1896 in Germany

Events in the year 1896 in Germany.

National level

 * Kaiser – Wilhelm II
 * Chancellor – Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst

Kingdoms

 * King of Bavaria – Otto
 * King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
 * King of Saxony – Albert
 * King of Württemberg – William II

Grand Duchies

 * Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
 * Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis
 * 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 – George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
 * Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
 * Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
 * Principality of Lippe – Alexander, Prince of Lippe (with Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as regent)
 * Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, 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 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 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 * Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Colonial Governors

 * Cameroon (Kamerun) – Theodor Seitz (2nd term)
 * German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Hermann Wissmann to 3 December, then Eduard von Liebert
 * German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Hugo Rüdiger to 17 August, then from 22 September Curt von Hagen (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
 * German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Theodor Leutwein (Landeshauptleute)
 * Togoland – August Köhler (Landeshauptleute)

Events

 * 12 April – German football club Hannover 96 is founded.
 * 1 June – Institut für Serumforschung und Serumprüfung in Berlin is opened.

Undated

 * Gottlieb Daimler produces the first gasoline truck.
 * Emperor William Monument in Porta Westfalica is completed.
 * German physicist Wilhelm Wien derives the Wien approximation.

Births

 * 11 January – Heinrich Stuhlfauth, German football player and goalkeeper (died 1966)
 * 4 February – Friedrich Hund, German physicist (died 1997)
 * 9 February – Erich Vagts, German politician (died 1980)
 * 14 February – Werner Richard Heymann, German film composer (died 1961)
 * 23 February – Herbert Weichmann, German politician (died 1983)
 * 25 February – Ida Noddack, German chemist (died 1978)
 * 2 March – Caesar von Hofacker, German colonel (died 1944)
 * 22 March – Karl Dannemann, German actor (died 1945)
 * 1 April – Wilhelm Sauter, German painter (died 1948)
 * 13 May – Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (died 1967)
 * 20 May – Paul Kemp, German actor (died 1953)
 * 9 June – Karl Sack, German jurist (died 1945)
 * 16 July – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German physician (died 1969)
 * 23 July – Reinhold Frank, German lawyer (died 1945)
 * 19 August – Josef Kammhuber, German general (died 1986)
 * 23 August – Hubert von Meyerinck, German actor (died 1971)
 * 15 September – Theodor Haubach, German journalist (died 1945)
 * 14 October – Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff, German police officer and politician (died 1944)
 * 18 October – Friedrich Hollaender, German film composer and author (died 1976)
 * 30 October – Roma Bahn, German actress (died 1975)
 * 9 November – Hellmut von der Chevallerie, German general (died 1965)
 * 28 November – Otto Graf, German actor (died 1977)
 * 3 December – Carlo Schmid, German politician (died 1979)
 * 18 December – Hans Otto Erdmann, German officer (died 1944)
 * 27 December – Carl Zuckmayer, German writer and playwright (died 1977)
 * 31 December – Carl Ludwig Siegel, German mathematician (died 1981)

Deaths

 * 29 February – Albrecht von Stosch, German admiral (born 1818)
 * 28 April – Heinrich von Treitschke, German historian (born 1834)
 * 18 May – Otto von Camphausen, German politician (born 1812)
 * 20 May – Clara Schumann, German musician and composer (born 1819)
 * 2 June – Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs, German geographer, explorer and author (born 1831)
 * 11 July – Ernst Curtius, German archaeologist and historian (born 1814)
 * 13 July – August Kekulé, German chemist (born 1829)
 * 10 August – Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer of aviation (born 1848)
 * 13 August – Philipp Ludwig von Seidel, German mathematician (born 1821)
 * 22 October – Christian Roos, German bishop of Roman-Catholic Church (born 1826)
 * 3 November – Eugen Baumann, German chemist (born 1846)
 * 19 November – Otto Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, German politician (born 1837)
 * 17 December – Paul Beiersdorf, German pharmacist (born 1836)
 * 26 December — Emil du Bois-Reymond, German physiologist (born 1818)