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Events on May 8

• 1521 Emperor Charles V. pronounces the imperial ban on Martin Luther at the Reichstag in Worms in the Edict of Worms; Luther had refused on 17 and 18 April to retract his theses.
• 1842 The Hamburg fire can finally be brought under control after four days. Almost a third of Hamburg's old town has been destroyed. 51 people have died, and the number of homeless people is estimated at 20,000.
• 1886 In Atlanta, pharmacist John Pemberton sells, for the first time, a remedy he developed for headaches and tiredness, for five cents per glass; it later becomes known as Coca-Cola.
• 1904 The world's first sugar museum opens in Berlin. Since 1995, it has been integrated into the German Museum of Technology.
• 1942 The Wehrmacht begins Operation Trappenjagd on the Eastern Front against the Red Army, leading to the capture of the Kerch Peninsula in the following days.
• 1949 After eight months of deliberations, the Parliamentary Council adopts the German Basic Law (GG) by a majority, with the CSU and KPD voting against it, although it initially acquires legal validity only for the Western Zone.
• 1954 The religious program The Word for Sunday is broadcast on German television for the first time.
• 1970 The Beatles' final album Let It Be is released.
• 1974 1. FC Magdeburg becomes the first and only football team from East Germany to win a European title: In front of 5,000 spectators at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam, FCM defeats AC Milan 2:0 and thus wins the European Cup Winners' Cup.
• 1985 Richard von Weizsäcker delivers his widely noted speech "On the 40th Anniversary of the End of the War in Europe and National Socialist Rule of Terror" in the German Bundestag. The statement "Liberation from National Socialism" thus becomes a central message of the national culture of remembrance in the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 1988 Following the previous Barschel affair, the Social Democrats win an absolute majority of the seats in the Schleswig-Holstein state election. Björn Engholm can form the government in Kiel as the designated Minister-President.
• 2004 Following the 3:1 win over FC Bayern Munich at the Munich Olympic Stadium, Werder Bremen becomes German champion ahead of schedule. Three weeks later, Werder also wins the German Cup against Alemannia Aachen.

Born on May 8

• 1884 Harry S. Truman, US politician, senator, vice president, 33rd President of the United States
• 1903 Fernandel, French actor and singer
• 1911 Robert Johnson, American blues musician
• 1930 Helmut Palmer, German civil rights activist and pomologist
• 1940 Peter Benchley, American author
• 1960 Franco Baresi, Italian football player
• 1961 Andrea Pollack, German swimmer and Olympic champion
• 1970 Luis Enrique, former Spanish footballer and current coach
• 1981 Björn Dixgård, Swedish musician (Mando Diao)
• 2000 Marie Reim, German schlager singer

Is your birthday on May 8?

Then there is a newspaper that tells only the story of your day: what was going on in the world on May 8 of your birth year, which song was at the top, what the weather was like at your birthplace, plus birthday twins and a personal greeting.

• For every birth year from 1946
• 4 to 10 pages, always €14.90, as a PDF to print
• With a greeting page for voice and video messages

Create the paper for May 8 · €14.90

Day and month are already filled in, you only choose the birth year.

Source of events and birthdays: German Wikipedia article „8. Mai“, licence CC BY-SA 4.0, selected, shortened and translated by Birthday Paper.

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