2022 in Germany

This article encompasses events from 2022 in Germany.

Germany's foreign policy and a significant extent of its domestic affairs have been directly or partially of a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under the leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose first full calendar year in office was 2022, in conjunction with most of NATO's members and allies, Germany increased its defense budget and halted Nord Stream 2. The German government became a staunch supporter of Ukraine, with it only trailing Poland in receiving Ukrainian refugees between all allies of Ukraine; Germany also cut down on its imports of Russian energy and signed new LNG deals with both QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips.

Domestically, Germany saw a population increase to 84 million, a record for the nation, mostly due to accepting a large number of refugees from Ukraine.

Incumbents

• President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Chancellor: Olaf Scholz
• Bundestag: 20th
• President of the Bundestag: Bärbel Bas
• Largest party in Bundestag: Social Democratic Party (SPD)

Events

January

• 4 January 2021–22 Tour de Ski ends.
• 6 January 2021–22 Four Hills Tournament ends.
• 14–16 January 2022 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships
• 24 January Heidelberg University shooting
• 24–30 January 2022 IBU Open European Championships
• 26–30 January 2022 German Masters snooker tournament
• 28 January - Leader of the Alternative for Germany (AFD) Jörg Meuthen resigns from the AfD. He justified this with the fact that he had lost the power struggle with the formally dissolved right-wing extremist "Der Flügel" ("the wing") over the political direction of AfD. Meuthen criticized that the party had developed far to the right.
• 31 January 2022 Kusel shooting; two officers are shot and killed at a traffic stop.

February

• 10–20 February The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival is held; Carla Simón's film Alcarràs wins the top prize.
• 13 February The 2022 German presidential election: Frank-Walter Steinmeier is re-elected.
• 17 February The 58th Munich Security Conference is held.

March

• 27 March 2022 Saarland state election: The SPD wins a landslide victory.

April

• 21 April – 1 May 2022 IIHF World U18 Championships
• 25 April – Anke Rehlinger is elected Minister-President of Saarland by the Landtag.

May

• 8 May 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election; the CDU wins in a landslide while the SDP suffers a blowout loss and is reduced to the third largest party.
• 15 May 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election; the CDU remains as the largest party while The Greens nearly triple their vote share and become the state's third largest party.

June

• 3 June
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen train derailment
• The Bundestag approves a special defense fund of for the Bundeswehr in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• 3–5 June 2022 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf
• 8 June The 2022 Berlin car attack kills one and injures 17 others.
• 18 June Documenta fifteen starts.
• 26-28 June 48th G7 summit

August

• 11–21 August 2022 European Championships

September

• 1 September – Poland's Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the Law and Justice party, announced the Polish government's intent to officially demand that the German government pay 6.2 trillion zł in World War II reparations.

October

• 9 October 2022 Lower Saxony state election. The SPD expanded its plurality in the state's Landtag by two seats.

December

• 2 December – 2022 FIFA World Cup: the German men's football national team, despite defeating Costa Rica 4–2, is knocked out of the World Cup due to Japan's upset win over Spain.
• 7 December 2022 Germany coup d'état plot: German police arrest 25 members of the Reichsbürger movement accused of planning a coup d'état.
• 16 December The AquaDom aquarium in Berlin, Germany, home to 1,500 tropical fish of more than 100 different species, bursts, flooding local streets. The majority of the fish die during the incident, and two people are injured.
• 17 December Dresden Green Vault burglary: German authorities recover 31 royal jewellery items that were stolen from the Green Vault museum at Dresden Castle in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, in 2019.

