Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 October 21

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

The "Interrupted Flight" monument to the victims

The Kragujevac massacre (21 October 1941) was the mass murder of almost 2,800 men and boys in the city of Kragujevac in the German-occupied territory of Serbia by German soldiers during World War II. Coming in reprisal for insurgent attacks that killed 10 German soldiers in the Gornji Milanovac district, it followed a punitive German operation in which 492 males were shot and four villages were burned down. The victims included Serbs, Jews, Romani people, Muslims, Macedonians, and Slovenes. The massacre exacerbated tensions between the two guerrilla movements, the communist-led Partisans and the royalist, Serbian nationalist Chetniks, and convinced Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović that further attacks against the Germans would only result in more Serb civilian deaths. Several senior German military officials were tried and convicted during and after the Nuremberg Trials for their involvement in the reprisal shootings. The massacre has been the subject of several poems and feature films. Commemorated annually in Serbia, it is memorialised at the October in Kragujevac Memorial Park and its 21st October Museum. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Artist's conception of a multitude of tiny diamonds next to a hot star

... that extraterrestrial diamonds (pictured) in meteorites preserve their history from before the Solar System formed?
... that the family of Tejano lawmaker José Tomás Canales feared he would be assassinated during his 1919 investigation into the Texas Rangers?
... that Baahubali 2: The Conclusion is the highest grossing film in India, with a domestic collection of over ₹12.53 billion?
... that Melahat Okuyan, a Turkish female microbiologist and AIDS activist, once proposed the establishment of male brothels for homosexuals and cross-dressers in order to improve public health?
... that the midden inkcap can be used as ink?
... that Krishna is the Hindu god of compassion, tenderness, and love?
... that a host venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be built in Kamaishi, which suffered major damage during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami?
... that Agnes Robertson served in the Australian Senate until she was 79, and switched political parties at the age of 73?

In the news

Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern (pictured) is set to become Prime Minister of New Zealand after forming a Labour–NZ First coalition government.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders wins the Man Booker Prize.
The Syrian Democratic Forces declare victory in the Battle of Raqqa.
The first observation of a neutron star merger in gravitational waves – as well as gamma rays, visible light, and other forms of electromagnetic radiation – is announced.
The ÖVP, led by Sebastian Kurz, wins the most seats in the Austrian legislative election.

On this day...

October 21: Twin Holy Birthdays begin (Bahá'í Faith, 2017)

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

1520 – The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon were visited by Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes near Canada, who named them "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Lord Nelson (pictured) signalled "England expects that every man will do his duty" to the rest of his Royal Navy forces before the Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain's Cape Trafalgar.
1867 – The first of the Medicine Lodge Treaties was signed between the United States and several Native American tribes in the Great Plains, requiring them to relocate to areas in present-day western Oklahoma.
1966 – A coal tip fell on the village of Aberfan, Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
1994 – North Korea and the United States signed the Agreed Framework to limit North Korea's nuclear weapons program and to normalize relations between the two.

Sims Reeves (b. 1821) · Isabelle Eberhardt (d. 1904) · Virginia Zeani (b. 1925)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The total lunar eclipse that occurred in April 2014, as viewed from Charleston, West Virginia. The first of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, it was visible in the Americas and the Pacific Ocean region. Although within the Earth's shadow, the eclipsed moon is lit by sunlight refracted and scattered by the Earth's atmosphere, and more of this light reaches the outer parts of the umbra than the center of it. During this eclipse, the Moon passed south of the center of the umbra, so its southern part was noticeably lighter.

Photograph: Robert Jay GaBany

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.