1883 in Germany

Events in the year 1883 in Germany.

National level

 * Kaiser – William I
 * Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

Kingdoms

 * King of Bavaria – Ludwig II
 * King of Prussia – William I
 * 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 II
 * 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 – Charles Gonthier, 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 – William, Duke of Brunswick
 * 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

Events

 * 12 May – A German merchant Adolf Lüderitz purchases and takes possession of land in South-West Africa, which subsequently forms the basis of the first German colony of German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika).

Undated

 * German company AEG is founded in Berlin.
 * Germany gets the world's first national social health insurance system by legislation of Otto von Bismarck's social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883.
 * The Schotten-Baumann reaction is first described in 1883 by German chemists Carl Schotten and Eugen Baumann.
 * The Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen is opened.

Births

 * 12 January – Gustav Otto, aircraft engineer (died 1926)
 * 19 January – Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (died 1956)
 * 31 January – Hermann Höpker-Aschoff, German judge and politician (died 1954)
 * 16 February – Conrad Hommel, German painter (died 1971)
 * 9 February – Fritz August Breuhaus, German architect, interior designer and designer (died 1960)
 * 17 February – Selma Lohse, German politician (died 1937)
 * 23 February – Otto Nuschke, German politician (died 1957)
 * 23 February – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist and philosopher (died 1969)
 * 8 March – Adolf Köster, German diplomat and politician (died 1930)
 * 13 March – Eugen Ritter von Schobert, German general (died 1941)
 * 18 May – Walter Gropius, German architect (died 1969)
 * 18 May – Theodor Loos, German actor (died 1954)
 * 7 July – Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, German nobleman (died 1942)
 * 10 July – Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (died 1948)
 * 10 July – Friedrich Flick, German entrepreneur and industrialist (died 1972)
 * 7 August – Joachim Ringelnatz, German writer (died 1934)
 * 20 August – Robert Lehr, German politician (died 1956)
 * 11 September – Emil Rausch, German swimmer (died 1954)
 * 17 September – Käthe Kruse, notable pioneer of German doll-making (died 1968)
 * 14 September – Martin Dibelius, German academic theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg (died 1947)
 * 24 September – Wilhelm Stählin, German Lutheran theologian, bishop, preacher (died 1975)
 * 30 September – Bernhard Rust, Education Minister of Nazi Germany (died 1945)
 * 8 October – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate (died 1970)
 * 25 October – Walter Alfred Rosam, German painter (died 1916)
 * 15 November – Günther Rüdel, German general (died 1950)

Deaths

 * 19 January – Georg Ferdinand Howaldt, German sculptor (born 1802)
 * 21 January – Prince Charles of Prussia, German nobleman and Prussian general (born 1801)
 * 24 January – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (born 1812)
 * 13 February – Richard Wagner, German composer (born 1813)
 * 27 February – Julius Stern, German composer and pedagogue (born 1820)
 * 14 March – Karl Marx, German philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist (born 1818)
 * 15 April – Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (born 1823)
 * 29 April – Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, German economist and politician (born 1808)
 * 4 August – August Howaldt, German engineer and ship builder (born 1809)
 * 19 November – Arnold Schaefer, German historian (born 1819)