- 1823 - Birth of mathematician Ferdinand Eisenstein
- 1886 - Birth of communist politician Ernst Thälmann
- 1922 - The Treaty of Rapallo is signed, re-establishing relations between Germany and Russia
- 1927 - Birth of Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI
- 1945 - The refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine, killing more than 6,000
- 1947 - Execution of Rudolf Höß, commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp