Blizzard dust storm is the first of the big dust storms of the 1930s, ripping through South Dakota. The storm strips desiccated farmlands of topsoil, making the lands unusable for farmers.
November 11: Riffin’ the Scotch, the second song and first hit of single Billie Holiday, is released.
November 12: In Kelkan, Iraq, Iraqi-Kurshish politician and President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, is born.
November 12: In Japan, the predecessor for camera and complexcopier brand Canon, is founded as the Japan Precision Optical Industry.
November 12: In Scotland, Hugh Gray takes the first known photo of the so-called Loch Ness Monster.
November 12: In Germany, the Nazi party receives 92% of the vote.
November 13: In Austin, Minnesota, Hormel meat packers starts the first modern sit-down strike.
November 16: In Brazil, President Getulio Vargas declares himself to be dictator of the country.
November 16: In Venezuela, Jimmie Angels, American aviator, becomes the first foreign person to see the Angel Falls. The Falls are subsequently named after him.
November 16: With the USSR, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes diplomatic relations. The following day, the USSR would be formally recognized by the United States, and trading between the two countries could begin.
November 17: In the United States, the film directed by LeoMcCarey, Duck Soup, is released. The film stars the Marx Brothers, an American family comedy group.
November 19: In Spain, women are granted the right to vote, which helps the right-wing.
November 19: In New York City, American radio and TV host Larry King is born.
November 19: In Spain, right-wing parties achieve a victory in the general elections.
November 21: W.C. Bullitt, the first United States ambassador to the USSR, begins service.
November 22: In the Fujian Province, China, the Fujian People’s Government is declared.
November 25: In the USSR, the first liquid fuel rocket manages to reach an altitude of 80 meters.
November 26: In France, Camille Chautemps becomes Premier.
November 26: In Lawrence, Massachusetts, American singer and actor Robert Goulet, is born.
November 28: In the United States, the infamous criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde are issued with a murder indictment by the Dallas grand jury for the murder of Tarrant County Deputy Malcolm Davis in January 1933.
November 29: In the United States, the first state liquor stores are authorized in Pennsylvania.
November 29: The persecution of communists begins in Japan.
November 30: In Cleveland Park District, CCC camps are formed. CCC camps were temporary camps set up for CCC workers in the United States during the Great Depression, and they were set up near where they would be completing their work.
December
December 1: In Germany, Ernest Rohm and Rudolf Hess become ministers in the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler.
December 2: The first film starring Fred Astaire, Dancing Lady, is released.
December 3: In baseball, Mickey Cochrane, Philadelphia A’s catcher, is sold to the Detroit Tigers for $100,000 by the team’s owner, Connie Mack. Immediately after joining the team, Cochrane is named manager of the Tigers. The selling of Cochrane formed part of the Major League Baseball fire sale of players.
December 4: In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the Federal Alcohol Control Administration.
December 4: In New York City, the play by Jack Kirkland, Tobacco Road, has its premiere. The play would become the longest-running play of the time.
December 5: In the United States, prohibition formally comes to an end when the 21st Amendment is ratified, and the 18th amendment is repealed.
December 6: In the United States, the ban on the novel Ulysses, by James Joyce, is lifted. Federal Judge John M. Woolsey rules that the novel is not obscene.
December 8: The Catholic Church canonizes Bernadette Soubirous, a French nun who saw the vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
December 9: The fascist Iron Guard is prohibited by Romania.
December 10: Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger are awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for “the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.”
December 12: In hockey, Toronto Leaf player Ace Bailey is hit by Eddie Shore from behind. Bailey ends up with a fractured skull, which brings his career to an end.
December 14: In Amsterdam, dancer and singer Josephine Baker performs.
December 15: Until after June 15, it is agreed among baseball owners to ban Sunday doubleheaders.
December 15: After being formally repealed 10 days earlier, alcohol officially becomes legal in the United States when the 21st Amendment goes into effect.
December 17: In Spain, the second government of Lerroux is established.
December 17: In American football, the first NFL Championship game takes place, with the New York Giants defeated by the Chicago Bears 23-21.
December 20: A cease fire is announced between Paraguay and Bolivia.
December 21: At the age of just 5, Shirley Temple is signed to a studio contract with Fox Films.
December 21: Newfoundland once again becomes a crown colony of Britain when it collapses financially.
December 21: In Britain, the British Plastics Federation is established
December 23: In Germany, Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist, is sentenced to death for setting the German Reichstag on fire.
