1931 in Germany

Incumbents

• Paul von Hindenburg

• Dr. Heinrich Brüning

  Events

• January 4 - German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Portuguese Guinea in Africa.
• February 11 - National Socialist and National Party members walk out of the Reichstag in protest against changes in the parliament's protocol intended to limit heckling.
• April 22 - Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States recognize the Second Spanish Republic.
• May 8 - Prosecution of Adolf Hitler by Hans Litten for complicity in manslaughter committed by members of the Sturmabteilung at the Tanzpalast Eden in Berlin in 1930 is dismissed.
• June 5 - Chancellor Brüning visits London, where he warns the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald that the collapse of the Austrian banking system, caused by the bankruptcy of the Creditanstalt, has left the entire German banking system on the verge of collapse. Germany suspends payment of World War I reparations and, despite declaration of the Hoover Moratorium, there is massive withdrawal of domestic and foreign funds from German banks, which by mid-July have all closed.
• June 10 - The Schienenzeppelin, an experimental propeller driven railcar, sets up a new world railway speed record of 230 km/h on its way from Hamburg to Berlin which is not surpassed by any other train for 24 years.
• August 9 - Referendum in Prussia for dissolving the Landtag ends with the "yes" side winning 37% of the vote, which is insufficient for calling the early elections. The elections are intended to remove the Social Democratic Party government of Otto Braun, which is one of the strongest forces for democracy in Germany. Supporting the "yes" side are the NSDAP, the DNVP and the Communist Party, while the SPD and Zentrum support the "no" side.
• August 29 - Airship Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.
• October 11 - Rally in Bad Harzburg leads to the Harzburg Front being founded, uniting the NSDAP, the DNVP, the Stahlhelm and various other right-wing fractions.
• December 8 - Carl Friedrich Goerdeler is appointed Reich Price Commissioner to enforce the deflationary policies of the Brüning government.
• Date unknown: German company Porsche was founded.

  Arts and literature

• June 6 - Burning of Glaspalast in Munich. The fire in the Glaspalast irretrievably destroyed more than 3,000 artworks including more than 110 paintings from the early 19th century including many paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, Moritz von Schwind, Karl Blechen, and Philipp Otto Runge
• Erich Kästner's satire Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee is published.
• Irmgard Keun's first novel Gilgi - eine von uns is published.
• Erich Maria Remarque's war novel Der Weg zurück concludes serialization and is published in book form.
• Carl Zuckmayer's satire Der Hauptmann von Köpenick is first performed.
• Fritz Lang's thriller M is released.
• The film version of Berlin-Alexanderplatz is released.
• The musical film version of Die 3-Groschen-Oper, is released.
• The film version of Emil und die Detektive is released.

  Science

• Adolf Butenandt discovers androsterone.
• The first electroencephalography is performed by Hans Berger.
• Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll build the first prototype electron microscope.
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Otto Heinrich Warburg.

  Births

• January 8 - Bill Graham, rock concert promoter
• January 9 - Erhard Krack, German politician
• January 16 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany 1999-2004
• January 17 - Mark Brandis, journalist and science fiction author
• January 21 - Anatol Herzfeld, German sculptor
• January 31 - Hansjörg Felmy, German actor
• February 2 - Walter Burkert, classical scholar
• February 7 - Holger Börner, politician
• February 23 - Gustav-Adolf Schur, German cyclist
• March 3 — Werner Haas, German musician
• March 11 - Janosch, writer
• April 1 - Rolf Hochhuth, dramatist
• April 17 - Hilmar Thate, German actor
• April 29 - Frank Auerbach, painter
• May 15 - Claus Roxin, jurist
• May 19 - Alfred Schmidt, philosopher
• June 8 - Dana Wynter, actress
• June 29 - Ralph Klein, basketball player and coach
• July 25 - Peter Armbruster, German physicist
• July 31 - Ivan Rebroff, German singer
• August 18 - Hans Tietmeyer, German president of Deutsche Bundesbank from September 1999 until 2004
• August 20 - Bernd Becher, photographer
• September 1 - Michael O. Rabin, Israeli computer scientist and Turing Award laureate
• September 3 - Fritz J. Raddatz German feuilletonist, essayist, biographer and romancier
• September 11 - Hans-Ulrich Wehler, German historian
• October 14 - Heinz Fütterer, German athlete
• October 16 - Hans Friderichs, German politician
• November 6 - Mike Nichols, director
• December 3 - Franz Josef Degenhardt, poet and novelist

  Deaths

• February 16 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, photographer
• February 23 - Eduard von Capelle, admiral
• February 26 - Otto Wallach, chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• March 11 - F. W. Murnau, film director
• March 20 - Hermann Müller, German politician
• April 14 - Richard Armstedt, historian
• May 6 - Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, German scientist and inventor
• July 28 - Emil Warburg, German physician
• September 13 - Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia, Prussian nobleman
• September 20 - Max Littmann, architect
• October 17 - Alfons Maria Jakob, neuropathologist
• December 7 - Karl Fritz, German bishop of Roman-Catholic Church