Today in History: Jan 15, 1951: The "Witch of Buchenwald" is sentenced to prison

On this day, Ilse Koch, wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in West Germany. Ilse Koch was nicknamed the "Witch of Buchenwald" for her extraordinary sadism.

Born in Dresden, Germany, Ilse, a librarian, married SS. Col. Karl Koch in 1936. Colonel Koch, a man with his own reputation for sadism, was the commandant of the Sashsenhausen concentration camp, two miles north of Berlin. He was transferred after three years to Buchenwald concentration camp, 4.5 miles northwest of Weimar; the Buchenwald concentration camp held a total of 20,000 slave laborers during the war.

Ilse, a large woman with red hair, was given free reign in the camp, whipping prisoners with her riding crop as she rode by on her horse, forcing prisoners to have sex with her, and, most horrifying, collecting lampshades, book covers, and gloves made from the skin of tattooed camp prisoners. A German inmate gave the following testimony during the Nuremberg war trials: "All prisoners with tattooing on them were to report to the dispensary... After the prisoners had been examined, the ones with the best and most artistic specimens were killed by injections. The corpses were then turned over to the pathological department, where the desired pieces of tattooed skin were detached from the bodies and treated further."

Karl Koch was arrested, ironically enough, by his SS superiors for "having gone too far." It seems he had a penchant for stealing even the belongings of wealthy, well-placed Germans. He was tried and hanged in 1944. Ilse Koch was tried for crimes against humanity at Nuremberg and sentenced to life in prison, but the American military governor of the occupied zone subsequently reduced her sentence to four years. His reason, "lack of evidence," caused a Senate investigation back home. She was released but arrested again, tried by a West German court, and sentenced to life. She committed suicide in 1967 by hanging herself with a bedsheet.

Also on This Day

Lead Story

Packers face Chiefs in first Super Bowl, 1967

American Revolution

New Connecticut (Vermont) declares independence, 1777

Automotive

Ford Foundation is born, 1936

Civil War

Fort Fisher falls to Union forces, 1865

Cold War

Dulles calls for "liberation of captive peoples", 1953

Crime

Hill Street Blues begins run, 1981

Disaster

Molasses floods Boston streets, 1919

General Interest

Elizabeth crowned queen of England, 1559

First appearance of the Democratic donkey, 1870

Martin Luther King Jr. born, 1929

Biafra surrenders to Nigeria, 1970

Qaddafi becomes premier of Libya, 1970

Sully Sullenberger performs Miracle on the Hudson, 2009

Hollywood

Last episode of soap opera Santa Barbara airs, 1993

Literary

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is finished, 1831

Music

"American Pie" hits #1 on the pop charts, 1972

Old West

The utopian Amana colony embraces capitalism, 1933

Presidential

Nixon suspends military action in North Vietnam, 1973

Sports

Packers beat Chiefs in first Super Bowl, 1967

Vietnam War

Kennedy says U.S. troops are not fighting, 1962

Nixon halts military action against North Vietnam, 1973

World War I

Rebel leaders are murdered in failed coup in Berlin, 1919

World War II

The "Witch of Buchenwald" is sentenced to prison, 1951

This Day in History: Jan 2, 1863: Yankees are victorious at the Battle of Stones River

On this day in 1863, the Battle of Stones River concludes when the Union troops of William Rosecrans defeat Confederates under Braxton Bragg at Murfeesboro, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. The battle was a crucial engagement in the contest for central Tennessee, and provided a Union victory during a bleak period for the North.

The end of 1862 found Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland in Nashville, 30 miles north of Bragg's troops. Rosecrans had assumed command of the army only in October, with the understanding that he would attack Bragg and drive the Confederates from central Tennessee. This move was delayed throughout the fall by John Morgan's cavalry, who harassed the Federals and threatened their supply line. Finally, the day after Christmas, Rosecrans moved his force south to meet Bragg.

The armies collided along Stones River on New Year's Eve. Facing a larger Union force (42,000 Union soldiers to 35,000 Confederates), Bragg launched an attack in bitterly cold morning fog against the Yankees' right flank. The attack was initially successful in driving the Union back, but the Yankees did not break. A day of heavy fighting brought significant casualties, and the suffering was compounded by the frigid weather. The Confederates came close to winning, but were not quite able to turn the Union flank against Stones River. The new year dawned the next day with each army still in the field and ready for another fight.

The strike came on January 2, and the Confederates lost the battle. Bragg attacked against the advice of his generals and lost the confidence of his army. The Union troops repelled the assault, and Bragg was forced back to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The North was in control of central Tennessee, and the Union victory provided a much-needed morale boost in the aftermath of the Yankees' loss at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862. Stones River was a hard-fought, bloody engagement, with some of the highest casualty rates of the war. The Confederates lost 33 percent of their force, while 31 percent of the Union force was either killed, wounded, or missing. Combined casualties totaled nearly 25,000 men. Lincoln later wrote to Rosecrans, "...you gave us a hard victory which, had there been a defeat instead, the nation could scarcely have lived over."
 

