1916 – Isa bej Boletini, an Albanian national figure and insurgent in the Vilayet of Kosovo, participates in his youth in the actions of the League of Prizren, is killed. He was appointed among the guardians of Prince Wid during his short reign. He was killed during an exchange of fire in Podgorica, after 17 of his comrades were killed. Isa Boletini’s work has been honored at all times throughout ethnic Albania. Schools, streets, neighborhoods and squares bear his name. Jesus was conservative, patriarchal, orderly, serious, taciturn, but with a serious appearance, very kind, friendly, and unbelievably loyal. He sought and received only what he needed, ardent Albanian patriots, even though he was completely illiterate. Isa was killed by the Montenegrins, with the approach of Austro-Hungarian troops in 1916 in Podgorica, after a fierce battle of several hours (the Austrians came late and failed to save him and his 17 comrades). There is also a special battalion of the Albanian army, which was installed in Iraq, named after Isa Boletini.
1936 – Born in Vuno Dhimitër Anagnosti is one of the most important Albanian directors of the 20th century. In his 40-year career, he has made 14 feature films, 10 documentary films, won many awards in various national and international competitions. He is the author of 15 screenplays and in almost all his films he wrote the screenplay himself. Anagnosti is a free-thinking man, persistent in defending his views, with a civic courage that has often targeted the mediocre. For his rare artistic qualities, as well as for his dignified works, he was honored with the title “People’s Artist”, 1987 and with the career cup at the 10th Albanian Film Festival. The year 1991 finds him engaged in the democratic movement for pluralism in Albania, a motive for which he was also elected a deputy of the Democratic Party in the Assembly of Albania (1991-1996). On April 12, 1992, he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, a position he held until December 4, 1994, when he resigned. Anagnosti is the creator and chairman of the “Fan Noli” Foundation for Art and Culture, supporting the most active intellectuals, engaging in the strengthening of Albanian culture in the country and in the world. In 2001, he wrote and staged the only play “The Night of Knocks on the Glass” at the National Theatre. While in 2005 he reaped success with his latest film “Gjoleka, son of Abazi”, a film honored with two international awards in Italy.
1943 – During World War II, troops from the 8th British Army take Tripoli to Libya from the German-Italian Panzer Army. The Eighth Army was a British military formation that fought in the campaigns of North Africa and Italy. The units came from Australia, British India, Canada, France, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
1958 – Born in Krasnodar Krai, Sergey Litvinov. Litvinov was a Russian hammer thrower and athletic trainer. He competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics, losing the 1984 Olympics because of the Soviet boycott. Litvinov won silver and gold, respectively. He also won two world titles, in 1983 and 1987.
1960 – Batiskafi, USS Trieste breaks a diving record by descending to 10,911 feet in the Pacific Ocean. This boat, with its crew of two, reached the deepest known part of the Earth’s oceans, the Challenger Depth, in the Mariana Pit near Guam in the Pacific. Trieste was the first guided ship to reach the bottom of the Challenger depth.
1961 – Luxury Portuguese ship Santa Maria is abducted by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of starting the war until the overthrow of dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Following the United States naval intervention, the ship arrived in Brazil, and the abduction ended on February 2 when the rebels were granted political asylum there. This action was also known as Operation Dulcinea.
1973 – US President Richard Nixon officially announces the achievement of the Vietnam peace agreement. After years of fighting, the Paris Peace Agreement was signed in early 1973. The agreement implemented a ceasefire and allowed the withdrawal of the remaining US troops without requiring the North Vietnamese Army to withdraw in the South.
1989 – Died at the age of 85, Salvador Dali. Dali was a Spanish-born, surrealist, Catalan-born surrealist artist in Figueres, Spain. He was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and strange images in his works. His painting skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His most famous painting, Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931.
1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as Secretary of State for the United States of America. In 1993, Clinton appointed her to the position of US ambassador to the United Nations. She held that position until 1997 when she succeeded Warren Christopher as Secretary of State. Albright served in that post until Clinton stepped down in 2001.
1998 – Netscape launches Mozilla for the first time, with the intention of releasing its open-source communicator code. Mozilla is a free software community. The Mozilla community uses, develops, distributes and supports Mozilla products, thus promoting exclusively free software and open standards, with few exceptions.
