Events on January 1 in history

Boris Bazhanov (January 1, 1928)

Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.

Boris Georgiyevich Bazhanov (Russian: Бори́с Гео́ргиевич Бажа́нов; 9 August 1900 – 30 December 1982) was a Soviet secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who defected from the Soviet Union on 1 January 1928.

Bazhanov was the personal secretary of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin from August 1923 to 1925 and held several prominent secretarial positions in the Politburo until defecting from the Soviet Union in 1928. Bazhanov was granted French citizenship and survived subsequent Soviet assassination attempts, writing and publishing memoirs and books from 1930 about Stalin and the secrets behind the Stalin regime.

Bazhanov was the only member of Stalin's Secretariat to defect, and one of the first major defectors from the Eastern Bloc.

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Events on 1928

12 Mar

St. Francis Dam
In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kills 431 people.
12 Apr

Junkers W 33
The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
4 Jun

Zhang Zuolin
The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents.
18 Jun

Amelia Earhart
Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
2 Oct

Josemaría Escrivá
The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded by Josemaría Escrivá.

Events on January 1 in history

Boris Bazhanov (January 1, 1928)

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1928

St. Francis Dam

Junkers W 33

Zhang Zuolin

Amelia Earhart

Josemaría Escrivá