1939 -- End of the Civil War in Spain.	1939 -- Joint Distribution Committee refuses to feed Polish Jews in Lithuania because they had crossed the border illegally.

		January 25, 1939 -- Enrico Fermi and John Dulling in Columbia University use cyclotron to split uranium and obtain a huge energy release.

	February 21, 1939 -- Jews are ordered to turn in all their gold and silver.

March 15, 1939 -- Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.

	April 19, 1939 -- Slovakian "Nuremberg Laws" go into effect.	April 30, 1939 -- The World's Fair, at a cost of $150 million, opens in New York amid a blaze of fireworks. England's king and queen arrive for the opening. Regular television broadcasting begins from the Fair.

		May 1939 -- First appearance of Batman (by Bob Kane) in Detective Comics. May 17, 1939 -- British issue the Palestine "White Paper" fixing the upper limit to 75,000 Jews to be admitted into Palestine over the next five years.

	June 1939 -- The S.S. St. Louis, carrying 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba. The U.S. refuses to admit the refugees, who are then forced to return to Europe.

	July 4, 1939 -- Jews are forbidden to hold government jobs in Germany.	July 4, 1939 -- Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball after being stricken with a devastating neurological disease.

August 23, 1939 -- Soviet-German pact is signed by Molotov and Ribbentrop.	August 1939 -- A directive requires registration of all children under three who are suspected of suffering from a serious hereditary disease.	August 2, 1939 -- First letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying that uranium may be used for a new source of energy. He urges quick action on the part of the administration. August 12, 1939 -- World premier of "The Wizard of Oz" starring Judy Garland. The film wins 2 Academy Awards.

September 1, 1939 -- German army invades Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. September 3, 1939 -- Britain and France declare war on Germany. September 17, 1939 -- Invasion of Poland by the Red Army. September 28, 1939 -- Nazi-Soviet Partition line of Poland is established.	September 1, 1939 -- Nighttime curfew is imposed on Jews in Germany. September 21, 1939 -- Heydrich orders ghettos established in occupied Poland, under "Judenrats." September 23, 1939 -- German Jews are forbidden to own radios.

October 10, 1939 -- Annexation of Western Poland by Third Reich. October 12, 1939 -- Hans Frank is appointed Nazi governor of Poland.	October 1939 -- A "Fuhrer Decree" makes murder by medical personnel an official policy. Sick and crippled are to be exterminated. October 12, 1939 -- First deportation of Austrian / Moravian Jews to Poland. October 26, 1939 -- Forced labor is decreed for Polish Jews 14-60 years old. October 28, 1939 -- The first Polish ghetto is established in Piotrkow, Poland.	October 1939 -- The New York Yankees sweep the World Series in four games. Johnny Mize of the St. Louis Cardinals picks up the national league batting crown with a .349 average.

November 9, 1939 -- Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes assassination when a bomb explodes in the historic Buergenbraeu Hall in Munich shortly after the Chancellor had left to return to Berlin.	November 7, 1939 -- Germans begin expulsion of Jews from Western Poland. November 16, 1939 -- Destruction of Talmudic Academy in Lublin and its huge library, which gave "so much pleasure to its conquerors that it was recalled with glee more than a year later." November 23, 1939 -- Wearing distinctive yellow armband, "Judenstern" (Jewish star) becomes obligatory for all Jews in Central Poland.	November 1939 -- College record for goldfish swallowing reaches 210.

	December 1939 -- Adolf Eichmann becomes head of the Gestapo wing dealing with Jews.	December 15, 1939 -- "Gone With The Wind" premiers in Atlanta.