On This Day in History

February 27

Historical Events

1693 The first women's magazine "Ladies' Mercury", is published in London.

1900 The Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (formed in 1893) meet in London, resulting in a Labour Representative Committee and eventually the modern UK Labour Party in 1906.

The Reichstag building in Berlin, housing the German Parliament, on fire during the night of February 27, 1933.

1933 Nazi Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, is destroyed by fire; possibly set by the Nazis, who blame and execute Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe.

1940 Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (radiocarbon dating) at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California.

1957 Mao Zedong's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding Maoist ideals.

2012 Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private intelligence company Stratfor.

More Historical Events

Famous Birthdays

Charles Strite 1878 - 1956 Marian Anderson 1897 - 1993

John Steinbeck 1902 - 1968 Elizabeth Taylor 1932 - 2011

Also Constantine the Great, Mildred Bailey, Joanne Woodward (94) and Josh Groban(43).

More Famous Birthdays

Famous Deaths

Louis Vuitton 1821 - 1892 Fred Rogers 1928 - 2003

Also Ivan Pavlov and Spike Milligan.

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Fire Sparks Hitler’s Rise To Absolute Power

The Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, went up in flames on this day giving Adolf Hitler propaganda in his quest for dictatorship.

The Reichstag Fire