Birthdays
1790: Ludwig Emil Grimm
Ludwig Emil Grimm (1790-1863) was the younger brother of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. He was a painter and illustrated Grimm’s fairy tales. Read more about him here.
1804: Johann Strauss (Vater)
Johann Strauss (Vater) (1804-1849) was an Austrian composer and Kapellmeister (conductor/musical director). His most known work is Radetzky-Marsch from 1848 which is played every year at the Neujahrskonzert (New Year’s Concert) of the Vienna Philaharmonic Orchestra.
1853: Ferdinand Hodler
Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was a Swiss painter of symbolism and Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). At the world exhibition in Paris in 1900, he won the gold medal for three of his pieces, making him one of the most known artists in Europe. Notable are his 113 self-portraits chronicling his life and development as an artist and a human.
1854: Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) was a German physician and researcher. He was able to distinguish between different blood cells through different dying methods. This enabled researchers to diagnose blood diseases. Ehrlich developed a drug treatment for syphilis and was worked with Emil von Behring finding an antiserum for diphtheria. In 1908, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Ilya Mechnikov (German spelling: Ilja Metchnikow) for their work on immunity.
1879: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German theoretical physicist with also Swiss and US-American citizenship (1940). He is best known for his relativity theory. He is considered one of the most important physicist of all time, next to Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Niels Bohr, and Werner Heisenberg. Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.Einstein was also an accomplished violinist and he frequently spoke out against racism and segregation at American universities.
1930: Helga Feddersen
Helga Feddersen (1930-1990) was a German actor, writer, and singer. She played theater, and in movies and TV series, usually set in and around her native Hamburg. In the 1960s, she started publishing her writing, in the 1970s and 80s she could be seen on TV in comedy shows, and she also published her first album. Feddersen had a tumor removed from her parotid gland which left one half of her face partially paralyzed.
1941: Wolfgang Petersen
Wolfgang Petersen (1941-2022) was a German director, screenwriter, and producer. In 1980, he filmed “Das Boot”, an action movie set on a submarine during WWII with Jürgen Prochnow and a young Herbert Grönemeyer. The film was especially successful in the U.S. This success was followed by “Die unendliche Geschichte” (Neverending Story). Petersen then moved to the United States to work in Hollywood. He directed more blockbusters including “In the Line of Fire”, “Air Force One”, “The Perfect Storm”, and his last production “Poseidon” in 2006.
Death Anniversaries
1988: Bruno Balz
Bruno Balz was a German songwriter and schlager writer, especially for movies. He and composer Michael Jary wrote songs that made Zarah Leander a star and that are still known today, e.g. “Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?”, “Ich brech’ die Herzen der stolzesten Frau’n”, “Davon geht die Welt nicht unter”, and “Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh’n”. The latter two, he wrote right after he was released from prison in 1941. Balz was arrested multiple times for being (openly) gay. Jary was able to prevent his being sent to a concentration camp by insisting he couldn’t finish the songs needed for the movie “Die große Liebe” without Balz.
1883: Karl Marx
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, journalist, and social theorist. Together with Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), he created the theory of historical materialism. They were the most notable theorists of socialism and communism, writing their theories down in the “Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei” in 1848. Marx also played a leading role in the political Arbeiterbewegung (workers’ movement). “Das Kapital” (Capital) is considered Marx’ main work.
Seasonal Events and Holidays
Total Lunar Eclipse
- Blood Moon
- Visible in the Americas, Antarctica, Alaska, and parts of Africa
Historical and Cultural Events
1748: The “Theater nächst der Burg” in Vienna was opened with Gluck’s opera “Semiramide riconosciuta”. Today, the theater is known as Burgtheater. In 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater as “Teutsches Nationaltheater” and decreed that no sad plays were to be put on. This required rewriting plays and adding a happy end, colloquially called “Wiener Schluss” (Vienna end). Since the season 24/25, the Swiss theater director Stefan Bachmann is the manager of the Burgtheater.
1784: German-British astronomer, composer, and musician Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel discovered a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices (Haar der Berenike). Later the galaxy is categorized as NGC 4394.
1880: Multiple local charities and aid groups merged to form the Österreichische Gesellschaft vom Rothen Kreuze, now called Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz (Austrian Red Cross). Emperor Franz Joseph I signed the articles of incorporation (Gründungsurkunde) and together with his wife Elisabeth (Sissi) took over the patronage.
1944: Franz Werfel (1890-1945) debuted his comedy “Jacobowsky und der Oberst” at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City (in English). Werfel was an Austrian writer of the lyrical expressionism. He wrote this play in exile in the U.S. where he had fled from the Nazis. The same play was performed in German on October 17, 1944 in Basel, Switzerland.
1946: Reconstruction of the Karl-Theodor-Brücke (usually called Alte Brücke) in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, began. The bridge was built in 1788 under prince-elector Karl Theodor (hence the name) and spans the river Neckar. During World War II on March 29, 1945, it was demolished by the German military. The reconstruction was finished a good year later and the bridge was reopened on July 26, 1947.
1991: The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, declared the naming law, in which a woman has take her husband’s last name if they can’t agree on one name, unconstitutional.
1951: An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit near the city of Euskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia. It caused damages in the millions and 11 people were injured.
Action Days and Invented Holidays
Genius Day
- To mark Albert Einstein’s birthday (see above)
Pi Day
- Pi Day only works in the U.S. and other countries that write their dates starting with the month. The value of pi is approximately 3.14 which is how you write today’s date: 3/14.
- In honor of Pi Day, people eat pies. Supermarkets might have specials selling pies for $3.14.
World Sleep Day (Welttag des Schlafes)
- Started in 2008 by the Work Sleep Society and World Association of Sleep Medicine.
- Takes place yearly on the Friday before Spring Equinox.
- Wants to draw attention to the importance of sleep as well as sleep-related issues.
- The theme in 2025 is “Make Sleep Health a Priority”.
- Read here about German words and culture around Sleep.
