# 1888 in Germany

Events in the year 1888 in Germany, the 'Year of the Three Emperors'.

## Incumbents
### National level

* Kaiser – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
* Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

### State level
#### Kingdoms

* King of Bavaria – Otto
* King of Prussia – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
* King of Saxony – Albert
* King of Württemberg – Charles

#### Grand Duchies

* Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
* Grand Duke of Hesse – Louis IV
* Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis III
* Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
* Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Peter II
* Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Charles Alexander

#### Principalities

* Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
* Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
* Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
* Principality of Lippe – Woldemar, Prince of Lippe
* Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
* Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
* Waldeck and Pyrmont – George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

#### Duchies

* Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
* Duke of Brunswick – Prince Albert of Prussia (regent)
* Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
* Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

#### Colonial Governors

* Cameroon (Kamerun) – Eugen von Zimmerer (1st term) to 17 January, then Julius Freiherr von Soden (2nd term)
* German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator) to 8 February, then Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
* German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz to 1 March, then Reinhold Kraetke (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
* German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
* Togoland – Jesko von Puttkamer (acting commissioner) (1st term) to 17 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
* Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)

## Events

* 9 March – Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
* 16 April – The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
* 15 June – Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
* 13 December – Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences

## Literature

* 'Theses on Feuerbach' by Karl Marx is published posthumously

## Music

* Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
* Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–89)
* Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
* Richard Strauss
** Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
* Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell

## Sport

* Establishment of association football clubs BFC Germania, TGM SV Jügesheim and KBC Duisburg

## Miscellaneous

* First buildings of the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil opened

## Births

* 14 January – Karl Badberger, architect (date of death unknown)
* 17 February – Otto Stern, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969)
* 27 February – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (died 1976)
* 4 March – Emma Richter, German paleontologist (died 1956)
* 14 March:
** Peretz Naftali, German-born Israeli politician (died 1961)
** Hermann Reinecke, Wehrmacht general and convicted war criminal (died 1973)
* 19 March – Josef Albers, German-American artist (died 1976)
* 17 April – Herms Niel, German composer (died 1954)
* 24 July – Hermann von Bönninghausen, German athlete and soldier in World War I (died 1919)
* 25 July – Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, German Waffen SS general (died 1939)
* 4 September – Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (died 1943)
* 20 December – Yitzhak Baer, Israeli historian (died 1980)

## Deaths

* 9 March – William I, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1797)
* 5 April – Eduard Karl August Riehm, German Protestant theologian (born 1830)
* 16 April – Friedrich Grillo, German industrialist (born 1825)
* 15 June – Frederick III, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1831)
* 20 June – Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, German Protestant theologian (born 1814)
* 20 July – Paul Langerhans German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (born 1847)
* 23 July – Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard, German Protestant theologian (born 1818)
* 24 August – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (born 1822)
* 28 August – Georg Beseler, German politician and jurist (born 1809)
* 12 September – August von Werder, German general (born 1808)
* 3 December – Carl Zeiss, German entrepreneur and scientist (born 1816)