On this day - 27 February

The Reichstag (German parliament building) was on fire for several hours on February 27th 1933 with the flames visible for miles around. The fire was caused by arson but who was responsible remains a debated topic. Marinus Van der Lubbe was arrested for arson, tried and found guilty and executed. This conviction was posthumously pardoned by the German leadership in 2008

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The Daily Express reports that one of their correspondents in the area at the time of the fire followed Hitler into the burning building. They report on comments made by both Hitler and his senior ministers in response to the situation and were witness to the attempts of the fire service to extinguish the blaze.

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Boris Nemtsov was a Russian politician and was known for opposing Putin's government. He was crossing a bridge in Moscow on February 27th 2015 with his girlfriend, Anna Duritskaya, when he was shot multiple times. He was killed almost instantly as multiple bullets hit him.

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