2011 in Germany are the events and situation of the Federal Republic of Germany in the year 2011, the state of its land and people in that year. In 2011 Germany was recognized for having the most positive influence in the world. In 2011 it was the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union (providing 20%) and the third largest contributor to the UN (providing 8%). Germany hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and ended conscription in the Bundeswehr. In education, Germany achieved a third best result for University rankings.
A German X-ray observatory in Space called ROSAT, last active in 1999, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 23 October 2011. It had been launched in 1990.
The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) provided the framing cameras for the Dawn spacecraft, which arrived at asteroid 4 Vesta in mid-2011. The DLR, which is Germany's space agency took on Hansjörg Dittus as an executive Board member for space research and development in June.
Another space project Germany was involved with was the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), which was funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and the DLR. RAD was developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the extraterrestrial physics group at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany. RAD was the first of ten MSL instruments to be turned on, on the route to Mars. It will characterize the broad spectrum of radiation environment found inside the spacecraft.
In May 2011 the German Bundeswehr had 188,000 professional soldiers and 31,000 18‑ to 25‑year‑old conscripts who serve for at least six months. The German government plans to reduce the number of soldiers to 170,000 professionals and up to 15,000 short-time volunteers (voluntary military service). Reservists are available to the Armed Forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad, a new reserve concept of their future strength and functions was announced 2011. As of April 2011, the German military had about 6,900 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 4,900 Bundeswehr troops in the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, 1,150 German soldiers in Kosovo, and 300 troops with UNIFIL in Lebanon.
Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, and conscripts served six-month tours of duty; conscientious objectors could instead opt for an equal length of Zivildienst (civilian service), or a six-year commitment to (voluntary) emergency services like a fire department or the Red Cross. On 1 July 2011 conscription was officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service.
The Pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, made his first official visit to Germany in 2011. In 2011, there were 25 million Catholics in Germany, which is about one third of the population.(BBC, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by the Chancellor and the President of Germany, and then made visits across the country, such as with leaders of the Lutheran Church.
The Chancellor of Germany was named the fourth most powerful person in the world in 2011. A poll in August 2011 found the Chancellor's coalition with 36% support.
There were a number of elections in Germany in 2011 including:
Baden-Württemberg state election, 2011
Berlin state election, 2011
Bremen state election, 2011
Hamburg state election, 2011
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2011
Rhineland-Palatinate state election, 2011
Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2011
Some examples of sporting events hosted in Germany.
2011 German Masters
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
2011 German Grand Prix
2011 German Figure Skating Championships
Music and Movies
On May 14, 2011, there was a Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany.
By January 2011, around 17% of electricity, 8% of heat and 6% of fuel used in Germany was generated from renewable sources, reducing Germany’s energy imports (DENA, 2011). By early 2011, the renewable energy industry employed more than 350,000 people in Germany, up from 30,000 people in 1998. Germany hosted businesses like Enercon, Nordex and REpower Systems in the wind industry and Q-Cells, Schott Solar and SolarWorld in the solar industry. Germany was one of the world’s three major renewable energy economies (Renewable Energy Network 21, 2011).
In 2011, Germany's federal government worked on a plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. Among many ongoing developments in wind power, the Baltic 1 wind farm was commissioned on 2 May 2011.
Eight nuclear power reactors in Germany were declared shutdown on August 6, 2011: Biblis A and B, Brunsbuettel, Isar 1, Kruemmel, Neckarwestheim 1, Philippsburg 1 and Unterweser.
List of notable events in Germany in the year 2011.
President – Christian Wulff
Chancellor – Angela Merkel
Minister-President of Baden-Wuerttemberg – Stefan Mappus (until 12 May), Winfried Kretschmann
Minister-President of Bavaria – Horst Seehofer
Mayor of Berlin – Klaus Wowereit
Minister-President of Brandenburg – Matthias Platzeck
Mayor of Bremen – Jens Boehrnsen
Mayor of Hamburg – Christoph Ahlhaus (until 7 March), Olaf Scholz
Minister-President of Hesse – Volker Bouffier
Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – Erwin Sellering
Minister-President of Niedersachsen – David McAllister
Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia – Hannelore Kraft
Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate – Kurt Beck
Minister-President of Saarland – Peter Mueller (until 10 August), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Minister-President of Saxony – Stanislaw Tillich
Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt – Wolfgang Boehmer (until 19 April), Reiner Haseloff
Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein – Peter Harry Carstensen
Minister-President of Thuringia – Christine Lieberknecht
January 7 – A major food scandal erupts.
January 7 – Due to thawing weather conditions, several rivers burst their banks.
February 20 – Hamburg state election, 2011. German party SPD wins a majority.
March 1 – Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigns as German defence minister.
March 2 – Two U.S. soldiers are killed and two wounded in the 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting.
March 15 – German chancellor Angela Merkel shuts down the seven oldest German nuclear power plants.
March 20 – Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2011
March 27 – Baden-Württemberg state election, 2011 and Rhineland-Palatinate state election, 2011
April 3 – Guido Westerwelle announced his resignation as party leader of German liberal Free Democratic Party after ten years in these position.
May 12 – Rainer Brüderle lost his Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology to politician Philipp Rösler. Daniel Bahr becomes next German Federal Minister of Health.
May 12 – Winfried Kretschmann becomes Minister-President of Baden-Wuerttemberg. As the first Green Party Minister-President in Germany, he leads a Green/SPD coalition.
May 14 – Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf
May 22 – Bremen state election, 2011 in Bremen
May 30 – German government announces plans to abandon nuclear power entirely by 2022.
