IN TIMES OF STRIFE

The 16^th October seems to be a day for strife:

Apart from the 50^th anniversary of the beginnings of what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis on the 16^th October 1962, there are other matters for the 16^th October.

On the 16^th October 1793 Marie Antoinette was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.

Brown

On the 16^th October 1859 John Brown lead a raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia which was a catalyst to the American Civil War.

Mao Zedong

On the 16^th October 1934, Mao Zedong began the Long March, a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People’s Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army.

And on the 16^th October 1946, the death sentences, by hanging, imposed at the Nuremberg Trials for war crimes, were carried out on the following 10 of the 24 defendants:

Hans Frank:  Reich Law Leader 1933–45 and Governor-General of the General Government in occupied Poland 1939–45. Expressed repentance.

Wilhelm Frick: Hitler's Minister of the Interior 1933–43 and Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia 1943–45. Co-authored the Nuremberg Race Laws.

Alfred Jodl: Wehrmacht Generaloberst,  Keitel's subordinate and Chief of the OKW's Operations Division 1938–45.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner:  Highest surviving SS-leader. Chief of RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - Reich Security Main Office) 1943–45, the Nazi organ made up of the intelligence service (SD), Secret State Police (Gestapo), Criminal Police (Kripo) and had overall command over the Einsatzgruppen..

Wilhelm Keitel: Head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) 1938–45. Known for his unquestioning loyalty to Hitler. Expressed regrets.

Joachim von Ribbentrop: Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 1935–36. Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1936–38. Minister of Foreign Affairs 1938–45.

Alfred Rosenberg: Racial theory ideologist. Later, Minister of the Eastern Occupied Territories 1941–45.

Fritz Sauckel: Gauleiter of Thuringia 1927–45. Plenipotentiary of the Nazi slave labour program 1942–45.

Arthur Seyss-Inquart: Instrumental in the Anschluss and briefly Austrian Chancellor 1938. Deputy to Frank in Poland 1939–40. Later, Reich Commissioner of the occupied Netherlands 1940–45. Expressed repentance

Julius Streicher: Gauleiter of Franconia 1922–40, when he was relieved of authority but allowed by Hitler to keep his official title. Publisher of the anti-semitic weekly newspaper, Der Stürmer.

The other two condemned men escape hanging:

Martin Bormann: Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. Sentenced to death in absentia. Remains found in Berlin in 1972 and dated to 1945.

Hermann Göring: Reichsmarschall, Commander of the Luftwaffe 1935–45, Chief of the 4-Year Plan 1936–45, and original head of the Gestapo before turning it over to the SS in April 1934. Originally Hitler's designated successor and the second highest ranking Nazi official, he fell out of favour with Hitler in April 1945. Committed suicide on the 15^th October 1946, the night before his execution.

All these men were found guilty of war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.