Deaths

January

• 1 January Andreas Kunz, German Nordic combined athlete (b. 1946)
• 7 January Eberhard Heinrich Zeidler, German-Canadian architect (b. 1926)
• 10 January Ali Mitgutsch, German author of picture books and a professional advertising Illustrator (b. 1935)
• 19 January
• Hans-Jürgen Dörner, German footballer (b. 1951)
• Hardy Krüger, German actor (b. 1928)
• 20 January Heidi Biebl, German alpine skier (b. 1941)
• 22 January Hartmut Becker, German actor (b. 1938)
• 31 January Ekkehardt Belle, German television actor (b. 1954)

February

• 3 February Dieter Mann, German actor, director, university professor, and radio personality (b. 1941)
• 15 February Peter Merseburger, German journalist and author (b. 1928)

March

• 10 March Jürgen Grabowski, German football player (b. 1944)
• 16 March Egidius Braun, German football administrator (b. 1926)
• 31 March Günter Deckert, German Far-right political activist and the leader of National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). (b. 1940)

April

• 8 April Uwe Bohm, German actor (b. 1962)

• 9 April Michael Degen, German actor (1932)
• 15 April Bernhard Germeshausen, German bobsledder (1951)
• 16 April Joachim Streich, German football player (b. 1951)
• 25 April Ursula Lehr, German politician, minister for youth, women, family and health (b. 1930)
• 26 April Klaus Schulze, German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician (b. 1941)

May

• 15 May Rainer Basedow, German actor (b. 1938)
• 28 May Marion van de Kamp, German actress (b. 1925)

June

• 4 June Frank Hoffmann, actor (b. 1938)
• 5 June Jürgen Möllemann, German politician (b. 1945)
• 7 June Carl, Duke of Württemberg, German royal, head of the House of Württemberg since 1975 (b. 1936)
• 11 June
• Bernd Bransch, German footballer and Olympic champion (b. 1944)
• Peter Reusse, actor (b. 1941)
• 17 June Margot von Renesse, politician (SPD) (b. 1940)
• 23 June Ernst Jacobi, actor (b. 1933)
• 25 June Bernhard Wessel, football player (b. 1936)

• 28 June
• Martin Bangemann, politician (FDP), (b. 1934)
• Katja Husen, politician (b. 1976)
• Peter von der Osten-Sacken, lutheran theologian (b. 1940)
• 29 June Manfred Krafft, football player(b. 1937)
• 30 June William Cohn, actor (b. 1957)

July

• 9 July Alois Schätzle, politician (b. 1925)
• 13 July Dieter Wedel, film director (b. 1939)

• 14 July Jürgen Heinsch, footballer (b. 1940)
• 19 July Dieter Helm, politician (b. 1941)
• 21 July Uwe Seeler, footballer (b. 1936)
• 29 July
• Sybille Benning, politician (b. 1961)
• Margot Eskens, singer (b. 1936)
• 31 July Maria Frisé, journalist and author (b. 1926)

August

• 5 August Peter Schowtka, politician (b. 1945)
• 7 August Eike Christian Hirsch, journalist and author (b. 1937)
• 9 August Heinz Behrens, actor (b. 1932)

• 12 August Wolfgang Petersen, film director and film producer (b. 1941)
• 16 August Eva-Maria Hagen, actress and singer (b. 1934)
• 17 August Hellmut Flashar, philologist, translator and medicine historian (b. 1929)
• 18 August Rolf Kühn, jazz clarinetist and saxophonist (b. 1929)
• 20 August Franz Hummel, composer (b. 1939)
• 22 August Theo Sommer, journalist (b. 1930)
• 29 August Hans-Christian Ströbele, politician (b. 1939)

September

• 4 September Heidemarie Fischer, politician (b. 1944)
• 7 September Dagmar Schipanski, politician (b. 1943)
• 11 September Roland Reber, actor, theatre director and producer (b. 1954)

• 15 September Fritz Pleitgen, television journalist and author (b. 1938)
• 22 September Rainer Keller, politician (b. 1965)
• 24 September
• Manfred Degen, politician (b. 1939)
• Helmut Wilhelm, judge and politician (b. 1946)
• 27 September Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern, member of the princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and champion race car driver (b. 1943)

