Under Friday, March 31, the book of history records, among other things:
1683: Emperor Leopold I concludes with King Johann III. Sobieski of Poland an alliance. At the same time, Sultan Mehmed IV sets out with a large Turkish army and moves north-west.
1843: The liberal-democratic “Rheinische Zeitung” in Cologne, which was also managed by Karl Marx for five months, is banned.
1913: The “Scandal Concert” (also “Watschen Concert”), a unique event in music history, takes place in the Vienna Musikvereinssaal. Under the direction of Arnold Schönberg, the orchestra of the Wiener Konzertverein plays contemporary works, but the audience is appalled by the new music. There were riots and riots during the concert, so that it had to be stopped prematurely.
1928: In Berlin, the ban on the NSDAP was lifted after a year.
1933: The Republican Protection League is dissolved and banned, but continues to operate illegally until the February fighting of 1934.
1943: In New York, the cowboy musical “Oklahoma!” by Richard Rodgers, based on a play by Lynn Riggs, and has a five-year run with more than 2,200 performances.
1943: Heavy US bombing of the Dutch city of Rotterdam – 180 dead, 20,000 people homeless.
1948: The US Congress passes the $5.3 billion Marshall Plan bill to rebuild Europe.
1953: In New York, 17 states sign a UN resolution on equal rights for men and women.
1958: Soviet Prime Minister Khrushchev announces a unilateral ban on nuclear weapons tests.
1968: US President Johnson announces that he will not seek re-election and that US airstrikes on targets north of the 20th parallel in Vietnam will be halted.
1993: The UN Security Council decides – with China abstaining – the military enforcement of the flight ban over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
2003: Iraq War: US troops establish themselves on the Euphrates near Hindiyah. The Shiite town of Najaf is the scene of fierce fighting. The US Air Force used B-1, B-2 and B-52 heavy bombers simultaneously for the first time.
2003: Minister of Education Elisabeth Gehrer sends out the draft regulation for the controversial reduction in school hours for assessment. Physical exercise is not affected. There are reductions in geography, physics, biology and Latin in particular, as well as the elective subjects in the AHS upper level.
2008: More than ten and a half years after the death of Princess Diana in Paris, a British judge rules out that the ex-wife of heir apparent Prince Charles was murdered. This concludes a public hearing launched by Egyptian millionaire Mohammed al Fayed. His son, Dodi al Fayed, died with Diana.
birthdays: Clemens Krauss, Austria conductor (1893-1954); Red Norvo, US jazz musician (1908-1999); Peter Weinzierl, Austria physicist (1923-1996); Erich Sokol, Austria graphic artist and caricaturist (1933-2003); Christopher Walken, US actor (1943); Albert (Al) Gore, US politician (1948).
days of death: Elly Ney, German pianist (1882-1968); Egon Erwin Kisch, East. reporter and writer (1885-1948); Jules Dassin, US director/writer/actor. (1911-2008); Helmut Haschek, Austria banker (1930-1993); Eduardo Úrculo, Spanish painter (1938-2003).
name days: Cornelia, Guido, Amos, Benjamin, Goswin, Balbina, Ludwiga, Traugott, Heinrich, Felix.