May – 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak in northern Germany
June 26 – July 17 – 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, won by Japan.
June 30 – Tennis: Germany's Sabine Lisicki is knocked out in the semi finals of the women's singles at Wimbledon, having made it further in the tournament than previously expected.
July 1 – Conscription ends in Germany
July 7 – German Bundestag allowed Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
September 2 – Germany secures qualification for Euro 2012, with a 6–2 win over Austria.
September 4 – Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2011
September 7 – The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany rules that Germany can continue to contribute to Eurozone bailouts.
September 18 – Berlin state election, 2011 – Klaus Wowereit of the SPD is re-elected as Mayor. The FDP is voted out of the Berlin parliament, while the Pirate Party is voted in.
October 11 – Germany kept its 100% record in Euro 2012 qualifying, defeating Belgium 3-1.
November 4 – Bosphorus serial murders: Far-right extremists Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt die in a fire in Zwickau while Beate Zschaepe hands herself in to the police. Together, they were found to be responsible for a series of racially motivated murders and the murder of policewoman Michele Kiesewetter in Heilbronn in 2007.
November 8 – The Nord Stream pipeline was officially inaugurated by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French Prime Minister François Fillon at the ceremony held in Lubmin.
December 2 – For Euro 2012, Germany is drawn into a group with the Netherlands, Denmark and Portugal.
December 5 – An International Conference on Afghanistan is held in Bonn.
December 23 – Christian Wulff and Angela Merkel attend the funeral of Václav Havel in Prague.
January 1 – Gerd Michael Henneberg, 88, actor.
January 3 – Eva Strittmatter, 80, author.
January 6 – Gad Granach, 95, memoirist.
January 13 – Hellmut Lange, 87, actor.
January 24 – Bernd Eichinger, 61, film producer and director.
February 10 – Claus Helmut Drese, 88, theatre and opera administrator.
February 11 – Josef Pirrung, 61, footballer.
February 16 – Hans Joachim Alpers, 67, writer and editor.
February 19 – Dietrich Stobbe, 72, politician, former Mayor of Berlin.
February 20 – Helmut Ringelmann, 84, film and television producer.
February 23 – Gustav Just, 89, journalist and politician.
March 19 – Knut, 4, polar bear.
April 3 – Ulli Beier, 89, editor, writer and scholar.
April 4 – Witta Pohl, 74, actress.
April 6 – Hans Tiedge, 73, spy.
April 30 – Egon Drews, 84, canoeist.
May 7 – Gunter Sachs, 78, German-Swiss photographer and art collector.
May 8 – Hans-Georg Borck, 89, military officer.
May 30 – Tillmann Uhrmacher, 44, DJ, musician and radio host.
May 31 – Hans Keilson, 101, German-Dutch author, doctor and psychoanalyst.
June 4 – Curth Flatow, 91, screenwriter and dramatist.
June 14 – Peter Schamoni, 77, director and producer.
June 18 – Ulrich Biesinger, 77, footballer.
June 30 – Georg Sterzinsky, 75, cardinal.
July 4 – Otto von Habsburg, 98, Austro-Hungarian nobleman and politician, died in Bavaria.
July 4 – Gerhard Unger, 95, opera singer.
July 13 – Heinz Reincke, 86, actor.
July 14 – Leo Kirch, 84, media entrepreneur.
July 17 – Aba Dunner, 73, German-born Jewish activist.
July 20 – Lucian Freud, 88, German-born British painter.
July 28 – Bernd Clüver, 63, Schlager singer.
August 3 – Rudolf Brazda, 98, Concentration camp prisoner.
August 4 – Conrad Schnitzler, 74, musician.
August 14 – Friedrich Schoenfelder, 94, actor.
August 22 – Vicco von Bülow (Loriot), 87, humorist, cartoonist, film director, actor and writer.
August 31 – Rosel Zech, 69, actress.
September 6 – Hans Apel, 79, politician.
September 7 – Robert Dietrich, 25, ice hockey player, (plane crash)
September 14 – Rudolf Mössbauer, 82, Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
September 17 – Kurt Sanderling, 98, conductor.
September 28 – Heidi, opossum.
October 2 – Peter Przygodda, 69, film director.
October 12 – Heinz Bennent, 90, actor.
October 17 – Manfred Gerlach, 83, politician.
October 18 – Friedrich Kittler, 68, literary scholar and media theorist.
October 28 – Jiri Grusa, 72, Czech diplomat and author, died in Hanover.
October 29 – Walter Norris, 79, American musician and pianist, died in Berlin.
October 30 – Mickey Scott, 64, German-born American baseball player.
November 3 – H. G. Francis (Hans Gerhard Franciskowsky), 75, author of popular fiction.
November 12 – Eva Monley, 88, German-born Kenyan film location scout.
November 14 – Franz Josef Degenhardt, 79, singer, poet, novelist and satirist.
November 22 –
Kristian Schultze, 66, musician.
Hans Reichel, 62, guitarist.
December 1 – Christa Wolf, 82, writer and poet.
December 3 – Heinrich Sonne, 94, Waffen-SS member.
December 6 – Barbara Orbison, 61, German-born American record producer and widow of Roy Orbison.
December 11 – Hans Heinz Holz, 84, Marxist philosopher.
December 13 – Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, 69, footballer.
December 15 – Walter Giller, 84, actor.
December 21 – Werner Otto, 102, businessman and entrepreneur.
December 24 –
Johannes Heesters, 108, actor and singer, stroke.
Walter Söhne, 98, agronomist.
December 25 – Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, 88, sports commentator.
