The following events occurred in April 1933:
April 1, 1933 (Saturday) The Nazi government organized a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, with the assistance of Julius Streicher, publisher of the anti-Semitic daily newspaper Der Sturmer. The boycott failed to attract public support. Days later, laws were proclaimed to remove German Jews from various occupations.Peter Fritzsche, Life and Death in the Third Reich (Harvard University Press, 2009), p. 123; Jon Bloomberg, The Jewish World in the Modern Age (KTAV Publishing House, 2004), p. 136 The first squadron of the Indian Air Force was organized.Sukhwant Singh, India's Wars Since Independence (Lancer Publishers, 2009), p. 429 After a motion, for a vote for no confidence against the government of Prime Minister Manopakorn Nititada, was introduced in the Siamese Parliament, King Prajadhipok dissolved the session and gave Manopakorn the power to rule by decree.Paul M. Handley, The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej (Yale University Press, 2006), p. 52 In an effort to attract more passengers to travel by train, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and four smaller railroad companies in the southeastern United States slashed fares by one-third and eliminated surcharges on Pullman car travel. Further cuts were made on December 1, with the increased sale of tickets offsetting the revenue per ticket. As a member of the English cricket team touring New Zealand, batsman Wally Hammond scored a record 336 runs in a test match at Eden Park in Auckland."Sets New Record For Test Matches— Wally Hammond Hits Up 336 Not Out at Auckland", Ottawa Journal, April 1, 1933, p31 Born: Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist, and 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate; in Constantine, French Algeria.
April 2, 1933 (Sunday) The Anti-Communist Act of Siam was enacted, drafted by former U.S. Congressman Raymond B. Stevens.Kasīan Tēchaphīra, Commodifying Marxism: The Formation of Modern Thai Radical Culture, 1927–1958 (Trans Pacific Press, 2001), p. 38 Born: György Konrád, Hungarian novelist and philosopher; in Berettyóújfalu (d. 2019) Takashi Negishi, Japanese economist; in Tokyo.
April 3, 1933 (Monday) In the Soviet city of Kherson,History of nephrology: Ukrainian aspectsDr. Yuri Voronoy Dr Yuri Voronoy performed the first human kidney transplant, taking the kidney from a 60-year-old man who had died from a skull fracture, and implanting it into a 26-year-old woman who had attempted suicide.Surgeon Yurii Voronoy (1895–1961) – a pioneer in the history of clinical transplantation: in Memoriam at the 75th Anniversary of the First Human Kidney Transplantation by Edouard Matevossian, Hans Kern, Norbert Huser, Dietrich Doll et al. (Department of Surgery, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität of Munich, Germany) // Transplant International — ISSN 0934-0874. European Society for Organ Transplantation - 2009. - pp. 1132-1139 The donor had "Type B" blood, while the recipient was "Type O", and she died two days later.Andrew Klein, et al., Organ Transplantation: A Clinical Guide (Cambridge University Press, Aug 31, 2011), p. 2Abhinav Humar, et al., Atlas of Organ Transplantation (Springer, 2009), p. 1 The first flight over Mount Everest was made by two airplanes, piloted by Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Lord Clydesdale and Flight Lieutenant D. F. McIntyre.R.K.C. Shekhar, Academic Dictionary of Civil Aviation (Gyan Books, 2005), p. 104 Michigan became the first state to ratify the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition, when the 100 delegates to its constitutional convention voted 99-1 for ratification."Michigan Ratifies Repeal Of Dry Law", St. Petersburg Times, April 11, 1933, p. 1 The 36th state, Utah, would ratify on December 5.Garrett Peck, Prohibition in Washington, D.C: How Dry We Weren't (The History Press, 2011), p. 144 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the first American President's wife to hold her own press conferences, told reporters, mostly women, that beer would be served at the White House as soon as Prohibition ended. Mrs. Roosevelt emphasized that she did not drink alcohol, but that it would be available to guests of the President.Maurine H. Beasley, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Media: A Public Quest for Self-fulfillment (University of Illinois Press, 1987), p. 52 Died: Wilson Mizner, 56, American playwright and co-owner of the famous Los Angeles restaurant chain, The Brown Derby.
April 4, 1933 (Tuesday) At 12:33 a.m., the American airship was torn apart by a violent storm, and crashed in the ocean, 20 miles east of Barnegat, New Jersey, killing 73 of the 76 people on board. The three survivors— Lt. Comm. Herbert V. Wiley, boatswain's mate Richard E. Deal, and metalsmith Moody E. Irwin— were brought home on a Navy destroyer. Wiley reported that the Akron proceeded northeast to avoid a thunderstorm, and that at 12:30 a.m., fell from a height of 1,600 feet into the ocean, and broke apart on impact."STORM-TOSSED AKRON CARRIES 73 TO DEATH IN ATLANTIC", Calgary Daily Herald, April 4, 1933, p. 1 The Berufsbeamtengesetz, officially the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" was promulgated in Germany, requiring that all "non-Aryan" Germans (mostly Jewish) be expelled from government jobs, including academic positions at public universities.Thomas Adam, ed., Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics and History (ABC-CLIO, 2005), p. 562 After a direct appeal by the Reich Union of Jewish Veterans, German President Hindenburg intervened to have Chancellor Hitler make exceptions for Jewish employees who had fought for Germany in World War I, or whose father or son had died in the war, or who had been employed by the government prior to the war; dismissed employees were to receive three months' salary, and those who had ten or more years of service were to receive a pension.Eugene Davidson, The Trial of the Germans: An Account of the Twenty-two Defendants before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (University of Missouri Press, 1997), pp. 267–268 The exemptions would be removed with the enactment of the Nuremberg Code on September 15, 1935. Among the scientists who would leave the country were 14 who had won, or would later win, the Nobel Prize.Lucy S. Dawidowicz, A Holocaust Reader (Behrman House, 1976), pp. 35–6 Died: Libbie Custer, 90, widow of General George Custer. She had campaigned to have him remembered as a national hero William A. Moffett, 63, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, Medal of Honor recipient, and Director of the U.S. Bureau of Aeronautics and pioneer in naval aviation, was killed in the crash of the Akron.
