1888 in Germany

Decades:	1860s; 1870s; 1880s; 1890s; 1900s;
See also:	Other events of 1888; History of Germany • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 1888 in Germany, the 'Year of the Three Emperors'.

Incumbents

King of Bavaria – Otto
King of Prussia – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
King of Saxony – Albert
King of Württemberg – Charles

Cameroon (Kamerun) – Eugen von Zimmerer (1st term) to 17 January, then Julius Freiherr von Soden (2nd term)
German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator) to 8 February, then Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz to 1 March, then Reinhold Kraetke (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
Togoland – Jesko von Puttkamer (acting commissioner) (1st term) to 17 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)

9 March – Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
16 April – The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
15 June – Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
13 December – Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences

Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–89)
Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
Richard Strauss
- Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell

14 January – Karl Badberger, architect (date of death unknown)
17 February – Otto Stern, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969)
27 February – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (died 1976)
4 March – Emma Richter, German paleontologist (died 1956)^[1]
14 March:
- Peretz Naftali, German-born Israeli politician (died 1961)
- Hermann Reinecke, Wehrmacht general and convicted war criminal (died 1973)
19 March – Josef Albers, German-American artist (died 1976)
17 April – Herms Niel, German composer (died 1954)
24 July – Hermann von Bönninghausen, German athlete and soldier in World War I (died 1919)
25 July – Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, German Waffen SS general (died 1939)
4 September – Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (died 1943)
20 December – Yitzhak Baer, Israeli historian (died 1980)

9 March – William I, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1797)
5 April – Eduard Karl August Riehm, German Protestant theologian (born 1830)
16 April – Friedrich Grillo, German industrialist (born 1825)
15 June – Frederick III, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1831)
20 June – Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, German Protestant theologian (born 1814)
20 July – Paul Langerhans German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (born 1847)
23 July – Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard, German Protestant theologian (born 1818)
24 August – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (born 1822)
28 August – Georg Beseler, German politician and jurist (born 1809)
12 September – August von Werder, German general (born 1808)
3 December – Carl Zeiss, German entrepreneur and scientist (born 1816)

^ "Richter, Emma". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 11 June 2019.