1937 in Germany

Events in the year 1937 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

Head of State and Chancellor

• Adolf Hitler (the Führer) (Nazi Party)

Events

• 10 March — The Encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of Pope Pius XI is published in Nazi Germany.
• 6 May — Hindenburg disaster: In the United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirteen passengers, 22 crew and one member of the ground crew were killed.
• 7 May — Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
• 28 May — Volkswagen, state-owned carmaker, is formed to produce the new people's car.
• 8 June — Carl Orff's Carmina Burana premieres in Frankfurt, Germany.
• 15 July — Buchenwald Concentration Camp opened
• 18 July - Haus der Kunst in Munich opened
• 20 July — The Geibeltbad Pirna is opened in Dresden, Germany.
• 6–13 September — The 9th Nazi Party Congress is held and titled the "Rally of Labour" (Reichsparteitag der Arbeit) to highlight the reduction of unemployment in Germany since the Nazi rise to power.
• 25 September–30 September — Italian leader Benito Mussolini makes a state visit to Germany, meeting Hitler in Munich and Berlin, touring several cities, and attending a military parade in the capital; the visit was widely staged as a symbol of the strengthening Rome–Berlin Axis.
• 13 October — Germany, in a note to Brussels, guarantees the inviolability and integrity of Belgium so long as the latter abstains from military action against Germany
• 5 November — In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people (recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum)
• 16 November — Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash
• Date unknown — Otto Bayer and his coworkers at IG Farben in Leverkusen first made polyurethanes.
• Date unknown — The opioid Methadone is synthesized in Germany by scientists Max Bockmühl and Gustav Ehrhart.
• Date unknown — Konrad Zuse submits patents in Germany based on his Z1 computer design anticipating von Neumann architecture.

Births

• 2 January — Martin Lauer, German sprinter (died 2019)
• 15 January — Walter Stöhrer, German painter (died 2000)
• 31 January — Hans Dresig, Professor for Applied mechanics and Theory of Mechanisms and Machines (died 2018)
• 2 February — Lea Ackermann, German nun and activist (died 2023)
• 7 February — Doris Gercke, German writer (died 2025)
• 8 February — Manfred Krug, German actor (died 2016)
• 9 February — Hildegard Behrens, German operatic soprano (died 2009 in Japan)
• 13 February — Sigmund Jähn, German cosmonaut and pilot (died 2019)
• 17 February — Rita Süssmuth, German politician (CDU) (died 2026)
• 20 February — Robert Huber, German biochemist and Nobel laureate
• 22 February — Rolf Schafstall, German footballer (died 2018)
• 27 February – Peter Hamm, German poet, author, journalist, editor and literary critic (died 2019)
• 18 March — Rudi Altig, German cyclist (died 2016)
• 19 March — Egon Krenz, German politician
• 20 March — Helmut Recknagel, German ski jumper
• 22 March
• Armin Hary, German sprinter
• Peter Vogel, German film actor (died 1978 in Austria)
• 2 April — Alexandra Kluge, German actress (died 2017)
• 3 April — Annekathrin Bürger, German actress
• 12 April — Barbara Aland, German theologian (died 2024)
• 24 April — Otmar Gutmann, German TV producer, animator and director (died 1993)
• 25 April — Wolfgang Zapf, German sociologe (died 2018)
• 2 May – Gisela Elsner, German writer (died 1992)
• 3 May – Hans Cieslarczyk, German football player (died 2020)
• 23 May — Rupert Scholz, German politician
• 29 May — Alwin Schockemöhle, German equestrian
• 7 June — Claus Peymann, German theatre director and manager (died 2025)
• 9 June — Harald Rosenthal, German scientist
• 14 June — Hans-Ulrich Klose, German politician (died 2023)
• 15 June — Rolf Riehm, German composer (died 2026)
• 24 June — Hans Tiedge, German spy (died 2011)
• 25 June — Karin Graßhof, German judge (died 2025)
• 1 July – Claus-Wilhelm Canaris, German jurist (died 2021)
• 4 July – Wolf von Lojewski, German television journalist
• 5 July — Anke Fuchs, German politician (died 2019)
• 7 July — Konrad Wirnhier, German sport shooter (died 2002)
• 12 July - Helga Mees, German fencer (died 2014)
• 16 August — Gerhard Pohl, German politician (died 2012)
• 20 August — Georg Thoma, German skier
• 1 September - Peter Gaehtgens, German physiologist
• 7 September - Birgit Breuel, German politician
• 27 September - Franz Grundheber, German operatic baritone (died 2025)
• 1 October — Everhardt Franßen, German judge
• 13 October — Rudolf Seiters, German politician
• 27 October — Peter Lustig, German television presenter and author of children's books (died 2016)
• 26 July – Peter Fleischmann, German film director (died 2021)
• 29 October — Michael Ponti, German pianist (died 2022)
• 1 November
• Jürgen Echternach, German politician (died 2006)
• Witta Pohl, German actress (died 2011)
• 3 November — Rolf-Ernst Breuer, German businessman (died 2024)
• 11 November – Marlene Schmidt, German actress and beauty queen
• 16 November – Lothar Späth, German politician (died 2016)
• 20 November - René Kollo, German tenor
• 23 November - Karl Mildenberger, German boxer (died 2018)
• 26 November - Bruno Steinhoff, German businessman
• 29 November - Jo Brauner, German journalist
• 20 December - Manfred Lahnstein, German politician
• 29 December — Dieter Thomas Heck, German actor (died 2018)
• 31 December - Paul Spiegel, President of Central Council of Jews in Germany (died 2006)

Deaths

• 4 January – Paul Behncke, German admiral (born 1869)
• 11 February – Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick, German ophthalmologist (born 1852)
• 12 March — Julius Geppert, German pharmacologist (born 1856)
• 18 March — Felix Graf von Bothmer, German general (born 1852)
• 18 April – Max von Gallwitz, German general (born 1852)
• 4 May – Selma Lohse, German politician (born 1883)
• 7 May – Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain of the Hindenburg (b. 1886)
• 14 July – Walter Simons, German diplomat (born 1861)
• 30 July - Hans von Rosenberg, German diplomat and politician (born 1874)
• 29 September – Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer (born 1878)
• 7 October - Renate Müller, German actress and singer (born 1906)
• 9 October - Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse (born 1868)
• 10 October – Walter Gronostay, German composer (born 1906)
• 27 November — Wilhelm Weinberg, German physician and geneticist (born 1862)
• 12 December - Alfred Abel, German actor (born 1879)
• 20 December - Erich Ludendorff, German general (born 1865)

References