Editing 1939 (section)

===January===
{{main|January 1939}}
* [[January 1]] 
** Coming into effect in [[Nazi Germany]] of:
*** The [[Protection of Young Persons Act (Germany)|Protection of Young Persons Act]], passed on April 30, 1938, the Working Hours Regulations.<ref name= ":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.was-war-wann.de/1900/1930/januar-1939.html|title=Januar 1939 Ereignisse}}</ref>
*** The [[small businesses]] obligation to maintain adequate [[accounting]].<ref name= ":0" /> 
*** The [[Jews]] name change decree.<ref name= ":0" />
** With his traditional call to the [[New Year]] in Nazi Germany, [[Führer]] and [[Reich Chancellor]] [[Adolf Hitler]] addresses the members of the [[National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (NSDAP).<ref name= ":0" /> 
** The [[Hewlett-Packard]] [[technology]] and [[scientific instruments]] manufacturing [[company]] is founded by [[Bill Hewlett]] and [[David Packard]], in a garage in [[Palo Alto, California]], considered the birthplace of [[Silicon Valley]].<ref name= ":0" />
** [[Philipp Etter]] takes over as [[President of the Swiss Confederation]].<ref name= ":0" /> 
** The Third Soviet Five Year Plan is launched.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Tony Cliff |translator=Jacques Fournier |title=State Capitalism in the USSR from Stalin to Gorbachev |  location =Atelier Editions |publisher= |year=1990 |isbn=978-2-85139-095-0 |url={{Google Books|AL-JXobXz5YC|page=94|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>
* [[January 5]] &ndash; Pioneering U.S. aviator [[Amelia Earhart]] is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5486999/amelia-earhart-disappearance-theories/|title=Amelia Earhart Was Declared Dead 80 Years Ago. Here's What to Know About What Actually Happened to Her|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19|archive-date=March 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329014024/https://time.com/5486999/amelia-earhart-disappearance-theories/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[January 6]] &ndash; [[Otto Hahn]]'s discoveries in the field of [[nuclear fission]] are published in ''[[Naturwissenschaften]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1944/hahn/facts/|title=Otto Hahn|website=NobelPrize.org|access-date=January 14, 2022}}</ref>
* [[January 7]] &ndash; French physicist [[Marguerite Perey]] identifies [[francium]], the [[Timeline of chemical element discoveries|last]] [[chemical element]] first discovered in nature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=fr|title=87 Francium|work=Elementymology & Elements Multidict|first=Peter|last=van der Krogt|accessdate=2019-01-07}}</ref>
* [[January 14]] &ndash; Norway claims [[Queen Maud Land]] in [[Antarctica]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Academie De Droit International De La Ha|title=Recueil Des Cours, Collected Courses 1962|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rftTUAUXOIC&pg=PA221|date=1 December 1968|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=90-286-1442-7|pages=221|access-date=January 14, 2020|archive-date=July 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724114405/https://books.google.com/books?id=7rftTUAUXOIC&pg=PA221|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[January 23]] &ndash; "[[Dutch War Scare]]": Admiral [[Wilhelm Canaris]] of the ''[[Abwehr]]'' leaks misinformation to the effect that Germany plans to invade the Netherlands in February, with the aim of using Dutch air-fields to launch a strategic bombing offensive against Britain. The "Dutch War Scare" leads to a major change in British policies towards Europe.<ref>{{cite book | last = Watt| first = Donald Cameron | year = 1989 | title = How War Came: Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939 | url = https://archive.org/details/howwarcameimmedi00dona| url-access = registration| location = New York | publisher = Pantheon | isbn = 978-0-67973-093-4 | page=101}}</ref>
* [[January 24]] &ndash; [[1939 Chillán earthquake]]: An earthquake in [[Chile]] kills an estimated 30,000 people and razes about {{convert|50,000|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}} of land.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/world_deaths.php |title=Earthquakes with 1,000 or More Deaths since 1900 |work=Earthquake Hazards Program |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] Earthquake.usgs.gov |date=30 November 2012 |access-date=9 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114225331/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/world_deaths.php |archive-date=14 January 2013 }}</ref>
* [[January 25]] &ndash; [[Refik Saydam]] forms the new (11th) government of [[Turkey]].
* [[January 26]] 
** [[Spanish Civil War]]: Spanish Nationalist troops, aided by Italy, take [[Barcelona]].
** In Paris, French Foreign Minister [[Georges Bonnet]], in response to rumours (which are true) that he is seeking to end the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, gives a speech highlighting his government's commitment to the ''[[Cordon sanitaire (international relations)|cordon sanitaire]]''.
* [[January 27]] &ndash; [[Adolf Hitler]] orders [[Plan Z]], a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the British [[Royal Navy]] by 1944. The ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.<ref>{{cite book | last = Tooze  | first = Adam  | year = 2008  | title = The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy  | location = London  | publisher = Penguin Books  | isbn = 978-0-14-311320-1  | page=289 }}</ref>
* [[January 30]] &ndash; [[30 January 1939 Reichstag speech|Hitler gives a speech before the Reichstag]] calling for an "export battle" to increase German foreign exchange holdings. The same speech also sees "[[Hitler's prophecy]]", where he warns that if "Jewish financiers" start a war against Germany, "the result will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".<ref>{{cite book | last = Thacker | first = Toby | title = Joseph Goebbels: Life and Death | year = 2010 | orig-year = 2009 | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan  | isbn = 978-0-230-27866-0 | page=205}}</ref>