2010 in Germany

Incumbents

Federal level

• President –
• * until 31 May: Horst Köhler
• * 31 May-30 June: Jens Böhrnsen
• * starting 30 June: Christian Wulff
• Chancellor – Angela Merkel

  Events

• 16 January – The German government asks its citizens to stop using Microsoft's web browser Internet Explorer to protect their own security.
• 22 January – A Nuremberg court issues an arrest warrant for former Argentine leader Jorge Rafael Videla, on suspicion of killing a German man.
• 11–21 February – 60th Berlin International Film Festival
• 13 February – More than 10,000 anti-fascist protesters successfully block a planned neo-Nazi march in Dresden.
• 4 April – Three car bombs hit the Egyptian, German and Iranian embassies in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in quick succession, killing at least 30 people.
• 29 May – With the song "Satellite", Germany's Lena wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, the first German victory since 1982.
• 25 June – Germany's TanDEM-X satellite, whose aim it is to create the most precise 3D map of Earth's surface, obtains its first images.
• 30 June — Christian Wulff is elected President of Germany.
• 4 July – In a referendum, voters in the German state of Bavaria vote to ban smoking at all pubs and restaurants.
• 7 July – Spain defeats Germany 1-0 to win its semi-final and for its first time, along with Netherlands make the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.
• 10 July – 2010 FIFA World Cup: Germany defeats Uruguay 3-2 to finish third.
• 12 July – At least eight people are injured after a tornado strikes the German island of Duene in the North Sea.
• 24 July – A massive stampede at the 2010 Love Parade in Duisburg kills 20 people and injures dozens more people.
• 8 August – Dutch rider Ellen van Dijk wins the 2010 Sparkassen Giro.
• 26 August – German HIV-positive pop singer Nadja Benaissa is found guilty of grievous bodily harm after transmitting HIV to a man who had unprotected sex with her without her telling him of her condition.
• 21–26 September – photokina in Cologne
• 28 September – Germany's £22 billion World War I debt is finally paid off after more than 90 years.
• 3 October –
• * Germany celebrates 20 years of unification.
• * The German government pays its last World War I reparations.
• 26 October – The number of unemployed in Germany drops first time since 1991 below three million.
• 1 November – German identity cards are issued in the ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 format and contain RFID chips with personally identifiable information including a biometric Photo and, if desired, two fingerprints.

• 9 November – Demonstrations in Wendland near Gorleben against CASTOR-transport.
• 29 November – Break of coalition in Hamburg between the Green and CDU parties.
• December – The German Meteorological Service, Deutscher Wetterdienst, says December was the coldest December month since 1969 in Germany.

