Calendar: What happened on August 14?

August 14, 2026, marks a day with a diverse historical tapestry, featuring significant events, notable births, and solemn anniversaries. The date is particularly remembered for the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti in 2021, claiming over 2,200 lives, injuring at least 12,000, and destroying tens of thousands of homes, with the city of Les Cayes in the southwest being especially hard-hit.

In sports history, August 14, 1981, witnessed one of the most brutal fouls in the Bundesliga. During a match between Werder Bremen and Arminia Bielefeld, Werder player Norbert Siegmann's tackle resulted in a 30-centimeter-long gash on Bielefeld's Ewald Lienen's thigh, exposing muscle and shocking spectators.

Peace activism is also highlighted, with over 8,000 women from the "Mothers for Peace" group, including Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, demonstrating for peace in Northern Ireland in Belfast on August 14, 1976. Williams and Corrigan were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for their work.

The calendar also notes the death of Polish Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe in the Auschwitz "hunger bunker" in 1941. Kolbe voluntarily took the place of a father of a family condemned to a slow death by starvation as a reprisal for an inmate's escape. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Notable birthdays for August 14 include American actress Halle Berry (born 1966), German singer-songwriter Ulla Meinecke (born 1953), and acclaimed German director Wim Wenders (born 1945). The date also marks the birthday of French comic author René Goscinny (born 1926), co-creator of "Asterix." The death anniversary of German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht (born 1898) is also observed.