Tag Archives: 1935

27 December 1935

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Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.

Regina Jonas was a pioneering figure in Jewish history as the first woman known to have been ordained as a rabbi. She was born on August 27, 1902, in Berlin, Germany, into a traditional Jewish family. Despite facing significant challenges and resistance, Jonas pursued her passion for Jewish studies and eventually became a trailblazer in the field.

In 1924, she began her studies at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (Higher Institute for Jewish Studies) in Berlin. Despite societal norms and opposition from many in the Jewish community who believed that women should not serve as rabbis, Jonas completed her studies and wrote a thesis on “Can a Woman Be a Rabbi According to Halachic Sources?” She defended her thesis in 1930 and received semicha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Max Dienemann, a liberal rabbi in Offenbach, Germany.

Following her ordination, Regina Jonas served as a rabbi in various capacities. She worked with youth groups, led religious services, and provided pastoral care. Her work was not widely recognized during her lifetime, and her ordination was not officially recognized by mainstream Jewish authorities.

Tragically, Regina Jonas’s life was cut short by the Holocaust. In 1942, she was deported to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. She continued to minister to fellow prisoners during her time in the camp. Sadly, she did not survive the Holocaust and was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

12 June 1935

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The Chaco War ends as a ceasefire is negotiated between Bolivia and Paraguay.

Chaco War, the costly conflict between Bolivia and Paraguay. Hostile incidents began as early as 1928 over the Chaco Boreal, a wilderness region of about 100,000 square miles north of the Pilcomayo River and west of the Paraguay River that forms part of the Gran Chaco. The conflict stemmed from the outcome of the War of the Pacific, in which Chile defeated Bolivia and annexed that country’s entire coastal region. Thereafter, Bolivia attempted to break out of its landlocked situation through the Río de La Plata system to the Atlantic coast; athwart that route lay the Gran Chaco, which the Bolivians thought had large oil reserves.

Bolivia seemed to enjoy overwhelming advantages over Paraguay: it had thrice the latter’s population, an army well-trained by the German general Hans von Kundt, and an ample supply of arms purchased by loans from American banks. But the morale of Bolivia’s army of Indian conscripts was low, and Paraguayans were better fitted to fight in the lowland swamps and jungles, in which many Bolivians died of disease and snakebite as well as gunfire. Both countries had maintained military posts in the disputed region.

In April 2009 Bolivian President Evo Morales and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo signed an accord resolving the countries’ border dispute over the Chaco region that had resulted in the war. The leaders agreed that the war had been brought on by foreign interests.

26 February 1935

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Adolf Hitler directs that the Luftwaffe to be re-formed. This violates the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

The first way Hitler broke the Treaty was over Germany’s armed forces. In 1934, he destroyed the League of Nations Disarmament Conference by demanding equality of arms with France and Britain – this broke the Treaty because it had set up the League with the stated aim of achieving disarmament. At first, Hitler broke the Treaty’s terms by building up his army in secret, drilling volunteers with spades instead of rifles. Then, in 1935, he openly held a huge rearmament rally. The other nations let him get away with it – Britain even made a naval agreement with Germany, accepting that Germany had a right to have a navy of 35% of the British navy. After 1936, Hitler reintroduced conscription, and began to pump huge sums into Germany’s armed forces. Germans were told ‘guns not butter’.

By the end of 1938, Hitler was doing the same thing in the Sudentenland, which the Treaty of Versailles had given to Czechoslovakia. Sudeten Nazis, led by Henlein, caused trouble, claiming that they were being oppressed by the Czechs. Hitler demanded union, and threatened war. This time, although the Czech leader Beneš was prepared to fight, it was Britain and France who, at Munich, broke the Treaty of Versailles and gave the Sudetenland to Germany. Which just left Danzig, and the Polish corridor . It can be argued that it was not just Hitler who broke the Treaty of Versailles, but also Britain and France, when they allowed him to do what he did.

7 February 1935

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The board game Monopoly is invented.

On this day 81 years ago Charles Darrow’ popular board game, Monopoly, based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey, was first marketed, becoming a cultural phenomenon, having been licensed in over 103 countries and released in more than 37 languages, featuring cities from all over the world.

Last year, the 80th anniversary edition of Monopoly came out, featuring one iconic token from each of the 8 decades: bathtub, locomotive, money bag, cat, cannon, cavalry and Monopoly World Championships trophy. Read more here.
landlord’s game,However, there is some controversy involving the game since, despite Charles Darrow being generally credited with the invention of Monopoly, it all started some decades before when Elizabeth Magie Phillips created Landlord’s Game. Find out more at Monopoly’s Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn’t Pass ‘Go’.

Apparently, this was this game that Charles Darrow first saw and played. He became infatuated with the game and developed his own version. His modifications included adding icons and graphics, the corner symbols and the color bands at the top of each property. Previously there were no pictures on the game board. These modifications gave the game more appeal and greatly increased its popularity.