Rudolf Wolters (1903–1983) was a German architect and government official, known for his longtime association with fellow architect and Third Reich official Albert Speer. The two formed a friendship while students in the 1920s. In 1937, Speer hired him as a department head, and Wolters soon took major responsibility for Hitler's scheme to reconstruct Berlin on a massive scale. When Speer became Minister of Armaments and War Production in 1942, Wolters moved to his department, remaining his close associate. After Speer's indictment and imprisonment for war crimes, Wolters stood by him loyally. In addition to receiving and organizing Speer's clandestine notes from Spandau Prison, which later served as the basis of his best-selling books of memoirs, Wolters quietly raised money for Speer. These funds were used to support Speer's family and for other purposes, according to directions which Wolters received from his former superior. Following Speer's release in 1966, their friendship gradually deteriorated, until the two men became so embittered that Wolters allowed papers demonstrating Speer's knowledge of the persecution of the Jews to become public.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

455:

Following the death of Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, the Vandals led by King Gaiseric sacked Rome, looting treasure from the city and taking Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters hostage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals

1848:

As part of the Pan-Slavism movement, the Prague Slavic Congress began in Prague, one of the few times that voices from all Slav populations of Europe were heard in one place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Slavic_Congress%2C_1848

1924:

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Citizenship_Act_of_1924

1995:

United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady was shot down by a Bosnian Serb Army SA-6 surface-to-air missile while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone over Bosnia in an F-16, but he was able to eject safely and was then rescued six days later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrkonji%C4%87_Grad_incident

2003:

The Mars Express space probe, the first planetary mission of the European Space Agency, was launched. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

over the top (adj): Excessive; exaggerated; outrageous http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/over_the_top

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people. --Cornel West http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornel_West