2012 in Germany

Decades:

See also:Other events of 2012
History of Germany • Timeline • Years

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2012
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Decades:

Federal level

President:
- Christian Wulff (until 17 February 2012)
- Horst Seehofer (Acting; 17 February – 18 March 2012)
- Joachim Gauck (from 18 March 2012)
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 12 June Torsten Albig
Minister-President of Thuringia – Christine Lieberknecht

Events

January – June

6 January – In state Saarland coalition of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer breaks up.
20 January – Bavarian Film Awards in Munich
23 January – The drugstore Schlecker files for bankruptcy.
9–19 February – 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin
16 February – Roman Lob is selected to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest.
17 February – German President Christian Wulff resigns following a major loan scandal.
19 February – Joachim Gauck is chosen as the main candidate to succeed Christian Wulff.
27 February – The party Die Linke selects Beate Klarsfeld as its candidate to succeed Christian Wulff.
29 February – Schlecker announces the closure of half its stores across Germany.^[1]
6–10 March – CeBIT in Hanover
7–11 March – ITB Berlin in Berlin
15–18 March – Leipzig Book Fair in Leipzig
18 March – German presidential election, 2012 – Joachim Gauck is elected President of Germany, taking the oath of office on 23 March
25 March – 1 April – 2012 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund
25 March – Elections in state Saarland
23–27 April – Hannover Messe in Hanover
27 April – Deutscher Filmpreis in Berlin
6 May – Elections in Schleswig-Holstein
13 May – Elections in North Rhine-Westphalia – Hannelore Kraft is elected to continue as Minister-President, heading an SPD-Green coalition.
22 May – Peter Altmaier replaces Norbert Rottgen as Environment Minister.
26 May – Roman Lob represents Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 8th.^[2]
June – The Germany national football team takes part in UEFA Euro 2012.
9 June – 16 September: dOCUMENTA (13)
12 June – 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.
18–24 June – Kiel Week in Kiel
28 June – 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

3 July – 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.
13 July – FIFA President Sepp Blatter alleges that there were irregularities when Germany won the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
31 July – 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.
9–12 August – Hanse Sail in Rostock
31 August – 5 September – Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin in Berlin
11–16 September – ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin
12 September – The German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled, that the new European bailout fund was inline with the German constitution.
15–19 September – Gamescom in Cologne
18–23 September – photokina in Cologne
20–27 September – Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt
21 September – JadeWeserPort opened.^[3]
22 September – 7 October – Oktoberfest in Munich
28 September – The SPD selects Peer Steinbruck as its candidate to face Angela Merkel in the German federal election, 2013.
4 October – Michael Schumacher announces his retirement from Formula One.
5 October – Footballer Michael Ballack announces an end to his playing career.
10–14 October – Frankfurt Book Fair, with special guest New Zealand.
12 November – 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt
25 November – In Formula One, German driver Sebastian Vettel wins the Drivers' Championship for the third consecutive year.
26 November – A fire at a workshop for disabled people in Southwestern Germany kills 14 people.
6 December – German officials tried to outlaw the Nationalist National Democratic Party of Germany, with the interior ministers of all 16 states recommending a ban. The Federal Constitutional Court is yet to vote on the recommendation.^[4]
10 December – An explosive device is found, and made safe, at the main railway station in Bonn.
25 December – 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.

Deaths

January

2 January – Helmut Müller-Brühl, 78, conductor (b. 1933)
3 January – Willi Entenmann, 68, footballer and coach (b. 1943)
4 January – Xaver Unsinn, 82, ice hockey player (b. 1929)
8 January – Bernhard Schrader, chemist and academic (b. 1931)
10 January – Kyra T. Inachin, 43, historian (b. 1968)
13 January – Guido Dessauer, 96, paper engineer and art collector (b. 1915)
17 January – Julius Meimberg, 95, Luftwaffe flying ace (b. 1917)
18 January – Georg Lassen, 96, naval officer (b. 1915)
24 January – Vadim Glowna, 70, actor and film director (b. 1941)
25 January – Veronica Carstens, 88, former First Lady (b. 1923)

February

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

March

11 March – Hans G. Helms, 79, experimental writer (b. 1932)
13 March – Princess Anna of Saxony, 82, noblewoman (b. 1929)^{[citation needed]}
19 March – Karl-Heinz Spickenagel, 80, footballer (b. 1932)
21 March – Albrecht Dietz, 86, entrepreneur and scientist (b. 1926)

April

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

May

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

June

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

July

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

August

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

September

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

October

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

November

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

December

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

v t e Years in Germany (1871–present)
19th century	Pre-1871 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

v t e 2012 in Europe
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey

Federal level

State level

Events

January – June

July – December

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See also

References

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