Historical Events in November 1939

Catholic Encyclical

Nov 1 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Sertum laetitiae

260th Pope Pius XII — 260th Pope
Pius XII

Nov 3 Clare Booth's "Margin for Error" premieres in NYC
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

Assassination Attempt

Nov 8 Failed assassination attempt on Adolf 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 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 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 a yellow star of David

Nov 14 Oil refinery fire kills 500 & destroys Lagunillas, Venezuela
Nov 15 Anti-German demonstrations in Czechoslovakia

Event 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 Interest

Nov 16 Al Capone freed from Alcatraz jail

Nov 16 German U-boat torpedoes tanker Sliedrecht near Ireland
Nov 17 German U-boat torpedoes passenger ship

Event of Interest

Nov 17 Jerome Kern/Hammerstein II's "Very Warm for May" premieres in NYC

Broadway Composer Jerome Kern — Broadway Composer
Jerome Kern

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
Nov 19 Comic superheroes Flash (as Jay Garrick) and Hawkman (Carter Hall) first appear in "Flash Comics No. 1" published by DC

Event 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 Interest

Nov 23 Nazi Governor of Poland Hans Frank requires Jewish Poles above the age of 11 years to wear a blue Star of David

Lawyer and Nazi War Criminal Hans Frank — Lawyer and Nazi War Criminal
Hans Frank

Nov 26 4 soviet soldiers killed on Finnish-Russian border

Theater Premiere

Nov 27 Maxwell Anderson's play "Key Largo" premieres in NYC

Playwright and Dramatist Maxwell Anderson — Playwright and Dramatist
Maxwell Anderson

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

On This Day

Historical Events in November 1939

Catholic Encyclical

Assassination Attempt

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Event of Interest

Theater Premiere

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