2024 in Germany

Incumbents

• President – Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• President of the Bundestag – Bärbel Bas
• Chancellor – Olaf Scholz
• President of the German Bundesrat:
• * Manuela Schwesig
• * Anke Rehlinger
• President of the Federal Constitutional Court – Stephan Harbarth

  Events

January

• 5 January – Four people are killed and others are injured during a fire at a hospital in Uelzen.
• 8 January – Farmers block highway access roads in parts of Germany, launching a week of protests against a government plan to remove tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture.
• 10 January – Protests are held across Germany calling for a ban of Alternative for Germany in the wake of the 2023 Potsdam far-right meeting.
• 10–28 January – 2024 European Men's Handball Championship
• 23 January
• * The Federal Constitutional Court rules that the far-right minor party Die Heimat, formerly the National Democratic Party of Germany, should not get state funding.
• * Germany announces that it will donate six SH-3 Sea King helicopters to the Ukrainian Air Force to help it patrol the Black Sea.

  February

• 2 February – In the Bundestag, left wing MPs reorganise into the new BSW group and The Left group.
• 8–11 February – 2024 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Championship in Berlin
• 14 February – Following protests and blockades by farmers, Alliance 90/The Greens cancels their annual event for Ash Wednesday due to security concerns.
• 23 February – The Bundestag legalises recreational usage of cannabis for adults, making Germany the third European country to do so after Luxembourg and Malta.

  March

• 1 March – A soldier kills four people during a spree shooting in Scheeßel and Bothel in Lower Saxony before being detained.
• 4 March
• * Four people are killed and 21 others are injured in a fire at a nursing home in Bedburg-Hau, North Rhine-Westphalia.
• * German police surround Luisenhospital in Aachen after an armed woman barricades herself inside a room. The woman is later arrested.
• 19 March – Austrian far-right political activist, and leader of the Identitarian Movement of Austria Martin Sellner is banned from entering Germany for three years.
• 22 March – The Bundesrat approves a partial legalization of cannabis in Germany, set to come into effect on 1 April.
• 27 March – At least five people are killed and 20 more injured after a double-decker FlixBus overturns and falls near Leipzig.

  April

• 14 April – In association football, Bayer 04 Leverkusen win their first Bundesliga title.
• 18 April – Two German-Russian nationals are arrested for an alleged military sabotage plot on behalf of Russia in an effort to undermine military support for Ukraine.
• 27 April – More than 1,000 Islamists protest in Hamburg for a Caliphate and Sharia law in Germany.

  May

• 4 May – Member of the European Parliament Matthias Ecke is "seriously injured" following what is suspected to be a politically motivated attack in Dresden.
• 7 May – Deputy mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey is injured after being bludgeoned with a bag containing a heavy item.
• 10 May – 800 protesters storm the Tesla plant in Grünheide in protest of the company's expansion's impact on the environment.
• 13 May – A high court in Münster upholds the designation and surveillance of the Alternative for Germany as a "suspected" far-right extremist organization.
• 14 May – Björn Höcke, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia is fined by a court for using the Nazi slogan "Everything for Germany".
• 16 May – Three people are killed in a fire at a residential building in Düsseldorf.
• 21 May
• * The trial for members of the Reichsbürger movement involved in the 2022 German coup d'état plot begins in Frankfurt.
• * Jenny Erpenbeck wins the International Booker Prize for her novel Kairos, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.
• 22 May – The AfD bans Maximilian Krah, its leading candidate in the European parliament elections, from further activities due to his comments defending members of the Schutzstaffel.
• 23 May – The AfD is expelled from the Identity and Democracy grouping in the European Parliament in response to Maximilian Krah's comments on the Schutzstaffel.
• 24 May – Two people are arrested on suspicion of plotting a knife attack on a synagogue in Heidelberg.
• 27 May – A court in Düsseldorf convicts and sentences a Bundeswehr captain to 3.5 years imprisonment for spying for Russia.
• 31 May – 2024 Mannheim stabbing: A police officer is killed while five people, including far-right activist Michael Stürzenberger, are injured in a knife attack in Mannheim. The suspected attacker, identified as a 25-year-old Afghan refugee named Sulaiman A., is shot and injured by police.