December 23: 230 people lose their lives when a train crashes in the Lagny-Pomponne rail incident near Paris.
December 23: In Japan, the future Emperor of Japan Akihito is born.
December 25: In Belgium, Henry de Mans’ Plan of Labor is accepted by the Belgian Working People’s Party.
December 26: In the Western Hemisphere, the United States forbears armed intervention.
December 26: American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong is granted an FM radio patent.
December 26: In Japan, the Nissan Motor Company is created.
December 26: FM radio is first patented.
December 29: In baseball, the owner of the New York Yankees, Jacob Ruppert, refuses to sell slugger Babe Ruth to the Cincinnati Reds to become their manager.
December 29: The film Sons of the Desert, directed by William A. Seiter, is released. The film stars popular comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.
December 29: Ion Gheroghe Duca, Romanian Prime Minister, is assassinated by members of the Iron Guard.
The Rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany
1933 was a significant year in the rise of Adolf Hitler. Throughout the year, the Nazi Party would achieve remarkable electoral victories in Germany, fighting against the humiliation of their First World War defeat and the damaging war reparations required of their nation by the Treaty of Versailles. Between the First World War and 1933, Germany had become severely limited in size, in terms of both her land and her armies.
As an admirable public speaker armed with the determination to see the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party, Hitler quickly grew to become the dictator of Germany in 1933. He promised the people that a better and more prosperous Germany was around the corner, while simultaneously beginning to persecute the Jewish population and ban communists. From forming a new government as Reich Chancellor in January, March 23 saw the Reichstag give Hitler dictatorial powers for four years with the passing of the Enabling Act.
The passing of this act was a pivotal moment in history. From this day onwards, and throughout 1933, Hitler banned trade unions, embarked on a stronger persecution of Jewish people, and prohibited all non-Nazi political parties. Hitler had created a single-party state, withdrawn Germany from the peace-keeping League of Nations and proclaimed the end of Marxism. Hitler’s power was made total and absolute when President of Germany, Paul von Hindenberg, passed away on August 2. Hitler had assumed the role of head of state and head of government, removing any legal obstacle to which he could be removed from power. However, 1933 was only the beginning. From this moment until his death in 1945, Hitler would rule at the head of a single-party state and draw the world into another devastating world war.
Communism, Civil Liberties and Jewish Persecution in Germany
Simultaneously with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Germany began to see great limitations in its freedoms and civil liberties throughout 1933. At the start of February 1933, Nazi politician Hermann Göring banned meetings and demonstrations among Communists, as well as Vorwarts, a social-democratic newspaper. At the same time, President Paul von Hindenberg limited the freedom of the press, and Hitler promised the end of Marxism.
The Reichstag Fire of February 1933 was allegedly started by a Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe. The fire forced President Paul von Hindenberg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, removing many of Germany’s civil liberties on the advice of Hitler. Since Communists were blamed for the fire, the German Communist Party was outlawed.
The beginning of April saw Jewish persecution take a new level, when the government ordered a one-day boycott of Jewish businesses throughout the country. In the same week, two anti-Jewish laws are passed, preventing Jewish people, and other political opponents, from taking roles in legal and public service. By the end of April, Jewish physicians are excluded from insurance schemes, forcing many to give up their practises.Jewish children are also banned from attending schools, and in Nuremberg, 200 Jewish people are arrested and forced to parade the streets.
The book burning campaign was a significant 1933 event, in which the German Student Union, in support of Nazism, began burning all books that represented ideologies opposing Nazism. This was done publicly and symbolized the commitment of the students to Nazism and the rise of Hitler. In the same month, May 1933, a law was introduced which legalized eugenic sterilization. This meant the government could control reproduction among the population, preventing those with mental and physical illnesses from having children in an attempt to “cleanse” German society.
From 1933 until 1945, Hitler’s dictatorship would become synonymous with persecution and terror, beginning the Holocaust and removing any political opponents from society.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
In 1933, the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. The start of the 1930s was anything but prosperous, unlike the Roaring Twenties which came to an end after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Millions of Americans were unemployed, life savings had become worthless, and families were struggling to survive within the failing economy.
As soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, he was determined to turn the country around by creating jobs for the unemployed and stimulating economic growth. His first “100 Days” in office were famously for implementing his New Deal program, which established organizations and administrations for creating jobs across the country. For example, in May, he created the Tennessee Valley Act (TVA), allowing for dams to be built by the unemployed. With many other organizations being implemented, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the new President was determined to bring the United States out of the depression.