On Sunday, October 24th, the book of history records, among other things:
1526: Archduke Ferdinand, grandson of Emperor Maximilian I, is elected King of Bohemia.
1806: After the double victory over Prussia near Jena and Auerstedt, the French Emperor Napoleon I moves into Berlin with his troops. (Berlin remains under French occupation until December 1808.)
1916: The French retake Fort Douaumont at Verdun.
1921: The legitimist troops are defeated near Budaörs, and the second attempt at restoration fails. Ex-Emperor Karl (as the Hungarian King Karl IV.) And Ex-Empress Zita are taken prisoner on the orders of the Imperial Administrator Horthy. (On November 5th, the Hungarian Parliament proclaimed the loss of the throne of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine).
1936: Germany recognizes the Italian conquest of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
1946: The Czechoslovak Interior Minister Václav Nosek announces the completion of the resettlement of the Sudeten Germans.
1956: After the demonstrations for democratic freedoms in Budapest, Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who had been deposed the previous year, is taking over government affairs again in Hungary.
1976: The Trinity Church, built according to the designs of the sculptor Fritz Wotruba, is inaugurated in Vienna-Mauer.
1981: In Carinthia, Austria’s first national park, the “Hohe Tauern National Park”, is officially presented by Health Minister Kurt Steyrer.
1986: A Jordanian national is sentenced to 45 years in prison in London for attempting to blow up a fully occupied plane operated by the Israeli airline El Al on April 17 with a bomb in his pregnant friend’s luggage. Great Britain announces the severance of diplomatic relations with Syria.
1991: South and North Korea agree for the first time on an agreement in principle that contains both a non-aggression pact and a reconciliation concept.
2001: Eleven people die in a serious traffic accident in the Swiss Gotthard tunnel. A fire breaks out, parts of the tunnel roof collapse.
2006: A first breakthrough came in the negotiations for a grand coalition. SPÖ and ÖVP agree on an ordinance to legalize foreign nursing staff. By means of an amnesty law, previous sinners are also to be protected from punishment.
Birthdays: Domitian, Roman Emperor (51-96); August Graf von Platen, German poet (1796-1835); Carl Franz Bally, Switzerland. Entrepreneur (1821-1899); Paul Basilius Barth, Switzerland. Painter (1881-1955); Rafael Trujillo y Molina, domin. Politician (1891-1961); Sena Jurinac, east Soprano (1921-2011); Georgina (Gina) Princess von und zu Liechtenstein (née Countess Wilczek) (1921-1989); Franz Hillinger, east. Politician (SPÖ), former Mayor of Linz (1921-1991); Sofia Gubaidulina, Soviet composer (1931); Bill Wyman (originally William George Perks), British musician, member of the “Rolling Stones” (1936); Roman Abramovich, russ-israel. Entrepreneur (1966); Gernot Blümel, east. Politician (ÖVP), Minister of Finance since Jan. 2021 (1981).
Days of Death: Tycho Brahe, dan. Astronomer (1546-1601); Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von Beust, Saxon and Eastern. Statesman (1809-1886); Adolf Lüderitz, German colonial pioneer (1834-1886); Hans Richard Sturzenegger, sw. Cellist (1905-1976); Eugene Wesley “Gene” Roddenbarry, US screenwriter, television and film producer; “Star Trek” (1921-1991).
Name days: Anton, Gilbert, Fromund, Salome, Alois, Evergistus, Thaddäus, Philipp, Armella, Raphael, Martin.