Auschwitz 1942; Wikimedia Commons Beginning in 1939, small groups, targeted for political or racial reasons as dangerous to Nazi Germany, were murdered in German concentration camps. During 1939–1942, as Germany occupied most of Europe, the SS established new concentration camps for increasing numbers of political prisoners, resistance groups, and groups deemed racially inferior, such as Jews and Gypsies.  In January 1942, the Wannsee Conference, held by the SS-Reich Main Security Office in a Berlin suburb, completed plans for implementation of the "final solution" in which most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and exterminated.     Auschwitz - Wikimedia

Dale Carnegie's book, regarding social skills and personal success, is still popular today. Twelve Things This Book Will Do For You (listed in the 1936 edition) Get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions. Enable you to make friends quickly and easily. Increase your popularity. Help you to win people to your way of thinking. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done. Enable you to win new clients, new customers. Increase your earning power. Make you a better salesman, a better executive. Help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant. Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist. Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts. Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates.  

In 1936, with significant public sentiment leaning toward isolationism, there was little Congressional support for equipment, training or expansion of the American military. The result was a relatively small, under-trained force that was either under-equipped, lacking up-to-date weapons, or both. This film praises the Curtis P-36 Hawk, an American fighter plane that would already be obsolete at the onset of WWII. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aOJj4xP3us&feature=related

Throughout the 1930s Charlie Chan, a Honolulu-based Chinese-American detective (ironically played in the 1930s by Swedish actor Warner Oland) was popular with movie audiences. Unlike evil characters such as  Dr. Fu Manchu (reflecting Western fears of a "Yellow peril"), Chan was an honorable, intelligent and benign character. On the other hand, many came to view him as an unfortunate stereotype of the subservient Asian who speaks English rather poorly. This film clip from 1936  aptly demonstrates racial attitudes at the time  toward African-Americans as well as Asians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhOdDMaz92M

The M1 Garand officially replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the standard service rifle of the United States Armed Forces in 1936.  General George S. Patton called it "the Greatest Battle Implement Ever Devised." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo0NLKAvmDM&feature=related17

Within easy reach of Russia's Siberian airfields, Japan prepares for attack by its traditional archenemy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSNXg_7BvQk  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx4QNmjMQGA Established in 1919, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) soon had 60,000 members. Extensively involved in labor movements in the 1920s-40s, and promoting racial integration, the CPUSA also created an intelligence network with members acting as agents for the Soviet Union.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC5459wWWSk Kenji Mizoguchi's films were often concerned about the plight of oppressed women in Japanese society. His protagonists were often geishas, prostitutes, workers, street activists, housewives, and feudal princesses. In the Osaka Elegy, a switchboard operator's boss wants to make her his mistress, but she is in love with a younger man. Forced to assist her beleaguered swindler father and destitute student brother, she gives up her honor for an ungrateful family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2fpzqgesyA Top grossing films Rank Title Studio Actors 1. San Francisco MGM Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald 2. The Great Ziegfeld MGM William Powell, Myrna Loyand Luise Rainer 3. Modern Times United Artists Charlie Chaplin 4. These Three United Artists Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon 5. Libeled Lady MGM Jean Harlow, William Powell,Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy 6. Three Smart Girls Universal Deanna Durbin 7. Poor Little Rich Girl 20th Century Fox Shirley Temple 8. Camille MGM Greta Garbo 9. The Charge of the Light Brigade Warner Bros. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland 10. Wife vs. Secretary MGM Clark Gable, Jean Harlowand Myrna Loy 11. My Man Godfrey Universal William Powell and Carole Lombard 12. Dodsworth United Artists Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton 13. Romeo and Juliet MGM Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard 14. Dimples 20th Century Fox Shirley Temple 15. Klondike Annie Paramount Mae West 16. Follow the Fleet RKO Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers 17. The Story of Louis Pasteur Warner Bros. Paul Muni 18. Anthony Adverse Warner Bros. Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland 19. Go West, Young Man Paramount Mae West 20. Suzy MGM Jean Harlow, Franchot Toneand Cary Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ9S650roF4 American Swing music of the 1930s, with its distinctive blend of a strong bass and drum rhythm section and lead brass, woodwind and string instruments, had a lilting rhythm. With emphasis on the off–beat, the music had a "swing feel."

Although Mickey Mouse, the popular cartoon character created by Walt Disney in 1928,  is generally considered to be a cute character, he took on an ominous nature in this 1936 Japanese cartoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icVu-acHlpU

  Despite Republican attacks on the New Deal and claims that the country was moving toward dictatorship, their candidate Alf Landon was easily defeated in the 1936 Presidential election as FDR won 98.49% of the electoral vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont. For the first time, addresses of presidential candidates were broadcast locally on television in the New York area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TRbdXpM4B0 Charlie Chaplin made his last appearance as the little tramp in his 1936 film Modern Times , a silent movie with some sound effects that was a social commentary on the Great Depression. The silent Tramp's final words were deciphered as: "Smile! C'mon!"