April 5, 1933 (Wednesday) The International Court in The Hague decided that East Greenland belonged to Denmark and rejected Norway's historical claim to the landmass.Axel Kjær Sørensen, Denmark-Greenland in the Twentieth Century (Museum Tusculanum Press, 2009), pp. 53–4 U.S. President Roosevelt declared a national emergency and issued Executive Order 6102, making it illegal for American citizens to own gold. Hoarding was prohibited, and citizens were ordered to redeem the gold for the official price of $20.67 per ounce.George B. Grey, Federal Reserve System: Background, Analyses and Bibliography (Nova Publishers, 2002), p. 99 President Roosevelt's Executive Order 6129 established the Civilian Conservation Corps, following legislation signed on March 31. The first camp was created 12 days later.Robert F. Collins, A History of the Daniel Boone National Forest, 1770–1970 (U.S. Forest Service, 1975), p. 216 Dr Evarts Graham performed the first pneumonectomy (removal of part of the lung) as a treatment for lung cancer. By the time of his death on March 4, 1957 — also of lung cancer — the surgery had become the preferred treatment for stopping the progress of the disease.James S. Olson, The History of Cancer: An Annotated Bibliography (ABC-CLIO, 1989), p. 48 Born: Frank Gorshin, American impressionist and comedian, also known as "The Riddler" in the Batman TV series; in Pittsburgh (d. 2005) Barbara Holland, American essayist and hedonist; in Washington, D.C. (d. 2010).
April 6, 1933 (Thursday) By a 53–30 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Black-Connery bill, providing for a 30-hour work week with no cut in pay."30-Hour Week Passes Senate By 53 To 30 Vote", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 7, 1933, p. 1 The measure went to the House on April 17. By then, the National Association of Manufacturers had organized opposition to the bill, and President Roosevelt withdrew his support. The Rules Committee of the House of Representatives never voted on the bill, and the 6-hour workday never came to pass.Cynthia L. Negrey, Work Time: Conflict, Control and Change (Polity Press, 2012), pp. 53–4 The Screen Writers Guild was formed by screenwriters who were dissatisfied with the Writers Guild of America.Tom Stempel, Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film (Syracuse University Press, 2000), p. 138
April 7, 1933 (Friday) At 12:01 a.m. in each time zone, it became legal to offer beer for sale across 19 of the 48 United States and in Washington, D.C., for the first time since 1920. A full repeal of Prohibition would take place on December 5. Legally-brewed beer came with a hefty tax on each barrel. Beer went on sale in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and D.C. first, followed one hour later at midnight Central Time in Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. Colorado and Montana were an hour afterward, and at midnight Pacific Time, in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington."13-YEARS OF BEER DROUGHT END WITH JOYOUS RUSH AT MIDNIGHT", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 7, 1933, p. 1 Died: Raymond Paley, 26, English mathematician who discovered the Paley construction for Hadamard matrices, the Paley graphs in graph theory, the Paley–Wiener theorem in harmonic analysis, the Paley–Zygmund inequality and the Littlewood–Paley theory. Paley was killed in an avalanche during a skiing trip in the Canadian Rockies."Avalanche Kills Famous English Mathematician", Montreal Gazette, April 10, 1933, p. 17
April 8, 1933 (Saturday) In a referendum in the state of Western Australia, voters overwhelmingly (138,653 to 70,706) favored seceding from the rest of Australia."Secession Referendum — Big 'Yes' Majority", The Age (Melbourne), April 10, 1933 The British House of Commons would conclude that the request could not be honored because the Statute of Westminster 1931 required approval also by the Australian federal government.Gabrielle Appleby, et al., The Future of Australian Federalism: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 79; Austrian musician Herbert von Karajan, who aspired to become a musical conductor, joined the Nazi Party in Austria the day after Germany began removing Jews from occupations. Reasoning that the removal of Jews from existing musical jobs would make more jobs available to him, Karajan concluded that party membership would allow him to advance his career more quickly. Five years to the day later, he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra for his first time.Theodore Libbey, The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music (Workman Publishing, 2006), p. 375
April 9, 1933 (Sunday) The first of the series of retrials of the Scottsboro Boys ended. Haywood Patterson was again found guilty of rape and sentenced to execution. Born: Gian Maria Volonté a/k/a "Johnny Weis", Italian actor who played the villain against Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More; in Milan (d. 1994).
April 10, 1933 (Monday) Pope Pius XI met Nazi German politicians Hermann Göring and Franz von Papen in Rome.Michael Bess, Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II (Random House Digital, 2008), p. 83