CALENDAR

DATES. EVENTS. PEOPLE.

 On March 18th, 1633, in the charter of King Vladislav IV Vasa, a printing house at the monastery of St. Peter and Paul in Minsk was first mentioned, which was allowed to have it ‘for printing books and perpetuating in them fit people, both spiritual and secular’.


March 18th is Day of Internal Troops in the Republic of Belarus. It is a professional holiday of the country’s public order guards. On this day in 1918, a security escort team of 23 volunteers was created in Vitebsk. This date is considered the day of the formation of the internal troops of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Belarus.


On March 18th, 1892, the Stanley Cup, the prize for the best hockey team was established. This award is given annually to the winner of the National Hockey League playoff series. It is a silver vase almost 90 cm high with a massive cylindrical base. The prize got its name from Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, who came up with the idea to award the best hockey team in Canada with a special prize.


On March 18th, 1965, the first spacewalk in history was performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov from the Voskhod 2 spacecraft. This mission was an important milestone in the Soviet lunar programme. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was outside the Voskhod 2 for about 12 minutes. Based on the results of the first spacewalk, a conclusion was made about the possibility of a person to perform various work in outer space.



On March 19th, 1913, Alexander Pokryshkin was born (1913-1985), a Soviet military leader, air marshal, famous ace of fighter aviation during the Great Patriotic War. The first three times Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war years, he made over 600 sorties and personally shot down 59 enemy aircraft in 156 air battles.


On March 20th, 2003, the United States and its allies started Operation Iraqi Freedom, subjecting Baghdad and other cities of the country to massive bombing and shelling. The war led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the creation of a new military-political situation in the Middle East.


March 20th is International Day of Happiness. It was proclaimed in 2012 by a UN resolution to recognise the importance of happiness in the life of every person. The holiday is intended to show that happiness is one of the main goals of mankind and calls on all countries to direct efforts to improve the well-being of every person.


March 20th is Signals Intelligence Service Day in the Republic of Belarus. Signals intelligence is the unique intelligence collection method. Humanity has not yet come up with a more effective and at the same time safe means of reconnaissance. The Belarusian electronic intelligence is the legitimate heir to the glorious military traditions of Soviet military intelligence.


On March 22nd, 1874, a game of tennis was held on the grounds of a cricket and baseball club on Staten Island (New York, USA) for the first time. There are many references to the ball game among the ancient Romans and Greeks. But still it is generally accepted that tennis originated in France. However, some tennis terms originated there.


On March 22nd, 1943, fascist punishers burned the Belarusian village of Khatyn and its inhabitants. 149 people died, including 75 children. Only five children and one adult, Iosif Kaminsky, survived. The terrible fate of destruction, together with Khatyn, was shared by 9200 out of 100,000 villages and localities of Belarus. Some of them, burnt together with people, like Khatyn, were not revived after the war. In 1969, a memorial complex was erected on the site of the village in memory of the victims of fascism in Belarus.

On March 22nd, 1933, the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany began operating in Dachau. It was the first ‘experimental ground’ in which a system of punishments and other forms of physical and psychological abuse of prisoners was worked out. Until the outbreak of World War II, political opponents of the Nazi regime were kept in Dachau. But already during the World War II, Dachau gained ominous fame as one of the most terrible concentration camps. The prisoners of the camp were 250,000 people, of which 70,000 were tortured and killed. A memorial complex was opened on the territory of the camp.