Our first topic is surprisingly similar to something we may see happening again this year. On February 28th, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI resigned as his health would no longer allow him to keep up with the demands of the role. As published in The Quincy Herald-Whig, he announced his decision on February 11th, 2013, noting that his strength had been deteriorating as he got further into his 80s. The Herald-Whig published a transcript of his message, where he expressed gratitude for being able to serve as the pope, and explained his decision. Before his resignation, the last pope to resign from the role was Pope Gregory XII in 1415. That makes Benedict the first pope to resign in over 600 years. Despite his resignation, he continued to be an active member of the catholic church and dedicated his life to prayer. He lived for almost another 10 years as a quiet member of the church until he passed in 2022.
The story of Pope Benedict XVI echoes the current challenges that Pope Francis is facing. According to the Vatican, Francis has been battling pneumonia, and was hospitalized only after his condition worsened and he couldn’t continue his work at the same level. Having spent over a week in the hospital, many are reminding the pope that he can follow his predecessor and retire if his health no longer allows him to continue.
On February 26th, 1993, the World Trade Center in New York City suffered a terrorist attack, which foreshadowed what was to come almost less than a decade later. In the middle of the work day, just after noon, a car bomb was detonated in the parking garage of the North Tower. The explosion was strong enough to create a 100-foot crater that cut through multiple stories of the skyscraper. Only six people were killed, most immediately from the explosion, and over 1000 others suffered non-fatal injuries. One survivor shared his story in The Citizen, published on February 28th, 1993 from the Seymour Public Library CHA. He remembered wire sticking out of the cement as the fire burned, and how he felt like he was in a movie because none of it seemed real.
The terrorists behind the attack belonged to an Islamic extremist group led by Ramzi Yousef. Yousef was the mind behind the attack, though it didn’t go entirely to plan. He had hoped that the explosion would be strong enough to cause the North Tower to collapse, landing on top of the South Tower and taking down the entire complex. Thankfully, his plan was not successful, and it was only the North Tower that had been damaged in the bombing. However, this incident had a similar mission to the infamous day of September 11th, 2001, when two planes would successfully take down both towers of the World Trade Center. While it didn’t stop future attacks from happening, it alerted the United States to the threat of terrorism which was growing in the United States.
The Sound of Music is one of the most famous American musical movies that is still beloved by so many today. The film premiered on March 2nd, 1965, and was a huge hit immediately. The movie is based on the 1959 Broadway musical written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, two of Broadway’s most prominent composers. The Sound of Music follows a family affected by Nazi Germany during world war two, telling the story of everyday life for an upper-class family at that time. A feature on the film was published on December 18th, 1966 in The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It gave a behind-the-scenes look at the film, from casting to its creation. One interesting fact I learned from this article was that they knew they would cast Julie Andrews from the beginning, and she was the first person they officially hired for the movie. The film grossed nearly $1 million a week after it premiered, and is now considered a classic, must-watch movie!
If you aren’t familiar with the events in Germany leading up to the Nazi regime, you may not realize just how quickly Hitler was able to gain power. The fire in the Reichstag was one event that accelerated his climb to the top. The fire burned in the parliament building, which was located in Berlin, late at night on February 27th, 1933. The arsonist was Marinus Van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist. By the time firefighters arrived at the scene, the fire had quickly spread to the entire building. The Nazi regime used this as leverage to launch an attack against perceived communists, believing that this fire was a plot against the German government. As a response, the German government announced the Reichstag Fire Decree, which allowed them to commit mass arrests of communists in Germany. This was strategic, as through imprisoning those aligned with their opposing political party, the election on March 6th had a drastic lean of votes in favor of the Nazi party.
It seems that we didn’t understand the impact of this fire until years later when historians began to trace back the roots of Hitler’s rise. Because of this, it was quite difficult to find any mentions of this fire. The only one I did find was just a short sentence in The Fairfield Daily Ledger, published on February 27th, 1933. All it stated was that a fire had broken out in the Reichstag building that night, and nothing else. This is a great example of how often we don’t realize we’re living through history until we look back years later!
The national parks are a hot topic of conversation following recent layoffs of their workers. This news made me wonder what the history behind our national parks is, and which one was the very first to be designated. I got lucky because the first national park was established during the dates of this week, on March 1, 1872. The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act was a law signed by President Ulysses S. Grant which established the status of the lands in the western United States as protected. The purpose of the act was to create a space where Americans could go and enjoy the beauty of nature, and to prevent the land from being developed commercially or otherwise. Yellowstone National Park features some of the most unique natural features, such as the Old Faithful Geyser, and an incredibly diverse ecosystem. A reporter from The Newark Sunday Call in 1872 described it as “literally among the clouds” with “majestic falls and sublime, nature-painted canyons”. Eventually, other parks joined the list, and today we have a total of 63 designated national parks.
Join me again next week to discover more of history’s hidden gems and timeless tales.
Explore the “Read All About It” archives to read stories that spotlight our partners and their communities, announcements from our team, updates on current projects, and so much more. Discover articles about engagement, outreach, primary sources, community, digitization, education, and other topics of interest. Delve into the happenings in this week in history and take a deep dive into the events and people who helped shape our communities, our nation, and the world.
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