On Thursday, October 21st, the book of history records, among other things:
1866: The last of the treaties between Prussia and 22 princely states or free cities north of the Main Line on the establishment of the “German Confederation” is signed.
1911: Archduke Karl, the great-nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph, marries Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of the last Duke of Parma, at Schwarzau Castle in Lower Austria.
1916: The Austrian Prime Minister Count Karl Stürgkh is shot in the dining room of the Vienna hotel “Meissl & Schadn” by the journalist Friedrich Adler, son of the Social Democratic party leader Victor Adler, in protest against the state of emergency and the elimination of parliament. (Friedrich Adler was released from prison in 1918 and secretary of the Socialist International in 1923).
1921: Emperor Karl I tries for the second time to come back to power as king in Hungary in order to advance the reform course together with the Hungarian democrats. However, Imperial Administrator Miklós Horthy of Nagybánya refuses to give up his position. Under pressure from the Entente powers, Charles I gives in and the family is exiled to Madeira.
1936: Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Madrid begins. President Manuel Azaña evades to Barcelona. In the areas controlled by the republican government, ordinances on collectivization and workers’ control are enacted.
1956: The Central Committee of Polish Communists elects the rehabilitated Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary. He replaces the Stalinist Edward Ochab.
1966: A waste dump spills the Welsh village of Aberfan, 144 people, including 116 children, are killed.
1971: After the SPÖ victory in the National Council elections, Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who ruled for a year and a half with a minority cabinet tolerated by the FPÖ, forms a single socialist government that is sworn in by Federal President Franz Jonas. Foreign Minister Rudolf Kirchschläger is not a party member.
1971: The SPÖ nominates ÖGB President Anton Benya to succeed National Council President Karl Waldbrunner.
1971: Press photographer Franz Josef Hartlauer opens his first branch in Steyr in Upper Austria.
1986: The US government declares 55 Soviet diplomats undesirable and must leave the country by November 1st.
1991: After five years in captivity in Beirut, the American hostage Jesse Turner is released. Israel had previously released 15 Lebanese Shiites.
2001: For the first time in 30 years, the SPD is again the strongest party in Berlin. The social democrat Klaus Wowereit becomes the governing mayor.
2001: The French Claudie Haigneré is the first European to take the “Soyuz” spacecraft to the international space station ISS. She will return safely to Earth on October 31st.
2011: The members of the government and the provincial governors finally agree on the establishment of provincial administrative courts and the introduction of the transparency database. The introduction of a Federal Office for Asylum and Migration is also firmly agreed.
Birthdays: Margarete Buber-Neumann, German writer (1901-1989); Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, British composer (1921-2006); Leo Kirch, German media entrepreneur (1926-2011); Lord Hugh Thomas of Swynnerton, British historian (1931-2017); Simon Gray, British playwright (1936-2008); Carrie Fisher, US film actress and screenwriter (Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy (1956-2016); Andrew Scott, Irish film / stage actor (1976).
Days of Death: Pietro Aretino, Italian writer (1492-1556); Adolf Kirchl, east. Choirmaster and composer (1858-1936); Karl Graf von Stürgkh, east. Statesman (1859-1916); Arthur Schnitzler, east. Writer (1862-1931); Naoya Shiga, Japanese writer (1883-1971); Anna Maria Jokl, east. Writer (1911-2001); Manfred Krug, German actor (1937-2016).
Name days: Ursula, Severin, Hilarion, Ottilie, Constanze, Clementine, Irmtraud, Cordula, Jakob, Matthäus.