1938
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and other black leaders convince white merchants in Harlem (New York) to hire at least one third blacks and to promise equal promotion opportunities.
1938
Billie Holiday appears with Artie Shaw's band in New York. Boogie Woogie is popularized at a Carnegie Hall concert given by three blacks. Boxer Henry Armstrong defeats Barney Ross for the welterweight championship and Lou Ambers for the lightweight championship. Armstrong is also featherweight champion and thus holds three championships concurrently.
1938
Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, the first black woman state legislator, is elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
1938
Hitler in a public speech charges that Churchill and his followers know very, little about Central Europe. Hitler also said that while Churchill represents but a fraction of British votes, he represents the whole German people.
1938 Alexander Nevsky directed by Russian filmaker Sergei Eisenstein is released in the Soviet Union. Nevsky was a 13th-century hero who defended Russia against invading Teutonic knights. The film was immensely popular, especially with young boys, and the Russian government used it to stir up anti-German, nationalistic prejudices.
1938
Outraged at Hitler's treatment of the Jews and fearing that
Hitler will outlaw Christianity, Protestant pastor, Martin Niemoller, organizes
the Pastor's Emergency League to oppose Hitler's policies.
1938
Pastor Martin Niemoller is arrested by the Gestapo and
thrown into a concentration camp until liberated in 1945.
1938
Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., becomes chairman of the board of
U.S. Steel.
1938
Otto Hahn discovers the principles of nuclear fission.
1938
Sigmund Freud flees to England to escape Nazi persecution in
Vienna.
1938
The SS Training Office orders a specially revised and expanded,
one-volume edition of Michael Prawdin's two books on Genghis Khan (See 1934,
1935). This book was frequently given as a Christmas present by Himmler and
every SS leader received a copy. Hitler is said to have derived his ideas
concerning Blutkitt (blood cement) from this source. (Architect)
1938
The U.S. and Britain send aid to the Chinese in their war against Japan.
1938 January
Early in January, Churchill leaves for a month's vacation in the south of France. While there working on Volume IV of Marlborough, he learns that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is requesting a total reduction of £12 million in Service estimates.
1938 January
Archbishop Groeber, a "promoting member" of
the SS, known as the "brown bishop," is excluded from the SS, but
refuses to voluntarily give up his promoting membership. (Lewy)
1938 January 4
Goering issues a decree classifying even firms with
25% Jewish ownership as subject to "Aryanization".
1938 January 6
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull declares that
America cannot intervene in Romania's internal affairs.
1938 January 9
Max Warburg dedicates a new Jewish Community Center in Hamburg.
1938 January 10
Professor Otto Warburg, scientist, communal leader and Zionist leader, dies.
1938 January 14
A Romanian decree forbids Jews from employing
Christian female servants under the age of forty.
1938 January 14
Romanian police order all Jewish libraries and
Jewish owned bookstores closed in Bessarabia. The same day, the Romanian press
publishes instructions for dismissing all Jewish doctors from social insurance
institutions.
1938 January 19
American and European Jewish organizations submit a protest petition to the League of Nations regarding the treatment of Jews in Romania. (Edelheit)
1938 January 21
Romania formally abrogates the minority rights of Jews, and revokes the citizenship of many Jews who have been resident there since the end of the war. (Atlas)
1938 January 24
German War Minister Blomberg is forced to resign and army Commander-in-Chief Fritsch is accused of homosexuality and then sent away on leave.
1938 January 25
The Gestapo is given the power to place prisoners in
"protective custody" at its own discretion.
1938 January 28
President Roosevelt asks Congress for increased
appropriations to build-up the U.S. armed forces.
