OCTOBER 22 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

OCTOBER 22

1941

Odessa Massacres of October 22 to 24, 1941:  In a three-day rampage, Romanian troops, assisted by Nazi German soldiers, rounded up and massacred Jewish civliians in the town of Odessa, shooting them, or forcing many of the Jews into warehouses and setting the buildings on fire.  The Romanians blamed the Jews for a bombing that had just occurred;  it was due to a time-delayed bomb that was actually set by the Soviets in the Romanian headquarters. The blast killed 67 people including General Ioan Glogojeanu, the Romanian commander, 16 other Romanian officers and four German naval officers.  By the evening of the same day, Romanian troops launched their reprisals. In the end, over 20,000 Jews had been slaughtered, shot or burned alive. The remaining survivors numbering about 35,000 men, women, and children were sent to the ghetto located in the suburb of Slobodka. Most of the buildings there were destroyed, and the Jewish prisoners were left outdoors for ten days. Many of them died of exposure.

1942

Secret Allied Meeting:   A clandestine meeting took place in Algiers on October 22, 1942  between American Maj. Gen. Mark Clark, French officials supportive of the Allies, as well as resistance fighters to discuss Operation Torch. It was the planned invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign, and it began on November 8, 1942. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was given command of the operation, and he set up his headquarters in Gibraltar. Operation Torch was the first major operation by American troops in the European-North African theatre during WW2. and the first armed deployment in the Arab world since the Barbary wars and, according to analysts of The Economist, laid the foundations for America’s post-war Middle East policy.

1978

Official inauguration of Pope John Paul II. It was memorable for the historic embrace of the new people and his mentor, Cardinal Wyszyński, as well as the words “Do not be afraid”,  which became a key element of the Pope John Paul II pontificate. The following is a brief excerpt of his homily, addressed to the faithful in Vatican square on October 22, 1978; "......I thank all of you here present who have wished to participate in this solemn inauguration of the ministry of the new Successor of Peter.  I heartily thank the Heads of State, the Representatives of the Authorities, and the Government Delegations for so honouring me with their presence. Thank you, Eminent Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.  I thank you, my beloved Brothers in the Episcopate. ........I speak to you, my dear fellow-countrymen, pilgrims from Poland, Brother Bishops with your magnificent Primate at your head, Priests, Sisters and Brothers of the Polish Religious Congregations—to you representatives of Poland from all over the world.  What shall I say to you who have come from my Krakow, from the See of Saint Stanislaus of whom I was the unworthy successor for fourteen years? What shall I say? Everything that I could say would fade into insignificance compared with what my heart feels, and your hearts feel, at this moment. So let us leave aside words. Let there remain just great silence before God, the silence that becomes prayer. I ask you: be with me! At Jasna Gora and everywhere. Do not cease to be with the Pope who today prays with the words of the poet: "Mother of God, you who defend Bright Czestochowa and shine at Ostrabrama". And these same words I address to you at this particular moment........."