October

• 4 October
• Günter Lamprecht, actor (b. 1930)
• Jürgen Sundermann, football player and manager (b. 1940)
• 5 October
• Barbara Stamm, politician (b. 1944)
• Wolfgang Kohlhaase, film director (b. 1931)
• 14 October
• Ralf Wolter, actor (b. 1926)
• Georg Scholz, politician (b. 1958)
• 15 October – Horst Metz, politician (b. 1945)
• 17 October
• Heinz-Jörg Eckhold, politician (b. 1941)
• Michael Ponti, pianist (b. 1937)
• Franz Vorrath, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1937)
• 20 October – Helmut Kuhlmann, politician (b. 1940)
• 21 October
• Wolfgang Jenssen, politician (b. 1942)
• Rainer Schaller, entrepreneur (b. 1969)
• 23 October
• Walter Gaudnek, artist (b. 1931)
• Benno Zech, politician (b. 1928)
• 24 October – Dieter Werkmüller, lawyer (b. 1937)
• 26 October – Sebastian von Rotenhan, politician (b. 1949)
• 28 October
• Wolfgang Bordel, theatre manager (b. 1951)
• Hannah Pick-Goslar, Holocaust survivor (b. 1928)
• 29 October
• Wolfgang Lange, Olympic canoeist (b. 1938)
• Heinrich Schneier, politician (b. 1925)
• 30 October – Rosemarie Köhn, Christian minister (b. 1939)

November

• 2 November – Michael Möllenbeck, Olympic discus thrower (b. 1969)
• 3 November
• Peter Danckert, politician (b. 1940)
• Gerd Dudek, saxophonist (b. 1938)
• 6 November – Sig Ohlemann, Olympic runner (b. 1938)
• 9 November
• Hans-Joachim Klein, political militant (b. 1947)
• Werner Schulz, politician (b. 1950)
• 12 November – Klaus Peter Sauer, evolutionary biologist and ecologist (b. 1941)
• 14 November – Werner Franke, biologist (b. 1940)
• 18 November – Manfred Palmen, politician (b. 1945)

• 24 November
• Chanoch Ehrentreu, German-born English rabbi (b. 1932)
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger, author, poet, translator and editor (b. 1929)
• 26 November – Jens Bullerjahn, politician (b. 1962)
• 27 November – Hans Zehetmair, politician (b. 1936)

December

• 3 December
• Dietmar Kuegler, publisher and author (b. 1951)
• Alfons Vogtel, politician (b. 1952)
• 4 December – Manuel Göttsching, musician (b. 1952)
• 5 December – Bernd Rohr, cyclist (b. 1937)
• 7 December
• Bernhard Brinkmann, politician (b. 1952)
• Jann-Peter Janssen, politician (b. 1945)
• 8 December – Aldona Gustas, author (b. 1932)
• 11 December – Wolf Erlbruch, illustrator and writer of children books (b. 1948)
• 12 December
• Hermann Nuber, footballer (b. 1935)
• Wolfgang Ziffer, actor (b. 1941)
• 14 December
• Volker Eid, Roman-catholic theologian and author (b. 1940)
• Wulf Kirsten, writer, poet and novelist (b. 1934)
• Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt, author and writer (b. 1927)
• 16 December – Klaus Mayer, Roman-catholic priest and author (b. 1923)
• 17 December
• Werner Leich, lutheran bishop (b. 1927)
• Dieter Henrich, philosopher (b. 1927)
• Marie-Luise Scherer, author and journalist (b. 1938)
• 18 December – Manfred Messerschmidt, historian (b. 1926)
• 19 December – Erwin Josef Ender, prelate of Roman Catholic Church (b. 1937)
• 20 December – Barbara Noack, author (b. 1924)
• 21 December –Hartmut Holzapfel, politician (b. 1944)
• 26 December
• Michael Fuchs, politician (b. 1949)
• Konrad Kruis, lawyer (b. 1930)
• 29 December – Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, aristocrat (b. 1933)
• 31 December – Benedict XVI, Pope (2005–2013) and archbishop of Munich and Freising (1977–1982).

References