What happened in 1933
30 entries recorded for 1933, listed by date. That was 93 years ago.
1933 at a glance
- Years ago
- 93 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1930s
- Generation born
- Silent Generation
- Entries here
- 30
- Breakdown
- 30 historical events
January
- January 5
Golden Gate Bridge
Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge across the Straits of the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
- January 15
Banneux
A teenage girl in Banneux, Belgium, reported the first of several Marian apparitions, now known as Our Lady of Banneux.
- January 28
Choudhry Rahmat Ali
Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in north-western India that he termed "Pakstan".
February
- February 3
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler announced that the conquest of Lebensraum in Eastern Europe, and its "ruthless Germanisation", were the geopolitical objectives of Reich foreign policy.
- February 25
USS Ranger (CV-4)
USS Ranger (pictured), the United States Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, was launched.
- February 27
Reichstag building
The Reichstag building, the seat of the German parliament in Berlin, was set on fire in a pivotal event in the establishment of the Nazi regime.
March
- March 3
Nohra concentration camp
The first Nazi concentration camp was opened in Nohra to reduce overcrowding in prisons from the arrest of German Communists.
- March 4
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins was appointed United States Secretary of Labor, making her the first female member of the Cabinet.
- March 9
Franklin D. Roosevelt
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
- March 23
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party took the first step in the Gleichschaltung process by having the Enabling Act passed, giving the government the right to make laws without the involvement of the Reichstag.
- March 28
Imperial Airways
After an on-board fire that may have been the first incident of airliner sabotage, the Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool broke apart in mid-air, killing fifteen people.
April
- April 1
Wally Hammond
English cricketer Wally Hammond set a record for the highest individual score in Test cricket of 336 not out during a match against New Zealand.
- April 3
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
Lord Clydesdale and David McIntyre undertook the first successful flight over Mount Everest.
- April 5
Rotter kidnapping
Nazi sympathisers attempted to kidnap two German-Jewish filmmakers in Liechtenstein.
- April 8
Western Australia
The Australian state of Western Australia voted to secede from the federation, but efforts to implement the result proved to be unsuccessful.
- April 24
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
- April 26
Gestapo
The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, was established.
May
- May 10
Persecution of transgender people in Nazi Germany
As part of Nazi Germany's persecution of transgender people, thousands of books taken from the Institute for Sexual Science were burned in Bebelplatz square for being "un-German".
- May 18
Franklin D. Roosevelt
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority to stimulate the economic development of the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression.
- May 26
Jimmie Rodgers
American singer Jimmie Rodgers died at the Taft Hotel in New York City.
June
- June 6
Drive-in theater
The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.
July
- July 14
Nazi eugenics
Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.
- July 14
Gleichschaltung
In a decree called the Gleichschaltung, Adolf Hitler abolishes all German political parties except the Nazis.
August
- August 23
1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane
The Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane made landfall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and went on to cause at least 47 deaths in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.
September
- September 12
Leo Szilard
Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London.
- September 26
Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)
As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrendered to the FBI, he supposedly shouted "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which became a nickname for FBI agents.
October
- October 10
Sabotage
In the first proven act of sabotage in the history of commercial aviation, a Boeing 247 operated by United Airlines exploded in mid-air near Chesterton, Indiana, killing all seven people aboard.
- October 12
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice acquired a military prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, to be transformed into the last-resort Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
November
- November 19
1933 Spanish general election
The Union of the Right, a coalition of right-wing parties, won the majority of seats in the 1933 Spanish general election, the first election in the country with suffrage extended to women.
December
- December 6
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
In United States v. One Book Called Ulysses Judge John M. Woolsey ruled that James Joyce's novel Ulysses was not obscene, allowing it to be imported into the United States.
Questions about 1933
What happened in 1933?
This site records 30 entries for 1933, including Golden Gate Bridge on January 5. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1933?
93 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1933 turns 93 this year.
Which century is 1933 in?
1933 falls in the 20th century, in the 1930s.
Which generation was born in 1933?
Silent Generation (1928–1945). Children of the Depression and war years.
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