2015 in Germany

Incumbents

• President – Joachim Gauck
• Chancellor – Angela Merkel

  Events

January

• 1 January - The 'Mindestlohngesetz' comes into effect: Most jobs now have to receive €8.50 per hour as a minimum wage.
• 11 January - An arson attack on the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, which published Charlie Hebdo cartoons, leads to two arrests.
• 21 January - Lutz Bachmann resigns as chairman of the anti-Islamic Pegida movement. As of 9 April, the position is still vacant.

  February

• 5–15 February - 65th Berlin International Film Festival
• 15 February: Hamburg state election, 2015 in Hamburg

  March

• March - German company Dr Oetker buys German company Coppenrath & Wiese
• 5 March - Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
• 24 March - The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 leads to widespread media coverage and public attention in Germany. 72 Germans die aboard the German machine that was intentionally crashed by its German co-pilot.
• March – CeBIT in Hanover
• March – ITB Berlin in Berlin
• March – Leipzig Book Fair in Leipzig

  April

• April – Hanover Messe in Hanover
• April – Deutscher Filmpreis in Berlin

  May

• 10 May - Bremen state election, 2015 in Bremen

  June

• 7–8 June – 41st G7 summit will be held in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.
• June – Kiel Week in Kiel
• 29 June – A robot grabbed a man at a Volkswagen production plant in Baunatal and crushed him to death against a metal plate. Prosecutors considered bringing charges after the incident.

  August

• August – Hanse Sail in Rostock
• August- September – Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin in Berlin

  September

• September – ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin
• September – gamescom in Cologne
• September – Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt
• 30 September – Alex Springer Media Group is ordered to pay €635,000 compensation for damages for pain and suffering to journalist and weather presenter Jörg Kachelmann following their reporting of a case in which he was falsely accused of rape. The award was a record sum for such as case, though later reduced to €395,000 on appeal.
• September - October – Oktoberfest in Munich

  October

• October – Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt

  November

• November - German company Merck Group buys American company Sigma-Aldrich
• November - Japanese company Hitachi Koki buys German company Metabo

  December

• 31 December – New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany
• Date unknown: In 2015 the German company Coppenrath & Wiese was acquired by German company Dr. Oetker.

  Deaths

• 1 January: Ulrich Beck, German sociologist
• 7 January: Diether Kressel, German painter
• 8 January: Hubert Markl, German biologist
• 20 January: Edgar Froese, German artist and electronic music pioneer
• 25 January - Ernst Träger, German judge
• 31 January: Udo Lattek, German football player, coach, and TV pundit
• 31 January: Richard von Weizsäcker, German politician
• 18 February: Hans F. Zacher, German jurist
• 26 February: Heinrich Windelen, German politician
• 26 February: Fritz J. Raddatz, German feuilletonist, essayist, biographer and romancier
• 1 March: Chris Welp, German professional basketball player
• 1 March: Wolfram Wuttke, German footballer
• 5 March: Karina Kraushaar, German actress
• 9 March: Frei Otto, German architect
• 26 March: Friedrich L. Bauer, German computer scientist
• 30 March: Helmut Dietl, German film director and author
• 31 March: Klaus Tschira, German entrepreneur
• 13 April: Günter Grass, German novelist and author
• 14 April: Klaus Bednarz, German journalist
• 9 May: Odo Marquard, German philosoph
• 19 May: Gerald Götting, German politician
• 20 May: Manfred Müller, German bishop or Roman-Catholic Church
• 27 May: Elisabeth Wiedemann, German actress
• 3 June: Horst Brandstätter, German businessman
• 4 June: Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer and calligrapher
• 4 June: Edith Hancke, German film actress
• 9 June: James Last, German composer and big band leader
• 15 June: Harry Rowohlt, German writer and translator
• 21 Jun: Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, German politician
• 22 June: Gabriele Wohmann, German novelist
• 13 July: Philipp Mißfelder, German politician
• 14 July: Wolf Gremm, German film director and screenwriter
• 3 August: Johanna Quandt, German entrepreneur
• 11 August: Utta Danella, German author
• 15 August: Max Greger, German jazz musician
• 17 August: Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, Vice President of the Union of European Football Associations
• 20 August: Egon Bahr, German politician
• 20 August: Armin, Prince of Lippe, German nobleman
• 4 September: Max Kruse, German author
• 4 September: Rainer Kirsch, German writer and journalist
• 24 September: Ellis Kaut, German author of children's literature, best known for her creation of Pumuckl
• 29 September: Hellmuth Karasek, German journalist, literary critic and novelist
• 1 November: Günter Schabowski, German official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
• 5 November: Hans Mommsen, German historian
• 10 November: Helmut Schmidt, German chancellor
• 5 December: Wolfgang Sandner , German physicist
• 15 December: Stella Doufexis, German mezzo-soprano opera singer
• 19 December: Kurt Masur, German conductor