c 2268 BCE- According to Rav Yehoshua, who holds that "the second month" refers to Iyar, today it began raining, marking the beginning of the Flood. (Genesis 7:11-12)
66 CE- Following the theft of silver from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish defenders attacked and defeated the Roman garrison stationed there.
1096- Jews of Worms were massacred by Crusaders.
1278- English Jews were thrown into prison on charges of coining.
1355- 1,200 Jews of Toledo, Spain were killed.
May 14, 1607- English colonists went ashore in Virginia to begin building the first permanent settlement in what would become the United States. The settlement was named Jamestown, after England’s King James I.
May 3, 1703- Yahrtzeit of Samuel Oppenheimer, the leading financier who supplied the Austrian army during their various campaigns. In 1692 he was falsely arrested by Bishop Kolbnitsch and had to buy his freedom with 500,000 florins. He was the founder of the Viennese Jewish community, receiving permission to settle there after the expulsion of 1670. He supported Jewish communities, and ransomed many Jews from the Turks.
April 29, 1941- The Nazis interned 3600 Jews of Russian origin.
April 30, 1945- Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin, Germany.