October 23, 1943: Franceska Mann is executed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. She was 26 years old. A Pole, a Jew, and a famous ballerina in her time, she served as the distraction for an escape attempt, doing a striptease. Down to just one shoe, she held the other shoe in her hand, and used its sharpened heel to stab a guard. She was shot, but the guard died, too.
Born on February 4, 1917 in Warsaw as Franceska Manheimer, she was considered one of the most beautiful and promising dancers of her generation in Poland, both in the classical and modern repertoire.
At the beginning of the Second World War, she was a performer at the Melody Palace nightclub in Warsaw. But she became a prisoner, first in the Warsaw Ghetto, then at Auschwitz.
According to some versions of the story, the new arrivals were not registered, but were told that they had to be disinfected before crossing the border into Switzerland. They were taken into the undressing room next to the gas chamber and ordered to undress. Other versions of the story mention the events that follow taking place at either the selection ramp or a labor area of the camp.
Regardless of location, what is confirmed is that she fatally wounded the roll call, officer, Oberscharführer Josef Schillinger, using a pistol (many accounts say his own), and fired two shots, wounding him in the stomach. Then she fired a third shot, which wounded another SS Sergeant named Emmerich.
Many Resistance heroes of World War II, including women, have had their stories told in films. As of October 23, 2022, Franceska Mann has not been one of them. (UPDATE: In 2024, she was the subject of a documentary, titled Francesca, directed by Lena Chaplin -- no relation to Charlie Chaplin.)
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October 23, 1943 was a Saturday. Baseball season had ended 12 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season started a week later.
Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Notre Dame beat Illinois, 47-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Number 2 Army beat Yale, 39-7 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
* Number 3 Navy beat Georgia Tech, 28-14 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
* Number 4 Purdue beat Iowa, 28-7 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.
* Number 5 University of Pennsylvania beat Columbia, 33-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* Number 6 College of the Pacific were defeated by Number 7 University of Southern California, 6-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Rivalry, the Little Brown Jug: Number 10 Michigan beat Number 11 Minnesota, 49-6 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Number 13 Texas A&M were held to a 0-0 tie by the University of Texas at Arlington (not the main campus in Austin), at Kyle Field in College Stadium.
* Number 14 March Field, the team fielded by what was then designated the U.S. Army Air Forces' 4th Air Force at Riverside, California, were upset by the University of Washington, 27-7 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Rivalry: Number 18 Colorado College beat the University of Colorado, 16-6 at Colorado Stadium (now Folsom Field) in Boulder, Colorado.
* Among New Jersey's teams, Princeton had the week off, and, due to the wartime manpower drain, Rutgers only scheduled 5 games, and didn't start until the next week.
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