2015 in Germany

Decades:	1990s; 2000s; 2010s; 2020s; ;
See also:	Other events of 2015; History of Germany • Timeline • Years

The following lists events that happened in 2015 in Germany.

Incumbents

Events

January

1 January - The 'Mindestlohngesetz' (German Minimum Wage Law) comes into effect: Most jobs now have to receive €8.50 per hour as a minimum wage.^[1]
11 January - An arson attack on the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, which published Charlie Hebdo cartoons, leads to two arrests.^[2]
21 January - Lutz Bachmann resigns as chairman of the anti-Islamic Pegida movement. As of 9 April, the position is still vacant.^[3]

February

5–15 February - 65th Berlin International Film Festival
15 February: Hamburg state election, 2015 in Hamburg

March

March - German company Dr Oetker buys German company Coppenrath & Wiese^[4]
5 March - Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
24 March - The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 leads to widespread media coverage and public attention in Germany. 72 Germans die aboard the German machine that was intentionally crashed by its German co-pilot.^[5]
March – CeBIT in Hanover
March – ITB Berlin in Berlin
March – Leipzig Book Fair in Leipzig

April

April – Hanover Messe in Hanover
April – Deutscher Filmpreis in Berlin

May

10 May - Bremen state election, 2015 in Bremen

June

7–8 June – 41st G7 summit was held in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.^[6]
June – Kiel Week in Kiel
29 June – A robot grabbed a man at a Volkswagen production plant in Baunatal and crushed him to death against a metal plate. Prosecutors considered bringing charges after the incident.^[7]

August

August – Hanse Sail in Rostock
August- September – Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin in Berlin

September

September – ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin
September – Gamescom in Cologne
September – Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt
30 September – Alex Springer Media Group is ordered to pay €635,000 compensation for damages for pain and suffering to journalist and weather presenter Jörg Kachelmann following their reporting of a case in which he was falsely accused of rape. The award was a record sum for such as case, though later reduced to €395,000 on appeal.^[8]
September - October – Oktoberfest in Munich

October

October – Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt

November

November - German company Merck Group buys American company Sigma-Aldrich^[9]
November - Japanese company Hitachi Koki buys German company Metabo^[10]

December

31 December – New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany

Deaths

1 January: Ulrich Beck (70), German sociologist (born 1944)
7 January: Diether Kressel (89), German painter (born 1925)^{[citation needed]}
8 January: Hubert Markl (77), German biologist (born 1938)
20 January: Edgar Froese (71), German artist and electronic music pioneer (born 1944)
25 January - Ernst Träger, German judge (born 1926)
31 January: Udo Lattek (79), German football player, coach, and TV pundit (born 1935)
31 January: Richard von Weizsäcker (94), German politician (born 1920)
18 February: Hans F. Zacher, German jurist (born 1928)
26 February: Heinrich Windelen (93), German politician (born 1921)
26 February: Fritz J. Raddatz (83), German feuilletonist, essayist, biographer and romancier (born 1931)
1 March: Chris Welp (51), German professional basketball player (born 1964)
1 March: Wolfram Wuttke (53), German footballer (born 1961)
5 March: Karina Kraushaar, German actress (born 1971)
9 March: Frei Otto (90), German architect (born 1925)
26 March: Friedrich L. Bauer, German computer scientist (born 1924)
30 March: Helmut Dietl (70), German film director and author (born 1944)
31 March: Klaus Tschira (74), German entrepreneur (born 1940)