  Deaths

• 1 January – Marlene Neubauer-Woerner, 91, German sculptor.
• 1 January – Freya von Moltke, 98, German World War II resistance fighter.
• 4 January – Ludwig Wilding, 82, German artist.
• 9 January – Franz-Hermann Brüner, 64, German head of OLAF, after long illness.
• 9 January – Diether Posser, 87, German politician.
• 14 January – Katharina Rutschky, 68, German educationalist and author.
• 14 January – Petra Schürmann, 74, German television presenter, Miss World 1956, after long illness.
• 15 January – Detlev Lauscher, 57, German footballer.
• 18 January – Günter Mielke, 67, German Olympic athlete.
• 30 January – Ruth Cohn, 97, German psychotherapist.
• 31 January – Erna Baumbauer, 91, German casting agent.
• 10 February – Michael Palme, 66, German sportswriter and host.
• 12 February – Werner Krämer, 70, German footballer.
• 14 February – Rosa Rein, 112, German-born Swiss supercentenarian.
• 16 February – Ino Kolbe, 95, German Esperanto expert.
• 17 February – Ines Paulke, 51, German rock and roll singer and songwriter, suicide.
• 18 February – Erwin Bachmann, 88, German Waffen-SS officer.
• 23 February – Gerhardt Neef, 63, German footballer, throat cancer.
• 23 February – Henri Salmide, 90, German World War II naval officer, saved Bordeaux port from destruction.
• 27 February – David Bankier, 63, German-born Israeli Holocaust scholar.
• 5 March – Wolfgang Schenck, 97, German airman, Luftwaffe flying ace.
• 12 March – Hanna-Renate Laurien, 81, German politician.
• 14 March – Konrad Ruhland, 78, German musicologist.
• 20 March – Erwin Lehn, 90, German musician and conductor.
• 21 March – Wolfgang Wagner, 90, German director, natural causes.
• 22 March – Emil Schulz, 71, German boxer.
• 25 March – Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 93, German political scientist.
• 27 March – Peter Herbolzheimer, 74, German jazz musician
• 30 March – Alfred Ambs, 87, German World War II flying ace.
• 30 March – Josef Homeyer, 80, German Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Hildesheim.
• 30 March – Martin Sandberger, 98, German Nazi leader and Holocaust perpetrator.
• 31 March - Ludwig Martin, German lawyer
• 3 April – Ferdinand Simoneit, 84, German journalist, author and World War II veteran.
• 4 April – Friedrich Wilhelm Schäfke, 87, German mathematician and academic.
• 4 April – Erich Zenger, 70, German Roman Catholic theologian and bible scholar.
• 5 April – Günther C. Kirchberger, 81, German academic and painter.
• 5 April – Gisela Trowe, 86, German actress.
• 6 April – Hans Schröder, 79, German sculptor and painter.
• 8 April – Andreas Kunze, 57, German actor, heart failure.
• 9 April – Gisela Karau, 78, German author, editor and columnist, after long illness.
• 10 April – Martin Ostwald, 88, German-born American classics scholar.
• 10 April – Manfred Reichert, 69, German footballer, after long illness.
• 11 April – Gerhard Geise, 80, German mathematician, after long illness.
• 11 April – Hans-Joachim Göring, 86, German footballer and coach.
• 11 April – Gert Haller, 65, German business manager, lobbyist and politician, after long illness.
• 11 April – Theodor Homann, 61, German footballer, heart failure.
• 11 April – Egon Hugenschmidt, 84, German jurist and politician.
• 12 April – Ambrosius Eßer, 76, German Dominican clergy and church historian, pulmonary disease.
• 12 April – Wolfgang Graßl, 40, German skier and coach, heart failure.
• 12 April – Werner Schroeter, 65, German film director, after long illness.
• 14 April – Stefan Schmitt, 46, German jurist and politician, leukemia.
• 15 April – Wilhelm Huxhorn, 54, German footballer, leukemia.
• 17 April – Josef W. Janker, 87, German author, journalist and World War II veteran.
• 17 April – Axel Weishaupt, 64, German diplomat, ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, heart failure.
• 21 April – Manfred Kallenbach, 68, German footballer, heart failure.
• 24 April – Leo Löwenstein, 43, German racing driver, race accident.
• 24 April – Paul Schäfer, 88, German religious sect founder and former Nazi army corporal, heart failure.
• 30 April – Paul Mayer, 98, German Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal.
• 3 May – Stefan Doernberg, 85, German writer and teacher.
• 3 May – Guenter Wendt, 85, German-born American spacecraft engineer, heart failure and stroke.
• 4 May – Freddy Kottulinsky, 77, German-born Swedish racing driver
