Berlin, Germany. Several notable political, legal, and cultural events occurred on February 27 across different years, including major conflicts, elections, and landmark court decisions.
Political and social events
In 1933, fire destroyed Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag. In 1973, Native Americans began an occupation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the scene of a massacre in 1890.
In 1990, Nelson Mandela arrived in Zambia on his first foreign trip since his release after 27 years in South African jails. In 1999, Nigerians voted in presidential elections to end 15 years of military rule, and General Olusegun Obasanjo, a military leader 20 years earlier, won power through the ballot box.
Deaths and religious developments
In 2002, Spike Milligan, the zany genius behind the British radio comedy series the Goon Show, died aged 83. In 2003, Rowan Williams was enthroned as the 104th archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the world’s 70 million Anglicans.
Courts and sentencing
In 2003, the U.N. war crimes court at The Hague sentenced former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic to 11 years in jail. In 2004, Shoko Asahara, who led the Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), was sentenced to hang for masterminding a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 that killed 12.
Archaeology and reconstruction
In 2007, the University of Palermo displayed the face of a woman reconstructed from 14,000-year-old remains.
Which of these February 27 events do you want to learn more about?
