Deaths on December 19

August Mälk, Estonian author, playwright, and politician (b. 1900)

August Mälk (4 October 1900 – 19 December 1987) was an Estonian writer and politician.

27 Apr

Kurt Waldheim
The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the USA, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
1 May

Auschwitz concentration camp
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
5 Jul

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic.
27 Jul

RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
7 Nov

Habib Bourguiba
In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.