Timeline October 1943

Events in October 1943 9

• 1873 – 1943 Max Reinhardt (1873-1943) Died 31 October 1943, aged 70 Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theatre and film director who transformed stagecraft in Berlin and Vienna. He co-founded the Salzburg Festival. He left Europe because of the Nazis and died in exile in New York.
• 1943 Rescue of the Danish Jews Wartime Heroism A massive civilian effort that evacuated over 7,000 Jews to neutral Sweden in the middle of the night.
• 1943 Rescue of the Danish Jews Most of Denmark's Jews escape to Sweden Denmark's Jews were warned of a German round-up planned for the night of 1–2 October. Ordinary Danes hid them and ferried them across the Øresund to neutral Sweden in fishing boats. About 7,200 of roughly 7,800 Danish Jews escaped.
• 1943 Himmler's Posen speeches Himmler speaks openly of exterminating the Jews Heinrich Himmler addressed SS officers and Nazi Party leaders in Posen. In these speeches he spoke explicitly about the extermination of the Jewish people. Recordings and transcripts of the speeches later became key evidence of the Holocaust.
• 1943 Italy declares war on Germany The Badoglio government joins the Allies as a co-belligerent The Italian government under Pietro Badoglio declared war on Nazi Germany. The Allies recognised Italy as a co-belligerent, though not a full ally. Italian units then fought alongside the Allies.
• 1943 Sobibor uprising Prisoners kill SS guards and escape from Sobibor Prisoners at the Sobibor extermination camp, led by Alexander Pechersky and Leon Feldhendler, killed eleven SS men and broke out. About 300 escaped, and around 50 survived the war. The Germans closed and demolished the camp soon afterwards.
• 1943 Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers The Allies agree on a future international organisation The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union met in Moscow. The resulting Moscow Declarations committed the Allies to create a general international organisation and to restore Austria's independence. They also pledged to punish German war crimes.
• 1943 Streptomycin discovered The first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis Albert Schatz, a graduate student in Selman Waksman's laboratory at Rutgers University, isolated streptomycin from soil bacteria. It was the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis. Waksman received the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the work.
• 1943 Provisional Government of Free India proclaimed Subhas Chandra Bose forms a government in exile Subhas Chandra Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India in Singapore with Japanese backing. It commanded the Indian National Army. It declared war on Britain and the United States.