On this day

February 27, 2012

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

Historical Context for February 27, 2012

In 2012, the world population was approximately 7,201,202,485 people[†]

Notable Deaths

Ma Jiyuan

2012Ma Jiyuan, Chinese general (born 1921)[†]

Ma Jiyuan was a Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. He was the son and only child of general Ma Bufang and commanded nationalist forces against the communists at the Heshui Campaign, Meridian Ridge Campaign, and the Lanzhou Campaign during the Chinese Civil War. Ma was 28 years old when he defeated 30,000 PLA soldiers in the Heshui campaign in 1948. He led the 82nd Cavalry Division, of which 30 percent of whom were Muslims, to charge the Communists with swords. Ma complained that the Kuomintang government was not resupplying him enough and that there was no more "revolutionary spirit". On the opposing side General Zhao Shoushan led the Communists, Zhao formerly attended the same school as Ma.

Tina Strobos

2012Tina Strobos, Dutch physician and psychiatrist (born 1920)[†]

Tina Strobos was a Dutch physician and psychiatrist from Amsterdam, known for her resistance work during World War II. While a young medical student, she worked with her mother and grandmother to rescue more than 100 Jewish refugees as part of the Dutch resistance during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Strobos provided her house as a hiding place for Jews on the run, using a secret attic compartment and warning bell system to keep them safe from sudden police raids. In addition, Strobos smuggled guns and radios for the resistance and forged passports to help refugees escape the country. Despite being arrested and interrogated nine times by the Gestapo, she never betrayed the whereabouts of a Jew.

Helga Vlahović

2012Helga Vlahović, Croatian journalist and producer (born 1945)[†]

Helga Vlahović was a Croatian journalist, producer, and television personality, whose career spanned five decades in both SFR Yugoslavia and later Croatia. She was one of the most popular television presenters in the 1980s. Throughout her career, she was also credited as Helga Vlahović Pea and Helga Vlahović Brnobić during the times she was married.

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Headlines from February 27, 2012

With Book, Buchanan Set His Fate

By Brian Stelter

Pat Buchanan’s pessimistic book “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” bemoaned that birthrate trends and “Third World” immigration were precipitating “the end of white America.”

Business1266 words

Even the Jokes Have Wrinkles

By Alessandra Stanley

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony was out with the new, back with the old, and not just because “The Artist,” a largely silent film set in 1920s Hollywood, won so many awards.

Culture877 words