From Maimonides to Kaczynski: This Week in History

Cover image for This Week in History for March 30, with images of Maimonides, a young Beethoven, and the cover of a work by Eduard de Dene.

March 30, 2026
From famed scholars to Unabombers, check out these book and video recommendations based on what happened in history this week!

March 30, 1155

Portrait of Jewish scholar Maimonides from the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum, circa 1744. He is portrayed as an elderly man with a large beard and a hat, possibly a shtreimel.

Prolific Jewish scholar Maimonides is born in Córdoba.  His achievements in astronomy, medicine, and philosophy will establish his influence in Jewish thought and culture for centuries. His death will coincide with the end of the Jewish Golden Age in Spain.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Turning Points in Jewish History

The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature

 

March 31, 1943

Image of a song and dance routine from a production of the musical Oklahoma, by Rodgers and Hammerstein, circa 1943.

American musical Oklahoma! debuts on Broadway. It is the first work by the massively successful Rodgers & Hammerstein duo and establishes many aspects of the musical theater genre.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Oklahoma! [videorecording]

The Secret Life of the American Musical

 

April 1, 1561

The woodcut titled Fools' Convention, 1500, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, displaying a chaotic scene of medieval revelry.

Although the origin of April Fool's day is unknown, one of the earliest references to it is from the Flemish poet Eduard de Dene. It is speculated that the holiday developed from the medieval Feast of Fools.

Learn more with KCKPL:

The Business of Holidays

The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy

 

April 2, 1800

Lithograph by Carl Offterdinger depicting the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The composer stands in the middle of the orchestra listening intently as they play.

Ludwig van Beethoven premieres the first of his nine symphonies in Vienna. Although not one of his better-known works, it is immediately celebrated by those in attendance, including the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.

Learn more with KCKPL:

The Complete Beethoven Symphonies

Beethoven: A Life

 

April 3, 1996

Arrest of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, by FBI agents at his cabin in Montana, 1996. He is being led out of the front door in handcuffs by an agent whose face is censored.

Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, is arrested following a mail bombing campaign that took three lives. He was identified through an essay he anonymously published that explained his anti-technology ideology. Despite his violent acts, the  manifesto and his later writings will be described as well-reasoned and intelligent.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Hunting the Unabomber: The FBI, Ted Kaczynski, and the Capture of America’s Most Notorious Domestic Terrorist

Manhunt: Unabomber [videorecording]

 

Images

Portrait of Maimonides from the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum, ~1744

Production of Oklahoma!, 1943 (Library of Congress)

Fools' Convention, 1500 (Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

The Premiere of Symphony No. 9, 1879 (Carl Offterdinger)

Kaczynski’s arrest on April 3, 1996  by the FBI at his cabin in Montana.

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