Also on This Day

Lead Story

U.S.-Russia detente ends, 1980

American Revolution

Congress publishes the Tory Act, 1776

Automotive

Rare Bugatti found in British garage, 2009

Civil War

Yankees are victorious at the Battle of Stones River, 1863

Cold War

Carter reacts to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, 1980

Crime

The Yorkshire Ripper is apprehended, 1981

Disaster

Football fans crushed in stadium stampede, 1971

General Interest

Reconquest of Spain, 1492

Georgia enters the Union, 1788

First censuring of a U.S. senator, 1811

Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, 1905

Callas walks out of performance, 1958

Hollywood

Sherry Lansing named first female studio production head, 1980

Literary

Stephen Crane's boat sinks, 1897

Music

Folk group The Weavers are banned by NBC after refusing to sign a loyalty oath, 1962

Old West

Secretary Fall resigns in Teapot Dome scandal, 1923

Presidential

Harrison welcomes Alice Sanger as first female staffer, 1890

Nixon signs national speed limit into law, 1974

Sports

Sooners win 30th game in a row, 1956

Vietnam War

Viet Cong are successful at Ap Bac, 1963

U.S. planes down seven enemy planes, 1967

World War I

Japanese capture Russian naval base at Port Arthur, 1905

World War II

 Navy opens a blimp base in New Jersey, 1942

This Day in History: Jan 1, 1959: Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution

On this day in 1959, facing a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capitol of Havana, the U.S. debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.






The U.S. government had supported Batista, a former soldier and Cuban dictator from 1933 to 1944, who seized power for a second time in a 1952 coup. After Castro and a group of followers, including the South American revolutionary Che Guevara (1928-1967), landed in Cuba to unseat the dictator in December 1956, the U.S. continued to back Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro's leftist ideology and worried that his ultimate goals might include attacks on the U.S.'s significant investments and property in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement.

Cuban support for Castro's revolution, however, grew in the late 1950s, partially due to his charisma and nationalistic rhetoric, but also because of increasingly rampant corruption, greed, brutality and inefficiency within the Batista government. This reality forced the U.S. to slowly withdraw its support from Batista and begin a search in Cuba for an alternative to both the dictator and Castro; these efforts failed.

On January 1, 1959, Batista and a number of his supporters fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic. Tens of thousands of Cubans (and thousands of Cuban Americans in the U.S.) celebrated the end of the dictator's regime. Castro's supporters moved quickly to establish their power. Judge Manuel Urrutia was named as provisional president. Castro and his band of guerrilla fighters triumphantly entered Havana on January 7.

The U.S. attitude toward the new revolutionary government soon changed from cautiously suspicious to downright hostile. After Castro nationalized American-owned property, allied himself with the Communist Party and grew friendlier with the Soviet Union, America's Cold War enemy, the U.S severed diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba and enacted a trade and travel embargo that remains in effect today. In April 1961, the U.S. launched the Bay of Pigs invasion, an unsuccessful attempt to remove Castro from power. Subsequent covert operations to overthrow Castro, born August 13, 1926, failed and he went on to become one of the world's longest-ruling heads of state. Fulgencio Batista died in Spain at age 72 on August 6, 1973. In late July 2006, an unwell Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul. Fidel Castro officially stepped down in February 2008.

Also on This Day

Lead Story

Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution, 1959

American Revolution

Mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line, 1781

Automotive

Edsel Ford succeeds father as president of Ford, 1919

Civil War

The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, 1863

Cold War

Cuban dictator Batista falls from power, 1959

Crime

The real-life murder behind Looking For Mr. Goodbar, 1973

Disaster

Air India jet crashes just after takeoff, 1978

General Interest

New Year's Day, 45 B.C.

Haitian independence proclaimed, 1803

Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect, 1863

First modern Mummers' Parade, 1876

Hollywood

Sneak preview of The Birth of a Nation, 1915

Literary

E.M. Forster is born, 1879

Music

Inmate Merle Haggard hears Johnny Cash play San Quentin State Prison, 1958

Old West

A Nebraska farmer files the first homestead claim, 1863

Presidential

Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation, 1863

Vietnam War

1st Marine Division advance elements arrive, 1966

Operation Sam Houston begins, 1967

World War I

British ship Formidable is torpedoed, 1915

World War II

United Nations created, 1942

 Hidden Japanese surrender after Pacific War has ended, 1946