13 April: Günter Grass (87), German novelist and author (born 1927)
14 April: Klaus Bednarz (72), German journalist (born 1942)
9 May: Odo Marquard (86), German philosoph (born 1928)
19 May: Gerald Götting (91), German politician (born 1923)
20 May: Manfred Müller, German bishop or Roman Catholic Church (born 1926)
27 May: Elisabeth Wiedemann (88), German actress (born 1926)
3 June: Horst Brandstätter (81), German businessman (born 1933)
4 June: Hermann Zapf (96), German typeface designer and calligrapher (born 1918)
4 June: Edith Hancke (86), German film actress (born 1928)
9 June: James Last (86), German composer and big band leader (born 1929)
15 June: Harry Rowohlt (70), German writer and translator (born 1945)
21 Jun: Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski (83), German politician (born 1932)
22 June: Gabriele Wohmann (83), German novelist (born 1932)
13 July: Philipp Mißfelder (35), German politician (born 1979)
14 July: Wolf Gremm (73), German film director and screenwriter (born 1942)
3 August: Johanna Quandt (89), German entrepreneur (born 1926)
11 August: Utta Danella (95), German author (born 1920)
15 August: Max Greger (89), German jazz musician (born 1926)^{[citation needed]}
17 August: Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (82), Vice President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) (born 1933)
20 August: Egon Bahr (93), German politician (born 1922)
20 August: Armin, Prince of Lippe, German nobleman (born 1924)
4 September: Max Kruse (93), German author (born 1921)
4 September: Rainer Kirsch, German writer and journalist (born 1934)
24 September: Ellis Kaut (94), German author of children's literature, best known for her creation of Pumuckl (born 1920)
29 September: Hellmuth Karasek (81), German journalist, literary critic and novelist (born 1934)
1 November: Günter Schabowski (86), German official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) (born 1922)
5 November: Hans Mommsen (85), German historian (born 1930)

10 November: Helmut Schmidt (96), German chancellor (born 1918)
5 December: Wolfgang Sandner (66), German physicist (born 1949)
15 December: Stella Doufexis (47), German mezzo-soprano opera singer (born 1968)
19 December: Kurt Masur (88), German conductor (born 1927)

References

^ "Germany: Parliament Passes Law on Minimum Wage". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
^ "India Today". 11 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
^ Connolly, Kate (21 January 2015). "Germany's Pegida leader steps down over Adolf Hitler photo". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
^ European Commission (17 June 2015) [12 May 2015]. Case M.7598 — Dr. Oetker/Coppenrath & Wiese (PDF) (REGULATION (EC) No 139/2004 MERGER PROCEDURE, Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION M.7598). EUR-Lex: 32015M7598. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
^ "No survivors from German airliner crash in French Alps". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
^ "Germany to hold 2015 G8 summit at Alpine spa". AP. 23 January 2014.
^ Robot kills worker at Volkswagen plant in Germany Archived 7 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, 2015-07-01.
^ "'Bild' publisher ordered to pay 'record sum' to Kachelmann | DW | 30.09.2015". Deutsche Welle.
^ Kroll, David. "Merck KGaA (German Merck) Buys Sigma-Aldrich For $17B". Forbes. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
^ "Hitachi Buys German Power Tool Maker Metabo For Reported $180 Million". Industrial Distribution. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[1] "Germany: Parliament Passes Law on Minimum Wage". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[2] "India Today". 11 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.

[3] Connolly, Kate (21 January 2015). "Germany's Pegida leader steps down over Adolf Hitler photo". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[4] European Commission (17 June 2015) [12 May 2015]. Case M.7598 — Dr. Oetker/Coppenrath & Wiese (PDF) (REGULATION (EC) No 139/2004 MERGER PROCEDURE, Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION M.7598). EUR-Lex: 32015M7598. Retrieved 6 September 2024.

[5] "No survivors from German airliner crash in French Alps". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[6] "Germany to hold 2015 G8 summit at Alpine spa". AP. 23 January 2014.

[7] Robot kills worker at Volkswagen plant in Germany Archived 7 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, 2015-07-01.

[8] "'Bild' publisher ordered to pay 'record sum' to Kachelmann | DW | 30.09.2015". Deutsche Welle.

[9] Kroll, David. "Merck KGaA (German Merck) Buys Sigma-Aldrich For $17B". Forbes. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[10] "Hitachi Buys German Power Tool Maker Metabo For Reported $180 Million". Industrial Distribution. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

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v t e Years in Germany (1871–present)
19th century	Pre-1871 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

v t e 2015 in Europe
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey

Incumbents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

See also

References