What Happened on February 20?
What happened on February 20? - February 20: A Day of Triumph, Tragedy and Historic Shifts
Every day brings events, anecdotes, birthdays, and deaths worth remembering.
Today's historical highlights for February 20, 2026
Name days: Falk, Corona, Pierre
On This Day in History
- 2011 – In Hamburg's early state election, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) regains power after nine and a half years. Led by top candidate Olaf Scholz, the party wins 48.4% of the vote and an absolute majority of seats.
- 1986 – The Soviet Union launches the core module of the Mir space station into Earth's orbit.
- 1956 – Karl Arnold (CDU), who had served as Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1947, is ousted in a no-confidence vote and replaced by Fritz Steinhoff (SPD), who secures 102 out of 198 votes.
- 1946 – A coal dust explosion at the Grimberg III/IV mine in Bergkamen, Westphalia, kills 408 miners; only 64 survive the disaster.
- 1926 – The first Green Week agricultural fair opens in Berlin, drawing 50,000 visitors to the Kaiserdamm exhibition by February 28.
Birthdays
- 1966 – Cindy Crawford (60), American supermodel and actress, face of Revlon (1989–2001)
- 1966 – Urs Fischer (60), Swiss football manager (Union Berlin, 2018–2023)
- 1951 – Gordon Brown (75), British politician, Prime Minister (2007–2010)
- 1941 – Alexander Gauland (85), German politician, honorary chairman of the AfD (since 2019)
Deaths
- 2011 – Helmut Ringelmann, German film and TV producer (Der Alte, Derrick), b. 1926
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
