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Timeline: 1938

Lan Ping, the future Madam Mao

Jan 21 Alexander Cuza, a minister in the Romanian government, speaking to a reporter for the New York Times, says that Jews must leave Romania, that it is for the world to find a residence for the world's Jews and that "Madagascar seems a suitable spot." (Human Smoke, p. 79.)

Feb 4 Adolf Hitler makes himself High Commander (Oberkommando) of Germany's armed forces.

Feb14 Responding to events in the Far East in recent years, Britain has speeded construction of its naval base at Singapore. The base is now operational.

Feb16 In France, Trotsky and his supporters are organizing the "Fourth International" as a rival to Stalin's Comintern, which has been pejoratively described as not having as its purpose the overthrow of capitalism. Leon Trotsky's son, Leon Sedov, dies mysteriously in Paris. Some believe that he has been murdered by an agent of Stalin.

Feb 20 Britain's foreign minister, Anthony Eden, considers Mussolini an unreliable gangster. He dislikes his government sending Lord Halifax on diplomatic missions abroad in his place. Eden resigns and is succeeded by Halifax, who is to be associated with the government's policy of appeasement.

Mar 3 While searching for water, United States geologists in Saudi Arabia find a lot of oil.

Mar 12 Mussolini is grateful for Hitler's support concerning his invasion of Ethiopia. He has agreed to give Hitler a free hand in Austria, and German troops march into that country.

Mar 13 Germany annexes Austria.

Mar 15 The Soviet Union announces that the ranking old Bolshevik, Nikholai Bukharin, has been executed. Across the Soviet Union, many thousands are being arrested and held incommunicado, charged with being enemies of the people.

Mar 18 Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties.

Apr 1 Japan passes the National General Mobilization Law. All aspects of Japanese life are to be arranged for the sake of military efficiency.

Apr 1-30 The Socialist Party announces that Roosevelt liberalism is "a prelude to war." Socialist Party leader, Norman Thomas, claims that staying out of war is the best way of avoiding fascism in the United States. The executive council of the American Federation of Labor announces its opposition to any step that might lead to war. The Catholic Press Association speaks of its opposition to foreign "entanglements." Bernard Baruch, Jewish financier and friend of President Roosevelt, proposes Africa as a place to send European refugees.

May 14 Chile withdraws from the League of Nations.

May 20 Germans in Czechoslovakia's Sudentenland are clamoring for German rule, and Hitler is supporting them. Czechoslovakia orders partial mobilization of its armed forces along the German border.

May 20 China sends two B-10 bombers to Nagasaki, Japan. The planes drop leaflets and return.

May 25 In Spain, Italian planes bomb the city of Alicante, killing more than 300 civilians.

May 30 Hitler tells his generals that it is his "unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in the near future."

Jun 5 In Germany, an edict proclaims that Jewish doctors are to treat only Jewish patients.

Jun 12-18 In Germany and Austria, people considered gypsies are rounded up, beaten and imprisoned.

Jun 22 Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Jun 30 In the U.S., Action Comics has begun publication. It presents a new fantasy hero, Superman.

Jul 2 In Austria, nearly 40,000 Jews are taken into "protective custody."

Jul 12 In Turkey, for months war has been raging between government forces and Kurds, who have been complaining about discrimination and injustices. At Dersim, in the middle of eastern Turkey, the Turks attack the Kurds with a ferocity that some will claim to be genocide.

Jul 21 The German government passes legislation that requires Jews to carry identity cards.

Jul 15 For one week, delegates from 32 nations have met in France - the Évian Conference - to find locations for Jewish refugees. The conference closes without success. A German newspaper gloats: "Jews For Sale - Who Wants Them? No One." (Human Smoke, p. 89.)

Jul 31 Recently in India near Afghanistan, the British have bombed a 'troublesome" tribe. Pilots have orders to bomb people in a group of ten or more after giving warning. One pilot, Geoffrey Tuttle, finds a group of nine, considered it close enough to ten and, in his words, he "blew them up." (Human Smoke, p. 85.)

Aug 18 Hitler's military chief of staff, General Beck, is opposed to going to war over the Sudetenland. He resigns.

Aug 31 With others General Beck is planning coup against Hitler. They think Hitler is unbalanced.

Sep 27 In Germany, Jews are prohibited from practicing law.

Sep 29 Responding to Hitler's demand for the annexation of the Sudetenland, British and French leaders meet Hitler at Munich. Mussolini is also there. Neville Chamberlain agrees to give Germany the Sudetenland. He returns to Britain and declares "Peace In Our Time." General Halder, one of the German generals plotting a coup, believes that the best chance for overthrowing Hitler is lost.

Oct 1 German troops march into the Sudetenland.

Oct 2 In Palestine, Arabs inflitrate a Jewish settlement, Kiryat Shmuel, and according to a British report they "systematically execute" nineteen Jews, including women and children. It is to be known as the Tiberias massacre.

Oct 5 Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns. He will soon go into exile in England. Czechoslovakia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has passed into the hands of Dr. Frantisek Chvalkovsky, said to be a believer in fascism.

Oct 12 After months of bombing, Japanese troops occupy the southern port city of Canton (Guangzhou), hoping to cut China off from the rest of the world.

Oct 16 Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat and calls upon America and Western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Hitler.

Oct 20 Complying with Hitler's policy, Czechoslovakia outlaws the Communist Party and begins persecuting Jews.

Oct 24 Minimum wage established by law in the United States

Oct 30 Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.

Oct 27-28 In Germany, police round up about 12,000 Polish Jews. At the border with Poland the Jews are ordered to walk into Poland. Those who cannot walk are beaten. (Human Smoke, p 95.)

Oct 31 Expulsions of Jews has begun in Czechoslovakia

Nov 3 In Japan, Prime Minisiser Konoe proposes a New Order for East Asia. Trade is to be mainly between Japan and China, while nations such as the United States, Britain, Germany and France will be allowed to continue to function in China but will have to settle for leftovers.

Nov 6 In a speech to 100,000 Nazis, Hitler calls Churchill a warmonger.

Nov 7 In Paris, an angry young Jew shoots a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath - who happens to dislike Hitler and is not anti-Semitic.

Nov 9 Vom Rath dies of his wounds. In response, Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) begins as Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses. 7,500 Jewish businesses are destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed and at least 25,000 Jews arrested. In Britain, newspapers and the public turn against Germany. In the United States a Gallop poll is to record 94 percent disapproval of "Nazi treatment of Jews."

Nov 15 The Ministry of Education in Germany issues an ordinance barring all Jewish children from attending school. A correspondent for The Manchester Guardian writes that at the British and U.S. consulates in Berlin, despairing Jews are "begging for visas." (Human Smoke, p. 102)

Nov 21 Hitler orders the release of several hundred Jews from concentration camps. In Britain, Prime Minister Chamberlain announces that "His Majesty's government has been greatly impressed by the urgency of the problem." He speaks of the possibility of Jews finding refuge in Tanganyika and British Guiana.

Nov 25 Stalin has decided that his police, the NKVD, has been extreme in recent months, during the "Great Purge," which has killed more than 724,000 Soviet citizens. The head of the NKVD since 1936, Nikolai Yezhov, submits his resignation. He is replaced by Lavrentry Beria. Yezhov will be executed in 1940.

Dec 31 Lan Ping, 24, has left her stage name and her career as an actor. She has journeyed to Yennan to study Marxism-Leninism. Her new names will be Jiang Qing and Madam Mao.