We've made much lately of the coincidental, yet ironic timing of different historical events.



Today offers the most interesting one of all.



On November 9, 1938, Nazi storm troopers launched a coordinated attack against Jewish communities, destroying property and shipping thousands to concentration camps, in what is considered the unofficial beginning of the Holocaust.



On November 9, 1989, jubilant East and West Berliners began tearing down the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Iron Curtain for 28 years, in what is considered the beginning of the end of communism in East Germany. (Click here for Spanish version of article).



November 9 is also what inspired the creation of On This Day, as I more fully describe in this blog post. In short, I opened the newspaper this day in 2007 and saw the familiar, uninspiring rote listing of a dozen significant events that occurred over the past 500 years. On this particular day, this lackadaisical approach troubled me, because the two events I mention above were so momentous. I was embarrassed that I knew less about these events than I should - and puzzled why the newspaper would not devote more space to conveying an understanding of these events that were so rich in historical significance. The older I get, the more interesting history becomes to me. And so we created On This Day, a well-researched exposition of a significant event that occurred on this day in history.



Highlights from SweetSearch2Day:



Library of Congress' American Memory celebrates the birth, in 1731, of mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker, noting that "his significant accomplishments and correspondence with prominent political figures profoundly influenced how African Americans were viewed during the Federal period." In 1752, Banneker built a clock out of wood. Believed to be the first built in America, it kept precise time for decades. Later, Banneker successfully forecast a 1789 solar eclipse, contrary to predictions of well-known mathematicians and astronomers.



Poem of the Day is Zerogarden, by Andrew Zawacki.