OCTOBER 28 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

OCTOBER 28

1938

Nazi German government called for the arrest of about 18,000 Polish Jews living in Germany and had them expelled to Poland. Then Poland in turn refused them entry, thus leaving them stranded in so-called 'No-Man's Land' near the Polish border for several months. (In March of 1938, the Polish government had decreed that passports held by Polish citizens living abroad for more than five years would require re-validation. )  Many of the Polish Jews sought refuge in the nearby towns of Zbaszyn and Bytom.  According to some sources, about six to ten thousand Jews gathered in the town of Zbaszyn, within the space of a few days.  A large refugee camp was created in Zbaszyn, with help from Jewish aid organisations. It wasn't until the end of November 1938 that the Polish authorities decided to disband the camp and allow the refugees residency in Poland. Many of them settled in Poland while others arranged travel visas to leave the country.  (nb. Polish authorities threatened retaliations and the expulsion of the same number of Germans, according to the papers and memoirs of Ambassador Jozef Lipski, "Diplomat in Berlin" 1933-1939)

1941

Second Odessa Massacre:  On October 28, another massacre was instigate by the Romanians, and Nazi Germans. They herded between 4,000 and 5,000 Jewish civilians into stables and bars and shot them.. By the end of December, an additional 50,000 Jews from the concentration camp at Bogdanovka had been killed. Another 10,000 Jews were taken on a death march to three concentration camps near Golta: Bogdanovka, Domanovka and Acmecetca. Many died during the march. Those who survived were murdered two months later, along with tens of thousands of other Jews who had been brought to these camps from northern Transnistria and Bessarabia.

1942

Nazi Germany made its first V-1 rocket glide test flight on October 28, 1942, from Peenemunde, carried under a Focke-Wulf Fw200.  The launch sites were capable of launching about a maximum of 18 V-1s per day but only 25% of them actually hit their targets.  Most failed due to a combination of ineffective mechanical design, or guidance errors. With the capture or destruction of the launch facilities by the Allies, the V-1s were redirected in attacks against strategic points in Belgium, particularly the port of Antwerp.  (Attempts to launch the V-1 against Britain were met by a variety of countermeasures, including barrage balloons and aircraft including the Hawker Tempest and Gloster Meteor.  The British were so successful in these measures that by August 1944 approximately 1,000 V-1s or 80 per cent  were destroyed by the RAF aircraft.)