# 1912 in Germany

Events in the year 1912 in Germany.

## Incumbents
### National level

* Kaiser – Wilhelm II
* Chancellor – Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

### State level
#### Kingdoms

* King of Bavaria – Otto
* King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
* King of Saxony – Frederick Augustus III
* King of Württemberg – William II

#### Grand Duchies

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

#### Principalities

* Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
* Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
* Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
* Principality of Lippe – Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe
* Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz (with Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line as regent)
* Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
* Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

#### Duchies

* Duke of Anhalt – Frederick II, Duke of Anhalt
* Duke of Brunswick – Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg (regent)
* Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst II, 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 (Kamerun) – .... Hansen (acting governor) to 29 March, then Karl Ebermaier (1st term)
* Kiaochow (Kiautschou) – Alfred Meyer-Waldeck
* German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Georg Albrecht Freiherr von Rechenberg to 22 April, then Albert Heinrich Schnee
* German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Albert Hahl (2nd term)
* German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) – Erich Schultz-Ewerth
* German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Theodor Seitz
* Togoland – Edmund Brückner to 19 June, then Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg

## Events

* January 12 – German federal election, 1912
* October 17 – Krupp engineers Benno Strauss and Eduard Maurer patent austenitic stainless steel
* December 6 – The Nefertiti bust was found at Amarna by the German Oriental Company (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft – DOG), led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt.
* December 24 – Merck files patent applications in Germany for synthesis of the entactogenic drug MDMA (Ecstasy), developed by Anton Köllisch.

### Undated

* German company Fresenius is founded by Eduard Fresenius.
* Alfred Wegener proposes a fully formulated theory of continental drift and gave the supercontinent Pangaea its name.
* Max von Laue suggests using crystal lattices to diffract X-rays.
* Neosalvarsan becomes available and supersedes the more toxic and less water-soluble salvarsan as an effective treatment for syphilis.

## Births

* 16 January – Willy Kaiser, German boxer (died 1986)
* 21 January – Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist (died 2000)
* 1 February – Erich Campe, German boxer (died 1977)
* 5 February – Hedwig Potthast, German secretary and mistress of Heinrich Himmler (died 1997)
* 18 February – Heinz Kühn, German politician (died 1992)
* 24 February – Ulrich de Maizière, German general (died 2006)
* 3 March – Klaus Gysi, politician (died 1999)
* 4 March – Ferdinand Leitner, German conductor (died 1996)
* 6 March – Klaus von Bismarck, German journalist (died 1997)
* 13 March – Carl Raddatz, German actor (died 2004)
* 22 March – Alfred Schwarzmann, German gymnast (died 2000)
* 23 March – Wernher von Braun, German aerospace engineer and space architect (died 1977)
* 29 March – Hanna Reitsch, German soldier and pilot (d. 1979)
* 31 March – Hermann Höcherl, German politician (died 1989)
* 29 April – Moshe Landau, German-born Israeli jurist and president of the Supreme Court of Israel (died 2011)
* 2 May:
** Axel Springer, German journalist (died 1985)
** Karl Adam, German rowing coach (died 1976)
* 9 May – Fritz Sennheiser, German electrical engineer and entrepreneur, founder of Sennheiser (died 2010)
* 1 June – Oswald Lange, German aerospace engineer (died 2012)
* 5 June – Josef Neckermann, German equestrian and businessman (died 1992)
* 11 June - Bruno von Freytag-Löringhoff, German philosopher, mathematician and epistemologist (died 1996)
* 21 June – Toni Merkens, German cyclist (died 1944)
* 28 June – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist (died 2007)
* 30 June – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical pioneers of Germany (died 2003)
* 9 July
** Willi Stadel, German gymnast (died [1999)
** Albrecht Obermaier, German naval officer (died 2004)
* 28 July – Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (died 1988)
* 3 August:
** Fritz Hellwig, German politician (died 2017)
** Richard Holm, German operatic tenor (died 1988)
* 14 August – Erwin Strittmatter, German writer (died 1994)
* 31 August – Helmut Hamann, German athlete (died 1941)
* 2 September – Ingeborg Rapoport, German pediatrician (died 2017)
* 19 September – Kurt Sanderling, German conductor (died 2011)
* 14 October – Albert Richter, German cyclist (died 1940)
* 1 November – Gunther Plaut, German-born Canadian rabbi and writer (died 2013)
* 28 November – Heinz Galinski, President of Central Council of Jews in Germany (died 1992)
* 29 November – Günther Smend, German officer (died 1944)
* Date unknown
** Hans Metzger, former German diplomat
** Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist (died 1994)

## Deaths

* 8 January – Friedrich Schrempf, editor and member of the Reichstag (born 1858)
* 5 February – Botho zu Eulenburg (born 1831)
* 8 February – Wilhelm von Hahnke, German fieldmarshall (born 1833)
* 5 March – Rochus von Liliencron, German germanist and historian (born 1820)
* 12 March – Friedrich Karl Wilhelm Dönitz, German physician, anatomist, zoologist and entomologist (born 1838)
* 30 March – Karl May, German writer (born 1842)
* 30 July – Friedrich Schulze, German architect (born 1843)
* 10 August – Paul Wallot, German architect (born 1841)
* 24 September – Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein, German politician (born 1842)
* 10 October – Rudolf Arnold Nieberding, German politician (born 1888)
* 27 October – Friedrich zu Limburg-Stirum, German diplomat and politician (born 1835)
* 22 November – Otto Lessing, German sculptor (born 1846)
* 28 November – Otto Brahm, German drama and literary critic (born 1856)
* 23 December – Otto Schoetensack, German industrialist and later professor of anthropology (born 1850)
* 30 December – Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter, German diplomat and politician (born 1852)