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February
27 in German History
--------------------------------- February 27, 272
Birth of Constantine. Constantine the Great
was the emperor of the Roman Empire. He had started his
political career as one of the four Roman Emperors at the
time of the division of power. He ruled the Western Empire
from the city of Trier (now in Germany). He later waged
battle against the other emperors and emerged finally as the
sole emperor. It was Constantine who first tolerated
Christianity and later made it an official religion of the
Empire. His basilica still stands in Trier as do several
other structures from the time of his rule there. The present
day cathedral of Trier was the home of Constantine's mother,
St. Helena.
February 27, 1846
Birth of Franz Mehring in Schlawe, Germany.
Mehring became the head of the Berlin leftist newspaper, the Berliner
Volkszeitung in 1883. He joined the Social Democratic
Party in 1890 and edited the Leipziger Volkszeitung and
the SPD's Neue Zeit. He opposed World War I and in
1916 became active in the Spartacusbund. He is noted for his
biography of Karl Marx, Karl Marx: Geschichte seines
Lebens (1918).
February 27, 1848
The beginnings of the revolution of 1848.
After a successful democratic revolution in Paris between
February 22-24, the first German demands are made. The
"Mannheim petition" demands unrestricted freedom of
the press, jury trials and a parliament.
February 27, 1888
Birth of Lotte Lehmann in Perleberg,
Germany. After musical study in Berlin, Lehmann began her
operatic career in Hamburg. Later with the Vienna State Opera
she developed a close working relationship with Richard
Strauss. (The role of Arabella was created for her.) She
immigrated to the United States and sang with the
Metropolitan Opera.
February 27, 1933

The Reichstag burns. The fire was probably
set by a Dutch anarchist, Marinus van der Lubbe. (Van der
Lubbe was found guilty by the German court and sentenced to
death on December 23, 1933.) In a state of panic about the
Reichstag fire the parliament passed the "Enabeling
Act" on March 23, 1933. That act opened the way for
Hitler's dictatorship.
February 27, 1940
Death of Peter Behrens in Berlin, Germany.
Behrens was an architect. He was the director of the arts and
crafts school in Düsseldorf when in 1907 he was appointed
AEG's artistic adviser for all AEG products. He attracted
such luminaries as Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le
Corbusier to work with him on various projects.
February 27, 1989
Death of Konrad Lorenz in Altenburg,
Austria. Lorenz is widely known for his book, Das
sogenannte Böse (1963), (rather strangely translated
title: On Aggression). He won the Nobel Prize for
Physiology or Medicine in 1973. He earned the M.D. from the
University of Vienna in 1928 and the Ph.D. in zoology in
1933. He developed the concept of "imprinting" in
animals. He is also recognized for his work on the evolution
of behavior in animals. In his later career he did similar
studies involving humans.
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