2012 in Germany

Federal level

Christian Wulff

Joachim Gauck

Angela Merkel

• President –
  • until 17 February: Christian Wulff
  • 17 February-18 March: Horst Seehofer
  • starting 18 March: Joachim Gauck
• Chancellor – Angela Merkel

State level

• Minister-President of Baden-Wuerttemberg – Winfried Kretschmann
• Minister-President of Bavaria – Horst Seehofer
• Mayor of Berlin – Klaus Wowereit
• Minister-President of Brandenburg – Matthias Platzeck
• Mayor of Bremen – Jens Boehrnsen
• Mayor of Hamburg – Olaf Scholz
• Minister-President of Hesse – Volker Bouffier
• Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – Erwin Sellering
• Minister-President of Niedersachsen – David McAllister
• Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia – Hannelore Kraft
• Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate – Kurt Beck
• Minister-President of Saarland – Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
• Minister-President of Saxony – Stanislaw Tillich
• Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt – Reiner Haseloff
• Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein – Peter Harry Carstensen to June 12 Torsten Albig
• Minister-President of Thuringia – Christine Lieberknecht

January – June

• January 6 – In state Saarland coalition of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer breaks up.
• January 20 – Bavarian Film Awards in Munich
• January 23 – The drugstore Schlecker files for bankruptcy.
• February 9–19 – 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin
• February 16 – Roman Lob is selected to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest.
• February 17 – German President Christian Wulff resigns following a major loan scandal.
• February 19 – Joachim Gauck is chosen as the main candidate to succeed Christian Wulff.
• February 27 – The party Die Linke selects Beate Klarsfeld as its candidate to succeed Christian Wulff.
• February 29 – Schlecker announces the closure of half its stores across Germany.
• March 6–10 – CeBIT in Hanover
• March 7–11 – ITB Berlin in Berlin
• March 15–18 – Leipzig Book Fair in Leipzig
• March 18 – German presidential election, 2012 – Joachim Gauck is elected President of Germany, taking the oath of office on March 23
• March 25 – April 1 – 2012 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund
• March 25 – Elections in state Saarland
• April 23–27 – Hanover Messe in Hanover
• April 27 – Deutscher Filmpreis in Berlin
• May 6 – Elections in Schleswig-Holstein
• May 13 – Elections in North Rhine-Westphalia – Hannelore Kraft is elected to continue as Minister-President, heading an SPD-Green coalition.
• May 22 – Peter Altmaier replaces Norbert Rottgen as Environment Minister.
• May 26 – Roman Lob represents Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 8th.
• June – The Germany national football team takes part in UEFA Euro 2012.
• June 9 - September 16: dOCUMENTA (13)
• June 12 – Torsten Albig is elected as Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, after the SPD, Greens and South Schleswig Voter Federation agree to form a coalition in the state.
• June 18–24 – Kiel Week in Kiel
• June 28 – UEFA Euro 2012: The Germany national football team is knocked out at the Semi Final stage, by the Italy national football team, through two goals from Mario Balotelli.
• Date unknown: As the largest German-Sino transaction ever, at the end of January 2012 German company Putzmeister was sold to the company Chinese Sany Heavy Industries.

July – December

• July 3 – Heinz Fromm resigns as Head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, following controversies over the organisation's handling of the far-right.
• early July – Success for German players in the Wimbledon tennis Singles: In the Men's section, Florian Mayer and Philipp Kohlschreiber reach the quarter finals; in the Women's section, Sabine Lisicki reaches the quarter finals, and Angelique Kerber reaches the semi finals.
• July 13 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter alleges that there were irregularities when Germany won the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• July 31 - Germany wins its first Gold Medals of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, in the Equestrian sport, taking team gold, and with Michael Jung taking individual gold.
• August 9–12 – Hanse Sail in Rostock
• August 31- September 5 – Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin in Berlin
• September 11–16 – ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin
• September 12 - The German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled, that the new European bailout fund was inline with the German constitution.
• September 15–19 – gamescom in Cologne
• September 18–23 – photokina in Cologne
• September 20–27 – Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt
• September 21 - JadeWeserPort opened.
• September 22- October 7 – Oktoberfest in Munich
• September 28 - The SPD selects Peer Steinbruck as its candidate to face Angela Merkel in the German federal election, 2013.
• October 4 - Michael Schumacher announces his retirement from Formula One.
• October 5 - Footballer Michael Ballack announces an end to his playing career.
• October 10–14 – Frankfurt Book Fair, with special guest New Zealand.
• November 12 - 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt
• November 25 - In Formula One, German driver Sebastian Vettel wins the Drivers' Championship for the third consecutive year.
• November 26 - A fire at a workshop for disabled people in Southwestern Germany kills 14 people.
• December 10 - An explosive device is found, and made safe, at the main railway station in Bonn.
• December 25 - Joachim Gauck makes his first Christmas address as President.

