On August 25, 1997, Egon Krenz, the former of East Germany was convicted of manslaughter for promulgating a policy of shooting any East Germans who attempted to cross the Berlin Wall. Krenz was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, of which he served four before being released into retirement from political life.
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On August 25, 1921, the United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signed its own peace treaties with Germany, Austria and Hungary.
On August 24, 1815, the first modern constitution for the Netherlands was signed. It was later revised in 1848 to create the country’s parliamentary democracy. In 1983, the Dutch Constitution was rewritten again. Read the version of the Netherlands Constitution in effect today.
On August 24, 1894, the US Congress passed the first graduated income tax law, which the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the next year in Pollack v. Farmer’s Loan and Trust Company, 157 US 429 (1895) and (on rehearing) 158 US 601 (1895).
On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, affirming a policy of non-aggression between the two countries. In a secret addendum, the two nations also agreed on how they would conquer and divide Poland. The Pact ended when Germany invaded the USSR on June 21, 1941. Learn more about [...]
On August 23, 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in the Massachusetts State Prison for a 1920 armored-car robbery. Learn more about their sensational trial. The two Italian immigrants were officially exonerated by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in 1977.
On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act into law. The act fundamentally reformed the American welfare system, putting an emphasis on work requirements for those receiving federal assistance. The new law also limited most recipients to no more than five years on welfare and shifted money provided [...]
On August 22, 1864, twelve nations signed the first Geneva Convention protecting vulnerable persons in times of conflict. Review the text of the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field and learn more about the modern Geneva Conventions from the American Red Cross.
On August 21, 1944, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security opened in the Dumbarton Oaks mansion in Washington, DC, US. From the opening of the conference until its close on October 7, representatives of the US, USSR, the UK, and the Republic of China laid the groundwork for the United Nations and the [...]
On August 21, 1878, the American Bar Association was organized at a meeting in Saratoga Springs, New York. The original ABA constitution, which is still substantially the charter of the association, defined its mission as “the advancement of the science of jurisprudence, the promotion of the administration of justice and a uniformity of legislation throughout [...]
