2023 in Germany

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Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2023 History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 2023 in Germany.

Incumbents

• President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Chancellor: Olaf Scholz

Events

• 5 January – The United States and Germany agree to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Germany will also supply the Ukrainian military with a MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system.
• 8 January – North Rhine-Westphalia Police arrest two Iranian brothers in Castrop-Rauxel, Ruhr, North Rhine-Westphalia, on the suspicion of planning an Islamic terrorist attack using chemical weapons.
• 16 January – German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigns from the Scholz cabinet amid criticism over her handling of the war in Ukraine.
• 22 January – German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock says that Germany will not prevent Poland from sending Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine which Ukrainian officials say are pivotal to defeating Russian forces on the battlefield.
• 24 January – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decides to send Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, and will allow other operators of the tanks, such as Poland, to do so as well.
• 25 January – Two people are killed and seven others are wounded in a mass stabbing on a passenger train in Brokstedt, Steinburg, Schleswig-Holstein.
• 10 February – At least 35 people are injured when a bus overturns near Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.
• 12 February – 2023 Berlin repeat state election
• 22 February – Germany expels two employees of the Iranian embassy in response to Iran sentencing pro-monarchist dual German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd to death over a 2008 bombing in Iran.
• 9 March – A mass shooting in Hamburg kills six people and injures eight others. The gunman then commits suicide.
• 9–11 March – Last meeting of Synodal Path in Frankfurt am Main
• 3 April – Four people are injured in a fire at a hospital in Berlin. One person has been arrested on suspicion of arson.
• 11 April – Germany expels the ambassador of Chad in a tit-for-tat decision following the expulsion of the German ambassador from Chad last week.
• 15 April – The Nuclear power in Germany ends. The last three power plants Isar Nuclear Power Plant, Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant and Emsland Nuclear Power Plant in Germany stop.
• 18 April – At least four people are severely injured in a stabbing attack at a gym in Duisburg.
• 26 April – the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution BfV, after four years of investigations into the youth wing of the Alternative for Germany AfD party, categorized that group as a "confirmed" extremist organization. This allowed the chief of the BfV Thomas Haldenwang to place the youth wing of the AfD under even more intensive surveillance than the tapping of phone and the use of undercover agents than had been the case until then.
• 11 May –
  • 2023 Mercedes-Benz factory shooting: Two people are killed in a shooting at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Sindelfingen, Baden-Württemberg. The perpetrator is arrested.
  • Twelve people are wounded in an explosion at an apartment complex in Ratingen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A 57-year-old man is arrested.
• 14 May – 2023 Bremen state election
• 25 May – The German economy enters recession for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic amid high levels of inflation.
• 31 May – Trial of Lina E.: a Dresden court convicts 4 far-left extremist of violent attacks against far-right individuals.
• 5 June – Björn Höcke Leader of Alternative for Germany in Thuringia is charged for using Nazi slogan Everything for Germany.
• 25 June – The Alternative for Germany in Thuringia wins its first district election in Sonneberg, despite all the other parties supporting the CDU Candidate.
• 2 July – in a run-off election the AfD candidate Hannes Loth won against the independent Nils Naumann in Raguhn-Jeßnitz Saxony-Anhalt, becoming the first ever AfD mayor.
• 24 July – CDU leader Friedrich Merz shows some willingness to work with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party at the local level, which was interpreted as the erosion of the 'firewall' separating conservatives from the far-right, sparking intense controversy within his own party, notably Kai Wegner, the current Governing Mayor of Berlin.
• 21 August – Germany's central bank announces the country's economy will be stagnant in the third quarter, due to high energy prices and rising borrowing costs.
• 23 August – Germany passes legislation to ease citizenship rules, aiming to reduce a shortage of skilled workers and to improve the integration of immigrants.
• 24 August – A German federal court rejects an appeal by a military officer who posed as a asylum-seeker and was convicted of plotting to attack prominent politicians.
• 8 October – 2023 Bavarian state election
• 8 October – 2023 Hessian state election
• 13 October – Mühldorf van crash: Seven people are killed and 16 others injured when a severely overloaded vehicle carrying illegal immigrants from the Middle East crashes in Mühldorf, Bavaria.
• 16 October – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announces he will visit Israel on Tuesday and then Egypt. The German Chancellor said on Monday that the visit allows him to "express his solidarity" with Israel.
• 18 October – Extremists throw Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Berlin, Germany. Several antisemitic incidents in the country have been rising following the escalation in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
• 24 October – 2023 North Sea incident: Two cargo ships, the British-flagged Verity and the Bahamas-flagged Polesie, collide in the North Sea near the Heligoland islands, with several individuals missing and the suspected sinking of the Verity. Rescue efforts are underway.
• 30 October – German AfD politician Daniel Halemba is arrested after Nazi salute complaints and possession of banned totalitarian symbols.
• 5 November – 2023 Hamburg Airport hostage incident: A hostage crisis caused by "family drama" halts flights at Hamburg Airport.