• Date unknown: German company Volkswagen Group acquired Italian company Ducati and German companies MAN and Porsche.

January

Vadim Glowna 1941–2012

• January 2 – Helmut Müller-Brühl, 78, conductor (born 1933)
• January 3 – Willi Entenmann, 68, footballer and coach (born 1943)
• January 4 – Xaver Unsinn, 82, ice hockey player (born 1929)
• January 10 – Kyra T. Inachin, 43, historian (born 1968)
• January 13 – Guido Dessauer, 96, paper engineer and art collector (born 1915)
• January 17 – Julius Meimberg, 95, Luftwaffe flying ace (born 1917)
• January 18 – Georg Lassen, 96, naval officer (born 1915)
• January 24 – Vadim Glowna, 70, actor and film director (born 1941)
• January 25 – Veronica Carstens, 88, former First Lady (born 1923)

February

Gunther Plaut 1912–2012

• February 1 – Lutz Philipp, 71, Olympic athlete (born 1940)
• February 2 – Paul Consbruch, 81, Roman Catholic prelate (born 1930)
• February 8 – Gunther Plaut, 99, German-born Canadian rabbi and author (born 1912)
• February 20 – Imanuel Geiss, 81, historian (born 1931)
• February 25 – Louisiana Red, 79, American blues musician (born 1932)
• February 27 – Werner Guballa, 67, Roman Catholic bishop (born 1944)

March

Friedhelm Konietzka 1938–2012

• March 11 – Hans G. Helms, 79, experimental writer (born 1932)
• March 12 – Friedhelm Konietzka, 73, German-born Swiss footballer and manager (born 1938)
• March 13 – Princess Anna of Saxony, 82, noblewoman (born 1929)
• March 19 – Karl-Heinz Spickenagel, 80, footballer (born 1932)
• March 21 – Albrecht Dietz, 86, entrepreneur and scientist (born 1926)

April

Barbara Buchholz 1959–2012

• April 5 – Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, 76, entrepreneur and auto designer (born 1935)
• April 6 - Heinz Kunert, German engineer (born 1927)
• April 9 – Ivan Nagel, 80, theatre director (born 1931)
• April 10 – Barbara Buchholz, 52, musician and composer (born 1959)
• April 12 – Manfred Orzessek, 78, footballer (born 1933)
• April 18 – Fritz Theilen, 84, resistance activist (born 1927)
• April 20 – Peter Carsten, 83, actor (born 1928)
• April 21 – Heinz Jentzsch, 92, racehorse trainer (born 1920)

May

Günther Kaufmann

• May 3 – Felix Werder, 90, German-born Australian composer (born 1922)
• May 10 – Horst Faas, 79, photojournalist (born 1933)
• May 10 – Gunther Kaufmann, 64, actor (born 1947)
• May 12 – Ernst Josef Fittkau, 75, entomologist (born 1927)
• May 12 – Fritz Ursell, 89, German-born British mathematician (born 1923)
• May 15 – Peter Koslowski, 59, philosopher and academic (born 1952)
• May 15 – Arno Lustiger, 88, Polish-born writer and historian of Judaism (born 1922)
• May 16 – Hans Geister, 83, athlete (born 1928)
• May 18 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 86, baritone and conductor (born 1925)
• May 18 – Hans-Dieter Lange, 85, television journalist (born 1926)
• May 19 - Gerhard Hetz 69, swimmer (born 1942)
• May 24 – Klaas Carel Faber, 90, Dutch-born war criminal, died in Ingolstadt (born 1922)
• May 27 – Friedrich Hirzebruch, 84, mathematician (born 1927)
• May 30 – Gerhard Pohl, 74, politician (born 1937)