Ozu Ojiro's lyrical film The Only Son, unfolding in 1923, 1935 and 1936, depicts the contrast between rural and urban Japanese life. An ironic view of failed ambition, the film focuses on the relationship between a rural widowed mother who labored to get her son an education and the son, now barely surviving in Tokyo, heretofore viewed as a beacon of opportunity for newcomers.

During two days in April 1936, seventeen tornadoes struck the Southeastern USA killing approximately 436 people.

Naoto Tajima (left) with Jesse Owens and Luz Long, 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics; Wikimedia Commons   IMPERIAL JAPAN WAS THE 8TH RANKED NATION WINNING MEDALS AT THE 1936 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES IN BERLIN (GERMANY WAS #1 AND THE USA WAS #2). Medal Name Sport Event  Gold Shigeo Arai, Shigeo Sugiura, Masaharu Taguchi, andMasanori Yusa Swimming Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay  Gold Noboru Terada Swimming Men's 1500m Freestyle  Gold Tetsuo Hamuro Swimming Men's 200m Breaststroke  Gold Hideko Maehata Swimming Women's 200m Breaststroke  Gold Naoto Tajima Athletics Men's Triple Jump  Gold Son Kitei Athletics Men's Marathon[1][2]  Silver Masao Harada Athletics Men's Triple Jump  Silver Shuhei Nishida Athletics Men's Pole Vault  Silver Shumpei Uto Swimming Men's 400m Freestyle  Silver Masanori Yusa Swimming Men's 100m Freestyle  Bronze Sueo Ōe Athletics Men's Pole Vault  Bronze Nan Shoryu Athletics Men's Marathon[1]  Bronze Naoto Tajima Athletics Men's Long Jump  Bronze Masaji Kiyokawa Swimming Men's 100m Backstroke  Bronze Shumpei Uto Swimming Men's 1500m Freestyle  Bronze Shigeo Arai Swimming Men's 100m Freestyle  Bronze Reizo Koike Swimming Men's 200m Breaststroke  Bronze Shozo Makino Swimming Men's 400m Freestyle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQopJmQry4 In the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, America's African-American track star Jesse Owens upset Nazi Aryan notions of racial superiority. In the course of winning four events, Owens set new Olympic 200-meter dash and broad jump records, tied the world 100-meter dash record and ran the first leg of the world record-setting U.S. 400 meter relay team.

Four Days of Snow and Blood (1989) In February 1936, several government ministers were assassinated by a cadre of junior officers in a failed coup d'état. With militant idealism, the dissident group was distressed about dire poverty and unemployment in Japan, despite their country's recent conquest of Manchuria. The rebellious officers and those who influenced them ideologically were executed. In the subsequent purge of the military, many officers, including those supporting the radical Kōdōha (Imperial Way Faction), were transferred to the reserves, giving the control of the military to the more conservative Tōseiha (Control Faction).

Although Germany flew the first helicopter (Focke-Wulf Fw 61) in 1936, extensive bombing by the Allies prevented mass production during WWII. 131 American Sikorsky R-4 helicopters saw service in World War II, primarily  for rescue in Burma, Alaska, and other areas with harsh terrain. By the end of World War II, Sikorsky had produced over 400 helicopters. In 1941 the Imperial Japanese Army developed the Kayaba Ka-1 autogyro for reconnaissance, artillery-spotting, and anti-submarine uses. About 240 Japanese helicopters were produced throughout WWII.

In 1936, with the accusation that a Chinese citizen had killed a Japanese sailor, Japan landed hundreds of marines in Shanghai and demanded apologies from Chinese authorities.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Fm2cM-1tU Constructed in the 1930s to prevent flooding, and provide irrigation and hydroelectric power, the original Boulder Dam was renamed in 1947 in honor of Herbert Hoover, who was  instrumental in its construction.

  In 1937, the women's rights activist Shidzue Katō  opened a birth-control clinic in Tokyo with Margaret Sanger as the guest of honor. Soon, along with about five hundred left-wing men, Shidzue was arrested by the Tokkō (Special Higher Police) and the clinic was closed.

Anti-birth control laws originating in 1873 with the Comstock Act, had their first legal challenge with Margaret Sanger’s  arrest in 1916 for opening a birth control clinic. The 1918 Crane decision allowed women to use birth control for therapeutic purposes. In 1936, Sanger challenged the law against the distribution of contraceptives in United States v. One Package. The court’s ruling in her case allowed physicians to distribute contraceptives across state lines.

In 1936, "recognizing that the aim of the Communist International, known as the Comintern, is to disintegrate and subdue existing States by all the means at its command..."  Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany formed an alliance against Communism.