.... 1948, in Jerusalem, "radical Zionists" in the Stern group assassinated U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte and a French military attaché, Col. Andre P. Serot. Born in 1895 in Stockholm, grandson and nephew to kings, during World War II Bernadotte, as a leader of the Swedish Red Cross, oversaw exchanges of prisoners of war and helped to rescue a 15,000 concentration camp internees, among them Norwegians, Danes, and a "few thousand Jews." In the 4 months of 19548 that Bernadotte had served in the Middle East, by appointment of the Security Council, he had negotiated a truce between warring Jewish and Arab groups and prepared a report on the conflict. Published 3 days after his death, Bernadotte's report became a blueprint for a U.N.-imposed settlement. The 1948 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations was another consequence of Bernadotte's death in service of the United Nations. 
(1948 photo aobve, of Bernadotte and Ralph Bunche, the U.S.-born U.N. diplomat who would take Bernadotte's place as lead mediator, courtesy of UCLA.)... 1179, the mystic, composer, theologian, and natural historian known both as Hildegard von Bingen and Sybil of the Rhine (right), died at age 81. For details on this "remarkable woman, a 'first' in many fields," see here.