June

Karl-Heinz Kammerling 1930–2012

• June 9 – Audrey Arno, 70, pop singer (born 1942)
• June 12 – Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen, 94, psychoanalyst (born 1917)
• June 14 – Karl-Heinz Kammerling, 82, academic teacher of pianists (born 1930)
• June 18 – Lina Haag, 105, anti-fascist activist during World War II. (born 1907)
• June 20 – Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Kostritz, 92, nobleman (born 1919)
• June 24 – Gad Beck, 88, Resistance activist and Holocaust survivor (born 1923)
• June 24 – Franz Crass, 84, bass singer (born 1928)
• June 24 – Rudolf Schmid, 97, Swiss-born German Roman Catholic bishop (born 1914)
• June 25 – Doris Schade, 88, television actress (born 1924)
• June 27 – Ralph Warren Victor Elliott, 90, German-born Australian professor of English and runologist (born 1921)

July

Susanne Lothar 1960–2012

• July 10 – Fritz Langanke, 92, Waffen SS Lieutenant (born 1919)
• July 18 – Günther Maleuda, 81, politician, President of the People's Chamber (1989–1990) (born 1931)
• July 19 – Hans Nowak, 74, footballer (born 1937)
• July 21 - Susanne Lothar, 51, actress (born 1960)
• July 23 – Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, 86, head of the Royal House of Saxony (born 1926)
• July 27 - Carl-Ludwig Wagner, 82, politician, former Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate (born 1930)
• July 29 - Heinz Staab, 86, chemist (born 1926)
• July 31 - Rudolf Kreitlein, 92, football referee (born 1919)

August

Georg Leber 1920-2012

• August 2 - Bernd Meier, 40, footballer (born 1972)
• August 8 - Kurt Maetzig, 101, film director (born 1911)
• August 19 - Hellmut Geissner, 86, scholar (born 1926)
• August 21 - Georg Leber, 91, politician (born 1920)
• August 24 - Georg Feuerstein, 65, German-born Canadian scholar of Hinduism (born 1947)
• August 26 - Krzysztof Wilmanski, 72, Polish-born German scientist (born 1940)
• August 28 - Alfred Schmidt, 81, philosopher (born 1931)
• August 30 - Paul Friedrichs, 72, motocross racer (born 1940)
• August 31 - Norbert Walter, 67, economist (born 1944)

September

• September 8 - Adolf Bechtold, 86, footballer (born 1926)
• September 8 - Peter Hussing, 64, boxer (born 1948)
• September 16 - Friedrich Zimmermann, 87, politician (born 1925)
• September 21 - Sven Hassel, 95, Danish-born German soldier and author (born 1917)

October

Dirk Bach 1961-2012

• October 1 - Dirk Bach, 51, comedian, actor and television presenter (born 1961)
• October 4 - Erhard Wunderlich, 55, handball player (born 1956)
• October 6 - Albert, Margrave of Meissen, 77, nobleman (born 1934)
• October 11 - Helmut Haller, 73, footballer (born 1939)
• October 12 - Harry Valérien, 88, sports journalist and presenter (born 1923)
• October 17 - Henry Friedlander, 82, German-born American Jewish historian (born 1930)
• October 27 - Hans Werner Henze, 86, composer (born 1926)
• October 31 - Alfons Demming, 84, Roman Catholic prelate (born 1928)

November

• November 8 - Pete Namlook, 51, composer and producer (born 1960)
• November 10 - Wilhelm Hennis, 89, political scientist (born 1923)
• November 18 - Helmut Sonnenfeldt, 96, German-born American foreign policy official (born 1926)
• November 29 - Klaus Schutz, 86, former Mayor of Berlin (born 1926)

December

Peter Struck 1943-2012

• December 4 - Peter Kiesewetter, 67, composer (born 1945)
• December 7 - Berthold Albrecht, 58, businessman (born 1954)
• December 11 - Albert O. Hirschman, 97, German-born American economist (born 1915)
• December 14 - Klaus Koste, 69, gymnast (born 1943)
• December 16 - Axel Anderson, 83, German-born Puerto Rican actor (born 1929)
• December 19 - Peter Struck, 69, politician (born 1943)
• December 25 - Rudolf Muller, 81, Roman Catholic prelate (born 1931)
• December 27 - Jesco von Puttkamer, 79, German-born American aerospace engineer (born 1933)
• December 28 - Emmanuel Scheffer, 88, German-born Israeli football coach (born 1924)