1897 in Germany
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events in the year 1897 in Germany.
Incumbents
National level
State level
Kingdoms
- King of Bavaria â Otto
- King of Prussia â Wilhelm II
- King of Saxony â Albert
- King of Württemberg â William II
Grand Duchies
- Grand Duke of Baden â Frederick I
- Grand Duke of Hesse â Ernest Louis
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin â Frederick Francis III to 10 April, then Frederick Francis IV
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz â Frederick William
- Grand Duke of Oldenburg â Peter II
- Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach â Charles Alexander
Principalities
- Schaumburg-Lippe â George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt â Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen â Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
- Principality of Lippe â Alexander, Prince of Lippe (with Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe to 17 July, then Ernest II, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld, as regent)
- Reuss Elder Line â Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
- Reuss Younger Line â Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
- Waldeck and Pyrmont â Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Duchies
Colonial Governors
- Cameroon (Kamerun) â Theodor Seitz (2nd term) to 10 September, then Jesko von Puttkamer (5th term) from 11 September
- German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) â Eduard von Liebert
- German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) â Curt von Hagen to 13 August, then Albert Hahl (acting) (1st term) to 11 September, then Hugo Skopnik (all Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
- German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) â Theodor Leutwein (Landeshauptleute)
- Togoland â August Köhler (Landeshauptleute)
Events
- 10 May â The Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB) is passed by the Reichtstag. The HGB will come into force together with the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) on 1 January 1900.
- 10 August â Rudolf Diesel builds his first working prototype Diesel engine in Augsburg.
- 10 October â Chemists working at Bayer AG create a synthetically altered version of salicin which the company names Aspirin.
Undated
- David Hilbert unifies the field of algebraic number theory with his treatise Zahlbericht.
- The Daimler Victoriaâthe world's first meter-equipped (and gasoline-powered) taxicabâwas built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1897.
Births
- 9 January â Karl Löwith, German philosopher (died 1973)
- 14 January â Hasso von Manteuffel, German general during World War II (died 1978)
- 4 February â Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany (died 1977)
- 19 February â Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, German opera singer (died 1978)
- 2 March â Gurit Kadman, German-born Israeli dance instructor and choreographer (died 1987)
- 8 April â Will Dohm, German actor (died 1948)
- 9 April â Ernst Melsheimer, German lawyer (died 1960)
- 19 April â Bruno Diekmann, German politician (died 1982)
- 11 May â Kurt Gerron, German actor (died 1944)
- 16 June â Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (died 1987
- 27 June â Heinz von Cleve, German actor (died 1984)
- 5 July â Paul Ben-Haim (born Paul Frankenburger), German-born Israeli composer (died 1984)
- 17 July â Max Knoll, German electrical engineer (died 1969)
- 4 August â Adolf Heusinger, German general (died 1982)
- 10 August â Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg (died 1970)
- 30 August â August Bach, German politician (died 1966)
- 28 October â Hans Speidel, German general (died 1984)
- 29 October â Joseph Goebbels, German politician (died 1945)
- 12 November â Karl Marx, German composer (died 1985)
- 23 November â Fritz Steinhoff, German politician (died 1969)
- 5 December â Gershom Scholem (born Gerhard Scholem), German-born Israeli philosopher and historian (died 1982)
- 14 December â Thomas Dehler, German politician (died 1967)
- Full date unknown â Shimon Fritz Bodenheimer, German-born Israeli biologist and zoologist (died 1959)
Deaths
- 19 February â Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (born 1815)
- 11 March â Daniel Sanders, German lexicographer (born 1819)
- 3 April â Johannes Brahms, German German composer and pianist (born 1833)
- 10 April â Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (born 1851)
- 11 April â Johann Nepomuk Brischar, German Roman Catholic church historian (born 1819)
- 17 June â Sebastian Kneipp, German priest (born 1821)
- 21 July â Amand Goegg, German journalist and politician (born 1820)
- 8 August â Viktor Meyer, German chemist (born 1848)
- 20 September â Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (born 1819)
- 30 September â Leopold Auerbach, German anatomist and neuropathologist (born 1828)
- 1 November â Ulrike Henschke, German women's right activist and education reformer (born 1830)[1]
- 3 December â Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke, German astronomer (born 1835)
