1902 in Germany

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser – Wilhelm II
• Chancellor – Bernhard von Bülow

  State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria – Otto of Bavaria
• King of Prussia – Kaiser Wilhelm II
• King of Saxony – Albert of Saxony to 19 June, then George of Saxony
• King of Württemberg – William II of Württemberg

  Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis IV
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Frederick Augustus II
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – William Ernest

  Principalities

• Schaumburg-Lippe – George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Principality of Lippe – Alexander, Prince of Lippe
• Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz to 19 April, then Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz
• Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
• Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

  Duchies

• Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
• Duke of Brunswick – Prince Albert of Prussia
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
• Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

  Colonial Governors

• Cameroon – Jesko von Puttkamer ' to 3 February, then … Plehn ' to 2 October, then again Jesko von Puttkamer '
• Kiaochow – Oskar von Truppel
• German East Africa – Gustav Adolf von Götzen
• German New Guinea – Albert Hahl '
• German Samoa – Wilhelm Solf
• German South-West Africa – Theodor Leutwein
• Togoland – August Köhler to 20 January, then vacant to 1 December, then Waldemar Horn

  Events

• December-February 1903 - Venezuelan crisis, in which Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

  Births

• 6 January - Helmut Poppendick, German physician
• 5 February – Paul Nevermann, German politician
• 7 March – Heinz Rühmann, German actor
• 21 March – Gustav Fröhlich, German actor
• 2 August – Moshe Rudolf Bloch German-born Israeli scientist
• 13 August – Felix Wankel, German engineer
• 10 July – Kurt Alder, German chemist
• 12 August – Franz Etzel, German politician
• 22 August – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, photographer, actress and dancer.
• 5 September – Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg, German government official and a member of the German Resistance in the 20 July Plot
• 21 October – Kurt Scharf, German clergyman and bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg
• 1 November – Eugen Jochum, German conductor
• 4 November – Otto Bayer, German chemist
• 22 November – Moshe Unna, German-born Israeli politician
• 21 December – Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, German landowner, officer, and resistance fighter against the Nazi régime

  Deaths

• 7 January – Wilhelm Hertz, German writer
• March 11 – Friedrich Engelhorn, German industrialist and founder of BASF
• April 19
• * Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
• * Hans von Pechmann, German chemist
• 19 June – Albert, King of Saxony,
• 5 September – Rudolf Virchow, German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician
• 7 September – Franz Wüllner, German composer and conductor