The temperature on August 31, 1937 was between 10.3 °C and 22.4 °C and averaged 16.3 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. There was 9.5 hours of sunshine (69%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the northeast. Source: KNMI
January 15 » Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
May 27 » In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.
August 28 » Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
September 5 » Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.
September 22 » Spanish Civil War: Peña Blanca is taken, ending the Battle of El Mazuco.
December 21 » Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
Day of death August 12, 1940
The temperature on August 12, 1940 was between 7.2 °C and 18.7 °C and averaged 13.0 °C. There was 9.4 hours of sunshine (63%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-northwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1939 to September 3, 1940 the cabinet De Geer II, with Jonkheer mr. D.J. de Geer (CHU) as prime minister.
In The Netherlands , there was from September 3, 1940 to July 27, 1941 the cabinet Gerbrandy I, with Prof. dr. P.S. Gerbrandy (ARP) as prime minister.
March 12 » Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.
May 15 » Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.
May 27 » World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.
July 10 » World War II: Six days before Adolf Hitler issues his Directive 16 to the combined Wehrmacht armed forces for Operation Sea Lion, the Kanalkampf shipping attacks against British maritime convoys begin, in the leadup to initiating the Battle of Britain.
October 25 » Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
November 20 » World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: R. Ratsma, "Family tree diverse families", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-ratsma/I441.php : accessed January 12, 2026), "Gerrit Ratsma (1937-1940)".
Copy warning
Genealogical publications are copyright protected. Although data is often retrieved from public archives, the searching, interpreting, collecting, selecting and sorting of the data results in a unique product. Copyright protected work may not simply be copied or republished.
Please stick to the following rules
Request permission to copy data or at least inform the author, chances are that the author gives permission, often the contact also leads to more exchange of data.
Do not use this data until you have checked it, preferably at the source (the archives).
State from whom you have copied the data and ideally also his/her original source.