Historical Events in November 1939

  • Nov 1 First animal conceived by artificial insemination (rabbit) displayed
  • Nov 1 First jet plane, Heinkel He 178, demonstrated to German Air Ministry
  • Nov 1 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Sertum laetitiae
  • Nov 3 Clare Booth's "Margin for Error" premieres in NYC
  • Nov 4 1940 Olympics awarded to Helsinki, Finland
  • Nov 4 First air conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago, Illinois
  • Nov 4 US allows "cash & carry" arms sales during WW II
  • Nov 6 WGY-TV (Schenectady, NY), 1st commercial TV station, begins service
  • Nov 6 WRGB TV channel 6 in Schenectady-Alby-Troy, NY (CBS) 1st broadcast
  • Nov 6 World War II: 'Sonderaktion Krakau' - a Nazi operation against academics, with 184 professors arrested in Krakow and deported

MurderAssassination Attempt

Nov 8 Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler
  • Nov 8 H Lindsay & R Crouse' "Life with Father" premieres in NYC

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 9 "Ninotchka" with Greta Garbo premieres

Actress Greta Garbo
Actress
Greta Garbo
  • Nov 9 Nobel for physics awarded to Ernest O Lawrence (cyclotron)
  • Nov 9 Venlo-incident: German Abwehr kills 2 British agents

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 11 Kate Smith first sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"

Composer and Lyricist Irving Berlin
Composer and Lyricist
Irving Berlin
  • Nov 12 Jews in Lodz Poland ordered to wear yellow star of David
  • Nov 14 Oil refinery fire kills 500 & destroys Lagunillas, Venezuela
  • Nov 15 Anti-German demonstrations in Czechoslovakia

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 15 FDR lays cornerstone of Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Nov 15 Nazis begin mass murder of Warsaw Jews
  • Nov 15 The first unemployment compensation law, under the Social Security Act, that of the District of Columbia, was approved for grants by the Social Security Board

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 16 Al Capone freed from Alcatraz jail

Gangster Al Capone
Gangster
Al Capone
  • Nov 16 German U-boat torpedoes tanker Sliedrecht near Ireland
  • Nov 17 German U-boat torpedoes passenger ship
  • Nov 17 Jerome Kern/Hammerstein II's "Very Warm for May" premieres in NYC
  • Nov 17 The Rome-Rio de Janeiro air connection is created.
  • Nov 18 Dutch KNSM passenger ship Simón Bolívar hits German mine, 86 die
  • Nov 18 The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus
  • Nov 19 Don Lash wins 6th straight AAU cross-country 10K championship

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 22 Bugsy Siegel, Whitey Krakower, Frankie Carbo and Albert Tannenbaum kill Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg outside his apartment after Greenberg had threatened to become a police informant

Mobster Bugsy Siegel
Mobster
Bugsy Siegel

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Nov 23 Nazi Govrnor of Poland Hans Frank requires Jews to wear a blue star

Lawyer Hans Frank
Lawyer
Hans Frank
  • Nov 26 4 soviet soldiers killed on Finnish-Russian border
  • Nov 27 Maxwell Anderson's "Key Largo" premieres in NYC
  • Nov 28 Hans Frank, Nazi Governor-General of Poland, organizes Judenrat
  • Nov 28 Soviet government revokes Russian-Finnish non-aggression treaty
  • Nov 29 Cor Klint swims world record 200 m backstroke (2:38.8)
  • Nov 29 USSR drops diplomatic relations with Finland
  • Nov 30 Paul Osborn's "Mornings at 7" premieres in NYC
  • Nov 30 USSR invades Finland, bombs Helsinki