On Wednesday, October 13th, the book of history records, among other things:
1781: Emperor Joseph II issued the Edict of Tolerance, which allowed Protestants and Orthodox to practice their religion freely.
1921: Signing of the Venice Protocol to conclude the talks between Austria and Hungary on the settlement in Burgenland. Burgenland is handed over to Austria without a fight.
1961: The first traffic light with a so-called “Ampelmännchen” is presented in East Berlin. The traffic psychologist Karl Peglau invents the symbol of the red and green walking “traffic light man” for pedestrian traffic lights.
1981: In Egypt, Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected to succeed the murdered President Sadat.
1991: In Bulgaria the anti-communist “Union of Democratic Forces” wins the parliamentary elections.
1996: In the first Austrian elections to the EU Parliament, the ÖVP with its top candidate Ursula Stenzel becomes the strongest party. The SPÖ suffers heavy losses.
1996: The era of “Red Vienna” is coming to an end in the federal capital. The SPÖ only got 43 seats in the municipal council elections (1991: 52).
2001: A misdirected US bomb hits a residential area in the Afghan capital Kabul.
2016: US songwriter Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “poetic new creations in American song tradition” and thus sparked a debate about the literary status of song texts.
Birthdays: Otto Unverdorben, German chemist / pharmacist, discoverer of aniline (1806-1873); André Navarra, French musician (1911-1988); Yves Montand, Italian-French performer / singer (1921-1991); “Ray” Brown, US jazz musician, bassist (1926-2002); Christine Nöstlinger, east. Writer (1936-2018); Paul Simon, US singer (1941); Robert “Bob” Hunter, Canada. Journalist, environmentalist, author and politician; 1979 co-founder and second chairman of “Greenpeace International” (1941-2005); Sacha Baron Cohen, British comedian and actor (1971).
Days of Death: Hermann v. Siemens, German chemist / industrialist (1885-1986); Marius Casadesus, French concert pianist (1892-1981); Joe Sullivan, US jazz musician (1906-1971); Henri Nannen, German publicist (1913-1996); Gerhard Wimberger, east. Composer / conductor (1923-2016); Dario Fo, Italian playwright, director, actor and theater director; Nobel Prize 1997 (1926-2016); Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), King of Thailand (1927-2016).
Name days: Koloman, Eduard, Lubentius, Gerald, Isabella, Aurelia, Simbert, Theophil, Gregor, Andrew.