1912 in Germany

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser – Wilhelm II
• Chancellor – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

  State level

Kingdoms

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

  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
• 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
• 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 –.... Hansen ' to 29 March, then Karl Ebermaier '
• Kiaochow – Alfred Meyer-Waldeck
• German East Africa – Georg Albrecht Freiherr von Rechenberg to 22 April, then Albert Heinrich Schnee
• German New Guinea – Albert Hahl
• German Samoa – Erich Schultz-Ewerth
• German South-West Africa – 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, led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt.
• December 24 – Merck files patent applications in Germany for synthesis of the entactogenic drug MDMA, 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
• 21 January – Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist
• 1 February – Erich Campe, German boxer
• 5 February – Hedwig Potthast, German secretary and mistress of Heinrich Himmler
• 18 February – Heinz Kühn, German politician
• 24 February – Ulrich de Maizière, German general
• 3 March – Klaus Gysi, politician
• 4 March – Ferdinand Leitner, German conductor
• 6 March – Klaus von Bismarck, German journalist
• 13 March – Carl Raddatz, German actor
• 22 March – Alfred Schwarzmann, German gymnast
• 23 March – Wernher von Braun, German aerospace engineer and space architect
• 31 March – Hermann Höcherl, German politician
• 29 April – Moshe Landau, German-born Israeli jurist and president of the Supreme Court of Israel
• 2 May:
• * Axel Springer, German journalist
• * Karl Adam, German rowing coach
• 9 May – Fritz Sennheiser, German electrical engineer and entrepreneur, founder of Sennheiser
• 1 June – Oswald Lange, German aerospace engineer
• 5 June – Josef Neckermann, German equestrian and businessman
• 21 June – Toni Merkens, German cyclist
• 28 June – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist
• 30 June – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical pioneers of Germany
• 28 July – Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
• 3 August:
• * Fritz Hellwig, German politician
• * Richard Holm, German operatic tenor
• 14 August – Erwin Strittmatter, German writer
• 31 August – Helmut Hamann, German athlete
• 2 September – Ingeborg Rapoport, German pediatrician
• 19 September – Kurt Sanderling, German conductor
• 14 October – Albert Richter, German cyclist
• 28 November – Heinz Galinski, President of Central Council of Jews in Germany
• 29 November – Günther Smend, German officer
• Date unknown – Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist

  Deaths

• 8 January – Friedrich Schrempf, editor and member of the Reichstag
• 5 February – Botho zu Eulenburg
• 8 February – Wilhelm von Hahnke, German fieldmarshall
• 5 March – Rochus von Liliencron, German germanist and historian
• 12 March – Friedrich Karl Wilhelm Dönitz, German physician, anatomist, zoologist and entomologist
• 30 March – Karl May, German writer
• 20 May – Prince George William of Hanover
• 30 July – Friedrich Schulze, German architect
• 10 August – Paul Wallot, German architect
• 24 September – Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein, German politician
• 10 October – Rudolf Arnold Nieberding, German politician
• 27 October – Friedrich zu Limburg-Stirum, German diplomat and politician
• 22 November – Otto Lessing, German sculptor
• 23 December – Otto Schoetensack, German industrialist and later professor of anthropology
• 30 December – Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter, German diplomat and politician