  June

• 1–5 June – At least six people are killed during floods in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
• 1 June – A long-distance train carrying 185 passengers derails after the ground under a section of railway gives way near Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg. No injuries are reported.
• 4 June – An AfD candidate for state elections in Baden-Württemberg is injured in a stabbing attack in Mannheim.
• 6 June – A group of protesters on their way to an antifascist demonstration are attacked by a group of 15-20 alleged neo-Nazis at Berlin Ostkreuz. Two people are hospitalised due to head injuries.
• 9 June
• * 2024 European Parliament election in Germany: Conservative parties retain their plurality in the German contingent of the European Parliament. The AfD prevails in all five former East German states.
• * 2024 Hamburg borough elections
• 14 June
• *One person is killed and three others are injured in a stabbing attack in Wolmirstedt, Saxony-Anhalt. The attacker is shot dead by police.
• *Germany vetoes a European Union sanction package that would prevent EU members from re-exporting Russian liquefied natural gas from EU ports and prevent EU companies from selling sanctioned products to Russia.
• 16 June – One person is injured after being shot by police on suspicion of threatening them with a pickaxe and an incendiary device in Hamburg.
• 17 June – Authorities announce the largest seizure of cocaine in Germany following raids in Düsseldorf and Hamburg in 2023 that yield 60.5 metric tons of the substance valued at 2.6 billion euros.
• 19 June – An Iraqi national is arrested in Esslingen am Neckar on suspicion of plotting to carry out attacks for Islamic State.
• 23 June – A police officer is killed in a collision involving a car and a motorcycle escort of visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Stuttgart.
• 24 June – The AFD announces a local coalition with neofascist party Die Heimat in Lauchhammer, Brandenburg.
• 26 June – Government ministers agree on legislation to expedite deportation for individuals who post or "like" social media content that celebrates or promotes terrorist acts.
• 28 June – The Higher Regional Court of Cologne convicts a 15-year old boy of plotting to attack a Christmas market in Leverkusen with Islamic extremist motivations and sentences him to four years' imprisonment.
• 28 June – 23 year old antifascist activist Maja T. is ordered extradited to Hungary to face trial on charges of membership in a criminal organisation that wanted to attack right-wing extremist by a court in Berlin despite concerns over her safety as a genderqueer person in Hungary and despite an ongoing expedited procedure by the Federal Constitutional Court.
• 29 June – Over 100,000 protesters and 1,000 police officers clash at an AfD party conference in Essen.

  July

• 1 July – Björn Höcke, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia is fined by a court in Halle for again using the Nazi slogan "Everything for Germany". This is the second time fine on Höcke for the slogan.
• 3 July – Investigators in Germany and Sweden arrest eight suspects allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government over alleged participation in crimes against humanity in Syria.
• 4 July – Germany summons Turkey's ambassador in Berlin in a tit-for-tat move over footballer Merih Demiral's wolf salute gesture while celebrating a goal at the UEFA Euro 2024.
• 5 July – The Cabinet of Germany agrees on a 2025 budget plan, averting collapse of the current cabinet following party disagreements and pressure from The Greens to forego its "debt brake" to increase emergency borrowing for military aid to Ukraine.
• 11 July – CNN reports that American and German intelligence foiled a Russian plot to assassinate Armin Papperger, the CEO of defence company Rheinmetall.
• 14 July
• * Two people are killed and two others injured during a mass shooting believed to be connected to a domestic dispute at a home in Lautlingen, Baden-Württemberg. The gunman commits suicide.
• * The UEFA Euro 2024 final takes place in Berlin, with Spain winning 2-1 over England.
• * A Lebanese national is arrested in Salzgitter on suspicion of procuring drone components for Hezbollah.
• 15 July – NATO establishes a new command centre in Wiesbaden to plan and coordinate support for the Ukrainian military as part of the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.
• 16 July – Interior minister Nancy Faeser orders the banning of the magazine Compact, its publisher Compact-Magazin GmbH, and the film production company Conspect Film for promoting extremist right-wing views and inciting violence against Jews and migrants.
• 17 July
• *A court in Stuttgart convicts a dual Russian-German national of violating export laws by delivering electronic components to Russian firms involved in the production of military equipment from 2020 to 2023 and sentences him to six years and nine months' imprisonment.
• *Germany issues plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine in 2025.
• 19 July – The Minsk Regional Court in Belarus, in a secretive trial, sentences German national Rico Krieger to death over alleged crimes including terrorism and mercenary activity. He is pardoned on 30 July by President Alexander Lukashenko.
• 20 July – Demonstrators carrying Afghan flags storm the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt.
• 21 July – A climber is killed after being struck by lightning on the Zugspitze.
• 22 July – The Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia rules that there is no longer a general danger to civilians fleeing from the Syrian Civil War in its rejection of an asylum application.
• 24 July – The Federal Interior Ministry orders the banning of the Islamic Centre Hamburg for being an "Islamist extremist organisation" with links to Hezbollah and Iran.