Sports

• 10 September – Germany wins its first FIBA Basketball World Cup, beating Serbia 83–77 in the final. Dennis Schröder is named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Deaths

January

Rosi Mittermaier

• 1 January – Bob Jongen, 95, German-born Dutch footballer. (born 1927)
• 2 January – Kurt Horres, 90, theatre director. (born 1932)
• 3 January – Norbert Werbs, 82, Roman Catholic prelate and theologian, auxiliary bishop of Schwerin (1981–1994) and Hamburg (1994–2015). (born 1940)
• 4 January –
  • Rosi Mittermaier, 72, ski racer (born 1950)
  • Hans Rebele, 79, footballer (1860 Munich, West Germany national team).
• 5 January –
  • Ruth Adler Schnee, 99, German-born American textile and interior designer.
  • Renate Boy, 83, shot putter, Olympic silver medallist (1964).
• 6 January – Axel Troost, 68, politician, MP (2005–2017, 2021).
• 8 January – Siegfried Kurz, 92, conductor and composer.
• 9 January –
  • Rainer Ulrich, 73, footballer (Karlsruher SC) and coach (SSV Ulm, VfR Mannheim).
  • Thomas Kretschmer, 68, politician, member of the Landtag of Thuringia (1990–2008).
  • Hermann-Josef Blanke, 65, academic and legal scholar.
• 10 January –
  • Lothar Blumhagen, 95, film and voice actor.
  • Hans Belting, 87, art historian.
• 11 January –
  • Tatjana Patitz, 56, model and actress.
  • Günther Deschner, 81, author and historian.
• 14 January –
  • Matthias Carras, 58, pop singer.
  • Carl Hahn, 96, automotive industry executive, chairman of Volkswagen Group (1982–1993).
  • Hermann A. Schlögl, 85, actor and Egyptologist.
• 17 January – Heinz-Dieter Hasebrink, 81, footballer (Rot-Weiss Essen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen).
• 18 January – Clytus Gottwald, 97, composer, conductor and musicologist.
• 20 January – Hans Kasper, 84, politician, member of the Landtag of Saarland (1970–1999).
• 22 January – Bernd Uhl, 76, Roman Catholic prelate, auxiliary bishop of Freiburg (2001–2018).
• 23 January – Inge Kaul, 78, economist.
• 25 January – Wolfgang Altenburg, 94, general, inspector general of the Bundeswehr (1983–1986) and chairman of the NATO Military Committee (1986–1989).
• 26 January – Sepp Dürr, 69, politician, member of the Landtag of Bavaria (1998–2018).
• 27 January – Hellmut Mehnert, 94, internist and diabetologist.
• 29 January –
  • Gerhard Moehring, 101, teacher and local historian.
  • Gero Storjohann, 64, politician.
  • Gerhard Woitzik, 95, politician.
• 30 January – Gerald Mortag, 64, cyclist, Olympic silver medallist (1980).

February

Tony Marshall

• 2 February –
  • Solomon Perel, 97, German-born Israeli author and motivational speaker (Europa Europa).
  • Caspar Richter, 78, conductor (Vereinigte Bühnen Wien).
• 3 February –
  • Andreas Gielchen, 58, footballer (1. FC Köln, Alemannia Aachen).
  • Ismail Tipi, 64, Turkish-German politician, member of the Landtag of Hesse (since 2010).
• 4 February – Jürgen Flimm, 81, theater director and manager (Salzburg Festival, Berlin State Opera).
• 10 February – Hans Modrow, 95, politician
• 16 February – Tim Lobinger, 50, pole vaulter
• 16 February – Tony Marshall, 85, singer
• 16 February – Gunnar Heinsohn, 79, author, sociologist and economist
• 25 February – Corinna Miazga, 39, politician
• 26 February – Günther von Lojewski, 87, journalist

