The Gudovac massacre was the killing of around 190 Serb civilians by the
Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 28 April 1941, during World
War II. It occurred shortly after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and
the establishment of the Ustaše-led puppet state known as the
Independent State of Croatia. It was the first Ustaše massacre of Serb
civilians and presaged a wider genocide against them that would last
until the end of the war. The Ustaše used the deaths of two of their
local followers as a pretext for the killings. The victims were drawn
from the Gudovac district, taken to a nearby field and shot en masse.
Five survived the initial shooting and crawled away. The victims were
then buried in a mass grave. The Germans soon became aware of the
killing and dug up some of the bodies; they arrested 40 suspects, who
were released following the intervention of a senior Ustaše official.
Monuments were erected on the site of the massacre in 1955, but
destroyed by Croatian nationalists in 1991, amid inter-ethnic warfare. A
restored monument was unveiled at the site in December 2010.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudovac_massacre>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
About 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, Fletcher Christian, acting
lieutenant on board the Royal Navy ship Bounty, led a mutiny against the
commander, William Bligh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
1887:
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police,
French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé was released on the order
of William I, the German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Schnaebel%C3%A9>
1910:
Frenchman Louis Paulhan won the London to Manchester air race,
the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_London_to_Manchester_air_race>
1952:
Japan and the Republic of China signed the Treaty of Taipei to
officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War, seven years after fighting
in that conflict ended due to World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Taipei>
2008:
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, the world's
highest residence above ground-level at the time (1,389 feet (423 m)),
held its full service grand opening.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_(Chicago)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fizgig:
1. (archaic) A flirtatious, coquettish girl, inclined to gad or gallivant
about; a gig, a giglot.
2. (archaic) Something frivolous or trivial; a gewgaw, a trinket.
3. (archaic) A small squib-like firework that explodes with a fizzing or
hissing noise.
4. (fishing) A spear with a barb on the end of it, used for catching fish;
a type of harpoon.
5. (Australia, slang, dated) A police informer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fizgig>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
"Good evening, gentlemen!" said the vampire. "Please pay
attention. I am a reformed vampire, which is to say, I am a bundle of
suppressed instincts held together with spit and coffee. It would be
wrong to say that violent, tearing carnage does not come easily to me.
It's not tearing your throats out that doesn't come easily to me. Please
don't make it any harder."
--Monstrous Regiment
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Discworld#Monstrous_Regiment_.282003.29>
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