• 5 May – Alfons Kontarsky, 77, German pianist.
• 8 May – Peer Schmidt, 84, German actor, after long illness.
• 9 May – Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, 86, German partisan, World War II resistance fighter.
• 12 May – Dieter Bock, 71, German businessman and multimillionaire, choking.
• 12 May – Edith Keller-Herrmann, 88, German chess Grandmaster.
• 13 May – Walter Klimmek, 91, German footballer.
• 13 May – Klaus Kotter, 75, German bobsleigh official.
• 15 May – Christian Habicht, 57, German actor, heart attack.
• 17 May – Ludwig von Friedeburg, 85, German politician and sociologist, Hesse Minister for Education.
• 17 May – Fritz Sennheiser, 98, German electrical engineer and entrepreneur, founder of Sennheiser.
• 23 May – Eva Ostwalt, 108, German-born American Holocaust survivor.
• 24 May – Anneliese Rothenberger, 83, German opera singer.
• 29 May – Paul Müller, 69, German biologist.
• 30 May – Klaus Kandaouroff, 80, German businessman and philanthropist, shot.
• 10 June – Sigmar Polke, 69, German painter and photographer, cancer.
• 12 June – Daisy D'ora, 97, German actress and socialite.
• 13 June – Ernest Fleischmann, 85, German-born American impresario, executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
• 15 June – Heidi Kabel, 95, German stage actress.
• 18 June – Hans Joachim Sewering, 94, German physician, member of the Waffen SS.
• 19 June – Ursula Thiess, 86, German artist and actress.
• 21 June – Wilfried Feldenkirchen, 62, German economic historian and project manager, car crash.
• 22 June – Marie-Luise Jahn, 92, German activist, member of the anti-Nazi resistance movement White Rose.
• 22 June – Manfred Römbell, 68, German writer, after long illness.
• 23 June – Jörg Berger, 65, German football manager, bowel cancer.
• 23 June – Frank Giering, 38, German actor.
• 28 June – Willie Huber, 52, German-born Canadian ice hockey player, heart attack.
• 2 July – Carl Adam Petri, 83, German computer scientist.
• 3 July – Kirsten Heisig, 48, German politician and juvenile magistrate, suicide.
• 3 July – Herbert Erhardt, 79, German footballer, FIFA World Cup winner 1954
• 12 July – Günter Behnisch, 88, German architect.
• 22 July – Herbert Giersch, 89, German economist.
• 24 July – Theo Albrecht, 88, German entrepreneur and billionaire.
• 25 July – Erich Steidtmann, 95, German Nazi SS officer.
• 30 July – Otto Joachim, 99, German-born Canadian violist and composer of electronic music.
• 5 August – Jürgen Oesten, 96, German seaman, U-boat commander during World War II.
• 7 August – Jürgen Thimme, 92, German archaeologist and U-boat commander, after long illness.
• 8 August – Bernhard Philberth, 83, German physicist, engineer, philosopher and theologian.
• 11 August – Bruno Schleinstein, 78, German actor.
• 12 August - Manfred Homberg, German boxer
• 18 August – Maria Wachter, 100, German communist and resistance fighter, member of VVN.
• 18 August – Sepp Daxenberger, 48, German politician, bone marrow cancer.
• 19 August – Gerhard Beil, 84, East German politician.
• 21 August – Christoph Schlingensief, 49, German film and theatre director, lung cancer.
• 26 August – Walter Wolfrum, 87, German World War II Luftwaffe fighter ace.
• 7 September – Eberhard von Brauchitsch, 83, German industrial manager
• 11 September – Baerbel Bohley, 65, East German opposition figure & artist
• 16 September – Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern, 86, German nobleman
• 18 September – Egon Klepsch, 80, German politician
• 14 October – Hermann Scheer, 66, German politician
• 21 October – Loki Schmidt, 91, German environmentalist and wife of Helmut Schmidt.
• 5 November – Hajo Herrmann, 97, German Luftwaffe pilot
• 6 November – Ezard Haußmann, 75, German actor
• 15 November – Andreas Kirchner, 57, German Winter sportsman
• 20 November:
• * Walter Helmut Fritz, German author
• * Heinz Weiss, German actor
• 26 November – Maria Hellwig, 90, German singer
• 30 November – Peter Hofmann, 76, German singer
• 7 December – Armin Weiss, 83, chemist and politician
• 7 December – Arnold Weiss, 86, German-born American soldier
• 15 December – Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach, 87, German sport journalist
• 17 December – Mikhail Umansky, 58, Russian-born German chess grandmaster
• 20 December - Katharina Szelinski-Singer, 92, German sculptor