This Year in History:
1946
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
On October 1, 1946, 12 high‑ranking Nazis are sentenced to death by the International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop,…
Hailed by many critics as Eugene O’Neill’s finest work, The Iceman Cometh opens at the Martin Beck Theater on October 9, 1946. The play, about desperate tavern bums clinging to…
On October 15, 1946, Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, chief forester of the Reich, chief…
At Nuremberg, Germany, 10 high‑ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes during World War II. Two weeks earlier, the…
On October 16, 1946, Alfred Rosenberg, the primary fabricator and disseminator of Nazi ideology, is hanged as a war criminal. Born in Estonia in 1893, Rosenberg studied architecture at the…
On October 26, 1946, Patrick Leonard Sajdak, who will one day be known to millions of game‑show fans as the Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, is born in Chicago.…
On November 1, 1946, the New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies in the first NBA game, 68‑66. The Knickerbockers are led by guard Leo Gottlieb, who scored 14 points in the game…
In the aftermath of World War II, the General Assembly of the United Nations votes to establish the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), an organization to help provide…
Mobster Bugsy Siegel opens the glitzy Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 26, 1946. Well‑known singer and comedian Jimmy Durante headlined the night’s entertainment, with music by Cuban band leader…
