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Katyn Forest Massacre
Uncovered three years later, the mass grave contained the remains of 4,400 Polish military officers. They had been killed by the NKVD (Soviet secret police) under the orders of Josef Stalin. -
Auschwitz Opens
Auschwitz was built by the Nazis as a concentration and death camp. It was the largest of the camps and housed the murders of 1.1 million people. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched an attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It left more than 2,400 Americans dead, 21 ships damaged or sunk, and 188 aircrafts destroyed. The following day, the U.S. declared war on Japan, officially brink the U.S. into World War II. -
Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding
Although the family had planned to go into hiding a few days later, they left on this date to keep Anne's older sister from being deported to a "work camp." They hid in the Secret Annex for two years before they were discovered and arrested on August 4, 1944. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Jews in a ghetto in Poland fought against German soldiers who intended to send them to death camps. The resistance fighters managed to resist the Nazis for 27 days. Those in the ghetto that didn't have weapons built underground bunkers to hide in. The resistance ended on May 16 when the Nazis razed the entire ghetto. -
D-Day
The Allies launched an attack by sea, landing on the beaches of Normandy. It was the first day was D-Day. An armada of about 5,000 ships secretly crossed the English Channel and unloaded 156,000 soldiers on the beaches. At the end of this day, 2,500 Allied soldiers were killed and 6,500 were wounded. The Allies had succeeded though and broke through the German defenses. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
When he realized that World War II was coming to an end, Adolf Hitler shot himsle fin the head with his pistol after swallowing cyanide pills. His wife also swallowed the cyanide pills to end her life. When the bodies were discovered, SS carried the bodies to the courtyard, covered them in gasoline, and lit them on fire. -
Plane Crashes Into the Empire State Building
Piloted by Lt. Colonel William Smith was an Army B-25 bomber. He was flying through New York City on his way to Newark Airport. He was above LaGuardia Airport and asked for a weather report. Due to the poor visability, the tower wanted him to land. Smith requested and received permission from the military to continue on to Newark. The last transmission to the plane gave the warning: "From where I'm sitting, I can't see the top of the Empire State Building." -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima. Equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, the bomb flattened the city, killing thousands of civilians. Three days later, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. -
Slinky Toy Hits Shelves!
The idea originated when engineer Richard James dropped a tension spring on the ground and saw its movement. He took it him to his wife and, together, attempted to come up with a name for the potential toy. His wife, Betty, found the word slinky in the dictionary and thus bestowed the name on the toy. The first were sold at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and have been a hit ever since. -
"Dewey Defeats Truman" in the Newspapers
In the Chicago Daily Tribune, the headline had read "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." Republicans, polls, newspapers, and many Democrats had believed this to be true. In the largest political upset in history, Harry S. Truman had won the election for president.
