Friday, April 2, 1943. Bulgaria says Не (no) in response to a German Bitte and the Little Big Inch

King Boris III of Bulgaria told German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that Bulgaria would not surrender its Jewish population to Germany.

Tsar Boris.

Tsar Boris, as he was also known, was on dangerous ground and he knew it.  He stuck to his position however and refused until his death later that year to yield on sending Jewish Bulgarians to the Germans.  Bulgaria ultimately conscripted Jewish men for labor on roads, but to some degree at least this seems to have been a pretext to help prevent their deportation.

Bulgaria, which did pass anti Semitic laws, had participated in the war as a German ally only to the extent of the war against Yugoslavia.  It wisely refused to declare war against the Western Allies or the Soviet Union, much to the irritation of Hitler.  Tsar Boris untimely death seems to have been due to the stress of dealing with the Germans, although it remains an open question if he was poisoned under orders of the Germans.

Sarah Sundin reports:

Today in World War II History—April 2, 1943: US War Production Board approves construction of the “Little Big Inch” pipeline to take refined oil from Texas to the northeast states.

We discussed the Big Inch earlier. 

Wednesday June 10, 1942. The Massacre of Lidice

The Germans destroyed the Czech town of Lidice in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.  All men older than fifteen were killed immediately, numbering some 172.  Most of the children were murdered later.  

The Germans filmed the murders they committed on this day.

Ultimately, 192 men, 60 women, and 88 children would be killed by the Germans from Lidice.  The Germans forcibly aborted the babies of four pregnant women from the village.

Following the war, 153 women and 17 children returned, and the city town was rebuilt.

The entire event not only stands as a symbol of German barbarity during World War Two, but as an example of how absolutely preverse it was.

Sandra Sundon notes the "Big Inch" was approved.

Today in World War II History—June 10, 1942: “Big Inch”

It was a pipeline

More specifically, it was a pipeline that, together with the "Little Inch", took oil from Texas to the East Coast, thus allowing it to evade submarines.  Prior to the Inch pipelines, oil was transported for delivery to the East Coast by ship.

Economist John Maynard Keynes was made a peer.  I'm not a Keynes fan and think his theories have largely ended up in governments' being fiscally irresponsible.  So, just as I feel we should go back and rescind Nixon's pardon, I think we ought to de-peer Keynes.