April 6 » In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
May 18 » The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
May 27 » The F4-strength St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing over $10-million in damage.
June 15 » The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
September 21 » Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan: British forces under the command of Horatio Kitchener take Dongola.
December 17 » Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
Day of death February 17, 1953
The temperature on February 17, 1953 was between -2.8 °C and 5.1 °C and averaged 1.9 °C. There was 1.3 mm of rain during 6.4 hours. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the southwest. Source: KNMI
June 26 » Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.
July 17 » The largest number of United States midshipman casualties in a single event results from an aircraft crash in Florida, killing 44.
August 10 » First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
September 7 » Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
November 21 » The Natural History Museum, London announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found, is a hoax.
December 6 » Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I5947.php : accessed January 19, 2026), "Andries Rufus Dreyer (1896-1953)".
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