Timeline February 1943

Events in February 1943 15

• 1862 – 1943 David Hilbert (1862-1943) Died 14 February 1943, aged 81 David Hilbert was a German mathematician and one of the most influential of his era. His 23 problems, presented in 1900, shaped twentieth-century mathematics, and he laid the foundations of modern axiomatics and functional analysis. He died in Göttingen after the Nazis had gutted its mathematics institute.
• 1918 – 1943 Hans Scholl (1918-1943) Died 22 February 1943, aged 24 Hans Scholl was a medical student and a founding member of the White Rose resistance group. He wrote and distributed leaflets condemning Nazi crimes. He was executed in Munich together with his sister Sophie and Christoph Probst.
• 1921 – 1943 Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) Died 22 February 1943, aged 21 Sophie Scholl was a German student and member of the White Rose resistance group in Munich. She and her brother Hans were caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets at the University of Munich. The People's Court condemned them, and they were guillotined the same day.
• 1942 – 1943 The White Rose Resistance Movement A non-violent student resistance group led by Hans and Sophie Scholl against the Nazi regime.
• 1942 – 1943 Battle of Stalingrad Turning point on the Eastern Front The Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 - February 1943) was the largest and bloodiest battle in history, with nearly 2 million casualties. The German 6th Army was encircled and destroyed, marking the turning point of the war in the East.
• 1943 Chair of theoretical physics in Berlin At the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität He moved his family to Urfeld as the bombing of Berlin increased.
• 1943 German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad 91,000 survivors captured Field Marshal Paulus surrendered the remnants of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad on February 2, 1943. Of 300,000 men who entered the Stalingrad pocket, only 91,000 survived to surrender; fewer than 6,000 ever returned to Germany.
• 1943 – 1992 Wanda Rutkiewicz Mountaineer First European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 1943 Japan evacuates Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign ends in an Allied victory Japanese forces finished evacuating Guadalcanal, and the six-month struggle for the island ended. The campaign was the first major Allied land offensive against Japan in the Pacific. It marked a turning point in the Pacific War.
• 1943 Battle of Kasserine Pass Rommel's forces defeat inexperienced US troops in Tunisia German and Italian forces under Erwin Rommel attacked through the Kasserine Pass in western Tunisia and routed American units. This was the US Army's first major battle against the Germans. The defeat led to sweeping changes in American command and training.
• 1943 Parícutin volcano erupts from a Mexican cornfield A new volcano is born in Michoacán A volcano began erupting from a farmer's cornfield near the village of Parícutin in Michoacán, Mexico. It grew hundreds of metres over the following years and buried two villages. Scientists were able to document a volcano's whole life from its birth onwards.
• 1943 – 2025 Horst Kohler (1943-2025) Died 1 February 2025, aged 81 German economist who was managing director of the International Monetary Fund and then president of Germany from 2004 to 2010.
• 1943 – 2001 George Harrison Guitarist, singer-songwriter Lead guitarist of the Beatles, who brought Indian music to the West and made All Things Must Pass and the first charity rock concert.
• 1943 George Harrison born in Liverpool Youngest Beatle The son of a bus conductor.
• 1943 Heavy Water Sabotage Operation Gunnerside Sabotage of the Vemork plant to prevent Nazi Germany from developing an atomic bomb.