The following lists events that happened during

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

in Germany.

Incumbents

West Germany

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

–

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His cordial nature – something of a contrast to the stern character of chancellor Ko ...

(until 13 September),

Heinrich Lübke Karl Heinrich Lübke (; 14 October 1894 – 6 April 1972) was a German politician, who served as president of West Germany from 1959 to 1969. He suffered from deteriorating health towards the end of his career and is known for a series of embar ...

(starting 13 September) *

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

– Konrad Adenauer

East Germany

* General Secretary of the Central Committee -

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

Head of State A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

- Wilhelm Pieck *

Head of Government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

- Otto Grotewohl

Events

March

* March 25 - French President

Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

opened his first presidential press conference with a statement that France supported German reunification "as the aim and normal destiny of the German people. provided that

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

do not question their present frontiers to the west, east, north or south." "Germany today is not a danger to us," said De Gaulle as he announced a new relationship with his World War II adversary

May

* May 5 – The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

signed an agreement with West Germany, to share classified information about American nuclear weapons and to train German personnel in the operation of those weapons. * May 27 -

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

's ultimatum for action on

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

expired. The Soviet premier had notified the Western powers on November 27, 1958, that if occupying armies were not withdrawn from West Berlin within six months, access through East Germany to the city would be closed off. The Geneva talks that began on May 11 halted action on the ultimatum. The late U.S. Secretary of State

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...

, who had said in 1958, "We are not afraid of May 27, 1959", was buried on that date, and the participants in the Geneva talks, including Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, attended the ceremonies at Arlington.

June

* June 10 – A month after withdrawing a six-month ultimatum for the Western powers to withdraw from Berlin, Soviet Premier

issued a new deadline when talks broke down in Geneva. Khrushchev demanded that the U.S., Britain, and France withdraw their armies from West Berlin by June 10, 1960. The ultimatum was withdrawn on September 27 when Khrushchev met with President Eisenhower at Camp David.

October

* October 15 – Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera was murdered by a KGB agent

Bogdan Stashinsky Bohdan Mykolayovych Stashynsky ( uk, Богда́н Микола́йович Сташи́нський, born 4 November 1931) is a former Soviet spy who assassinated the Ukrainian nationalist leaders Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera in the late 1950s ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The weapon was a gun that fired

hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ...

gas into Bandera's face. Stashinsky, who had killed newspaperman

Lev Rebet Lev Rebet (March 3, 1912 – October 12, 1957) was a Ukrainian political writer and anti-communist during World War II. He was a key cabinet member in the Ukrainian government (backed by Stepan Bandera's faction of OUN) which proclaimed independ ...

in the same manner in 1957, swallowed an antidote, and escaped.

November

* November 11 – Werner Heyde, a psychiatrist who had guided the euthanizing of more than 100,000 handicapped persons in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, surrendered to police in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

after 13 years as a fugitive. As director of the Reich Association of Hospitals, Dr. Heyde had carried out " Action T4". Men, women and children who were mentally or physically handicapped were the victims of Heyde's "mercy killing" from 1939 to 1942, usually by lethal injection. Sentenced ''in absentia'' to death, Heyde had been practicing in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

as "Dr. Fritz Sawade". On February 13, 1964, five days before his trial was to start, Dr. Heyde hanged himself at the prison in Butzbach. * November 25 – The first

Bilateral Investment Treaty A bilateral investment treaty (BIT) is an bilateral treaty, agreement establishing the terms and conditions for private investment by nationals and companies of one Sovereign state, state in another state. This type of investment is called foreign ...

in history was signed between West Germany and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. BITs govern the terms of private investment between companies in the two nations, including provisions for arbitration of disputes.

December

* December 13 – Two apartment houses in a suburb of

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

were levelled by an explosion at . Of 34 people in the

Aplerbeck Aplerbeck is a borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of the city of Dortmund in the Ruhr district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 1929, it has been a suburb of Dortmund, located in the city's south-east. The river Emscher, a tributary of the Ruhr ( ...

buildings, 26 were killed.''The Post-Standard'' (Syracuse), December 14, 1959, p1

Births

*January 10 -

Bernhard Hoff Bernard Hoff (born 10 January 1959) is a former East German sprinter who specialised in the 200 metres. Biography In 1977 he was European Junior 200-metre champion and 4×400 metres; he also won a Silver in 4×100 metres and Bronze in the 100 ...

, German sprinter *February 2 - Hella von Sinnen, German comedian *March 9 -

Giovanni di Lorenzo Giovanni di Lorenzo (; born 9 March 1959) is an Italian-German journalist. Editor-in-chief (since 2004) of German nationwide weekly newspaper '' Die Zeit'' and former editor-in-chief of Berlin's liberal daily newspaper ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (19 ...

, German journalist *June 19 - Christian Wulff, German politician, former

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

*September 12 - Sigmar Gabriel, German politician

Deaths

1 January January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. ...

—

Alfred Gerstenberg Alfred Gerstenberg (6 April 1893 – 1 January 1959, in Bad Tölz) was a German Luftwaffe general. During World War II, he organized a very effective defensive perimeter around oil fields in Ploieşti, Romania. Career Gerstenberg began his ...

, Luftwaffe general (born

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

) *January 26 -

Bruno Gröning Bruno Bernhard Gröning (1906 in Gdańsk, Danzig – January 26, 1959 in Paris) was a German mystic who performed faith healings and lectured. He was active in Germany in the 1940s and 1950s after World War II. Early life Gröning was born in ...

, German mystic (born

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

) *2 June —

Hermann Haupt Hermann Haupt (24 January 1873, in Langensalza, Unstrut-Hainich, Thuringia – 2 June 1959, in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt) was a German entomologist who worked mainly on Auchenorrhyncha and Hymenoptera. He was an intermediate school (Mittelschule) teac ...

, German entomologist (born

1873 Events January–March * January 1 ** Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar. ** The California Penal Code goes into effect. * January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat ...

) *June 9 -

Adolf Windaus Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus (; 25 December 1876 – 9 June 1959) was a German chemist who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1928 for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins. He was the doctoral advisor of Adolf Butenandt who also won ...

, German chemist (born

1876 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs i ...

) *July 6 -

George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...

, German artist (born

) *October 17 -

Otto Feick Otto Feick (4 July 1890 in Reichenbach-Steegen, Reichenbach – 17 October 1959 in Schönau an der Brend) was a German people, German inventor and gymnast. Biography Feick was born in 1890, the son of a cooper. He worked as a locksmith a ...

, German gymnast (born

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

)

References

1950s in Germany Years of the 20th century in Germany

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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