Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology
Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.
Compiled by Ulli Diemer
March 22, 1622
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Opechancanough, the leader of the Powhatan Confederacy in what is now the U.S. state of Virginia, seeing no other way to stop the British colonists who have been continuously seizing native land since 1607, initiates military action against the Jamestown colony. A third of the English settlers are killed in the conflict, but the natives are unable to carry out their aim of expelling the colony. New colonists keep arriving, eager to take over native land to plant tobacco for export.
In 1644, Opechancanough, by this time more than 90 years old, makes a final attempt to expel the colonists, but again the attempt fails. In 1646, Opechancanough is taken prisoner, and murdered by a soldier who shoots him in the back.
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March 22, 1933
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The first Nazi German concentration camp is opened at Dachau, near Munich, 51 days after Hitler comes to power. From 1933 to 1938, Dachau is used mainly for political prisoners, especially Communists. During the time of the Nazi regime, more than 3.5 million Germans are sent to prisons or concentration camps for political offences. After the outbreak of the war, Dachau is used to hold prisoners of all kinds, including Jews and prisoners of ‘foreign’ nationalities. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people were interned at Dachau, and that 35,000 died there and in the satellite camps. The camp is liberated by the U.S. Army on April 29, 1945.
Dachau and other Nazi camps follow the example of previous internment and concentration camps, used by the U.S. government against native Americans and later against Filipinos, by the Spanish Empire in Cuba, and by the British and German Empires in southern Africa in the early years of the twentieth century. In turn, Dachau becomes the model for the other concentration camps set up by the Nazi regime.
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March 22, 1968
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Student protesters at the University of Nanterre in Paris form the Movement of 22 March (Mouvement du 22 Mars) and occupy the university’s administration building. They are protesting class discrimination in the education system and French society, as well as heavy-handed bureaucratic policies and structures within the university. The university calls the police to expel the occupying students. Conflicts between students and the administration continue, and on May 2 the administration shuts down the university, leading to mass protests not only at Nanterre but throughout Paris. The events are among the sparks igniting the May 1968 revolt in France, which comes close to toppling the government.
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