Today in History, February 27th
On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag fire gave Hitler a pretext to crush civil liberties. Plus the 22nd Amendment and Wounded Knee.
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February 27 is best known for the Reichstag fire of 1933, which Hitler’s new government used to suspend civil liberties across Germany. The date also saw the 22nd Amendment ratified in 1951 and the start of the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973.
The big story: The Reichstag Burns (1933)
Adolf Hitler had been chancellor for less than a month when Germany’s parliament building in Berlin went up in flames on the night of February 27, 1933. Police arrested Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutchman, at the scene. The Nazis blamed the communists and moved fast. The very next day, a decree “for the Protection of the People and the State” suspended the constitution’s guarantees of political, personal and property rights. That decree is often counted as the real start of Hitler’s dictatorship. Within weeks, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, handing its lawmaking power to Hitler’s cabinet. Who actually set the fire is still debated. Some historians think Nazi agents were involved; others argue van der Lubbe acted alone and the Nazis simply took advantage. A court convicted him, and he was executed in January 1934. Four communists tried with him were acquitted.
More events on February 27
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 380 | Roman Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors issued the Edict of Thessalonica, making Nicene Christianity the official religion of the empire. |
| 1776 | North Carolina Patriots beat a Loyalist force at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, an early and important win in the American Revolution. |
| 1844 | Rebels of the secret society La Trinitaria seized a fortress in Santo Domingo, launching the Dominican Republic’s war of independence from Haiti. |
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln sat for his first portrait by photographer Mathew Brady, then gave his Cooper Union speech in New York that evening. |
| 1922 | In Leser v. Garnett, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment, which gave women the vote. |
| 1942 | The USS Langley, the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft carrier, was wrecked by Japanese bombers south of Java and then sunk by American destroyers to keep it out of enemy hands. |
| 1951 | The 22nd Amendment was ratified, limiting U.S. presidents to two terms. |
| 1968 | CBS anchor Walter Cronkite closed a special report on Vietnam by telling viewers the war looked headed for a stalemate. |
| 1973 | About 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activists occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, beginning a 71-day standoff with federal authorities. |
| 2006 | Effa Manley, who ran the Negro League’s Newark Eagles, became the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. |
| 2010 | A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck central Chile before dawn, and the quake and its tsunami killed more than 500 people. |
Born on February 27
- 1807: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet of “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha.”
- 1902: John Steinbeck, Nobel Prize-winning novelist who wrote The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1932: Elizabeth Taylor, two-time Oscar-winning actress born in London to American parents.
Keep reading
Sources
- Reichstag fire, Britannica
- Theodosius’s Edicts Promote Christian Orthodoxy, EBSCO Research Starters
- Moores Creek National Battlefield, National Park Service
- What Happened on February 27, History.com
- Twenty-second Amendment, Britannica
- Reporting America at War: February 27, 1968, PBS
- Chile earthquake of 2010, Britannica
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Britannica
- John Steinbeck, Britannica
- Elizabeth Taylor, Britannica