March

Antje Vollmer

• 2 March – Mary Bauermeister, 89, artist
• 4 March – Heinz Baumann, 95, actor
• 5 March – Klaus-Michael Bonsack, 79, luger
• 6 March – Traute Lafrenz, 103, resistance fighter
• 6 March – Heinz Schwarz, 94, politician
• 14 March – Richard Wagner, 70, novelist
• 15 March – Antje Vollmer, 79, politician
• 17 March – Tilman Zülch, 83, human rights activist

April

• 1 April – Klaus Teuber, 70, game board designer
• 4 April – Maria Sebaldt, 92, actress
• 11 April – Lotti Krekel, 81,actress and singer

• 28 April – Peter Lilienthal, 95, film director (born 1927)

May

• 9 May – Günter Wewel, 85, television presenter (born 1934)
• 28 May – Harald zur Hausen, 87, virologist (born 1936)

June

• 1 June – Margit Carstensen, 83, film and theatre actress (born 1940)
• 20 June – Doris Stockhausen, 79, music pedagogue (born 1924)
• 22 June – Peter Brötzmann, 82, jazz saxophonist and clarinetist (born 1941)

July

Heide Simonis

Christian Quadflieg

Martin Walser

• 1 July - Klaus Täuber, 65, football player (born 1958)
• 2 July - Randolf Stich, 57, politician (born 1966)
• 8 July - Eva Schreiber, 65, politician (born 1958)
• 11 July - Richard von Schirach, 81, sinologist and author (born 1942)
• 12 July - Heide Simonis, 80, politician (born 1943)
• 16 July - Christian Quadflieg, 78, actor (born 1945)
• 17 July - Bruno Flierl, 96, architect (born 1927)
• 19 July - Matthias Zimmer, 62, politician (born 1961)
• 28 July - Martin Walser, writer and novelist (born 1927)

August

• 1 August - Heinz Golombeck, 74, politician (born 1948)
• 7 August - Margit Saad, 94, actress (born 1929)
• 16 August - Jürgen Kluckert, 79, actor (born 1943)
• 22 August - René Weller, 69, boxer (born 1953)
• 22 August - Manfred Zetzsche, 93, actor (born 1930)
• 23 August - Ingrid Olef, 83, politician (born 1939)
• 25 Augst - Claus Boje, 65, film producent (born 1958)
• 27 August - Dennis Kramer, 31, cyclist (born 1992)

September

Hans-Ulrich Klose

• 4 September - Filip Minarik, 48, Czech jockey (born 1975)
• 5 September - Jürgen Claus, 88, painter (born 1935)
• 5 September - Corinna Werwigk-Hertneck, 70, politician (born 1965)
• 6 September - Hans-Ulrich Klose, 86, politician (born 1937)
• 6 September - Lothar Koch, 83, politician (born 1939)
• 7 September - Edgar Moron, 82, politician (born 1941)
• 20 September - Ruth Fuchs, 76, politician and athlete (born 1946)

October

Elmar Wepper

• 3 October - Johannes Kühn, 89, writer (born 1934)
• 6 October - Bodo Schümann, 87, theologian and politician (born 1936)
• 17 October - Dirk Alvermann, 57, historian and archivar (born 1965)
• 19 October - Dietrich Geyer, 94, historian (born 1928)
• 20 October - Norbert Buske, 87, politician and theologian (born 1936)
• 21 October - Manfred Braun, 95, politician (born 1928)
• 23 October - Lutz Riemann, 82, actor (born 1940)
• 24 October - Hans Albert, 102, philosopher (born 1921)
• 24 October - Heinz Günther Hüsch, 94, lawyer and politician (born 1929)
• 27 October - Ignaz Walter, 87, businessman and entrepreneur (born 1936)
• 30 October - Hans Meiser, 77, journalist, tv-moderator and tv talkshow host (born 1946)
• 31 October - Elmar Wepper, 79, actor (born 1944)

November

• 1 November - Erich Zakowski, 89, mechanic (born 1933)
• 2 November - Jutta Müller, 94, figure skater (born 1928)