On this day in 1938 Adolf Hitler authorizes Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. This was an escalation in Hitler's political stance against the Jews. He used the murder of a low level German diplomat by a Polish Jew to instigate soldiers to into rioting all over the country. They smashed windows of Jewish business and homes and burned synagogues to the ground. They then blamed the Jews for the riots and fined them 1 billion marks for the damage caused.
On this day in 1965 the great northeast blackout occurred when a transmission line near Ontario, Canada was tripped causing a surge that spread across 8 states. 30 million people lost power, and 3 quarters of a million people became stranded aboard the New York City subway system. Efforts were made strengthen the power grid to avoid any further widespread loss of power. A similar blackout occurred in 2003, so good job guys!
On this day in 1989 the East German government lifts it ban on travel through the Berlin wall. The wall was a symbol of the Cold War, dividing not only an important system, but the world in two. At first people were afraid that the Soviet Union would intervene and close travel once again, but Mikhail Gorbachev encouraged those involved to help improve relations with the western world.
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