1943 in Germany

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See also:	Other events of 1943 History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1943 in Germany .

Incumbents

National level

Head of State and Chancellor

• Adolf Hitler (the Führer) (Nazi Party)

Events

Jewish prisoners being deported from the Kraków Ghetto.

This photograph, from the Stroop Report, shows captured fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

The bombing of Hamburg during 1943.

• 18 January – World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
• 18 January – The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins.
• 27 January – World War II: 64 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany (Wilhelmshaven is the target).
• 29 January – German police arrest alleged necrophiliac Bruno Ludke.
• 29 January – Dr Ernst Kaltenbrunner succeeds the late Reinhard Heydrich as head of the RSHA SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt controlling the Schutzstaffel Gestapo
• 2 February – World War II: In Russia, the Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end with the surrender of the German 6th Army and its 91,000 remaining soldiers.
• 3 February – World War II: The Four Chaplains of the U.S. Army are drowned, when their ship (Dorchester) is struck by a German torpedo.
• 14 February – World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass: German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.
• 16 February – World War II: The Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov
• 18 February – In a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declare a "Total War" against the Allies.
• 18 February – The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
• 22 February – Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
• 28 February – Operation Gunnerside: 6 Norwegians led by Joachim Ronneberg successfully attack the heavy water plant Vemork.
• 1 March – Heinz Guderian becomes the Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for Nazi Germany's Army.
• 13 March – Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
• 16 March – 19 March – World War II: 22 ships from Convoys HX 229/SC 122 and one U-boat are sunk in the largest North Atlantic U-boat wolfpack attack of the war.
• 22 March – World War II: The entire population of Khatyn in Belarus is burnt alive by the Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft Bataillon 118 and assisted by troops from SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger in retaliation for an attack of a German convoy by Soviet partisans.
• 26 March – Adolf Hitler writes to Benito Mussolini that Russia is so weakened by the defence of Stalingrad that it cannot possibly be a serious menace.
• 13 April – World War II: Radio Berlin announces the discovery by Wehrmacht of mass graves of Poles killed by Soviets in the Katyn massacre.
• 6 May – World War II: Six U-boats are sunk after sinking 12 ships from Convoy ONS 5, regarded as the turning point in the North Atlantic U-boat war.
• 13 May – World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
• 15 May – The Comintern is dissolved in Moscow.
• 16 May – World War II: Operation Chastise by RAF 617 Sqdn is carried out on German dams.
• 16 May – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
• 24 May – Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes the chief medical officer of Auschwitz.
• 5 July – World War II: Operation Citadel commences, resulting in the Battle of Kursk – The largest tank battle in history begins, with German Panther tanks seeing combat for the first time.
• 12 July – World War II – Battle of Prokhorovka: The Wehrmacht and the Red Army fight to a draw.
• 24 July – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day.
• 27 July – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The continued British bombing of Hamburg, initiates a firestorm. The fire rages through the night into the morning of the 28th, causing the majority of Operation Gomorrah's deaths.
• 3 August – World War II: Operation Gomorrah closes, with an estimated 42,600 killed and 37,000 wounded; much of Hamburg is leveled.
• 23 August – The Battle of Kursk ends with a serious strategic defeat for the German forces.
• 24 August – World War II: – Heinrich Himmler is named Reichsminister of the Interior in Germany.
• 29 August – World War II: Germany dissolves the Danish government after it refuses to deal with a wave of strikes and disturbances to the satisfaction of the German authorities (see Occupation of Denmark).
• 8 September – World War II: Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943: The USAAF bombs the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone.
• 12 September – World War II: German paratroopers rescue Benito Mussolini from imprisonment, in Operation Eiche.
• 13 October – World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
• 17 October – World War II: The last commerce raider, auxiliary cruiser Michel, was sunk off Japan by United States submarine Tarpon. ^[1]
• 22 October – World War II: The RAF delivers a highly destructive airstrike on the German industrial and population center of Kassel.
• 15 November – Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."
• 18 November – World War II: The Royal Air Force opens its bombing campaign against Berlin, with 440 planes causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses 9 aircraft and 53 aviators.
• 23 November – The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed.
• 2 December – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile, causing numerous fatalities; the exact death toll is unresolved, as the bombing raid itself causes hundreds of deaths as well.
• 11 December – United States Army Air Corps raids a U-boat yard at Emden, losing 20 planes but shooting down 138 German fighters.
• 20 December – First flight of a true four-engined version of the troubled He 177A heavy bomber, as the Heinkel He 177 V102 prototype of the Heinkel He 177B series makes its maiden flight with four separate Daimler-Benz DB 603 engines at the Heinkel-Sud factory airfield in Schwechat. ^[2]

Births

• 6 January – Wilhelm Kuhweide, German sailor
• 12 January – Brun-Otto Bryde, German judge
• 14 January – Manfred Wolke, German boxer
• 22 January – Wilhelm Genazino, German author and journalist (died 2018)
• 24 January - Peter Struck, German politician (died 2012)
• 25 January -
  • Dagmar Berghoff, German journalist and television presenter
  • Roy Black, German actor and singer (died 1991)
• 11 February – Gerhard Glogowski, German politician
• 12 February – Rainer Eppelmann, German politician
• 13 February – Friedrich Christian Delius, German writer (died 2022)
• 15 February – Elke Heidenreich, German author and television presenter
• 21 February – Paul Kirchhof, German judge
• 22 February – Horst Köhler, German banker and politician, President of Germany (died 2025)
• 27 February – Klaus Köste, German gymnast (died 2012)
• 24 March – Marika Kilius, German pair skater
• 12 April
  • Lothar Kobluhn, German football player (died 2019)
  • Michael Otto, German entrepreneur
• 16 April
  • Christian Herwartz, German Catholic priest (died 2022)
  • Petro Tyschtschenko, German businessman
• 19 April – Claus Theo Gärtner, German actor
• 1 May – Sabine Uecker, German politician
• 2 May – Manfred Schnelldorfer, German figure skater
• 6 May – Wolfgang Reinhard, German pole vaulter (died 2011)
• 10 May – Wolfgang Porsche, German manager
• 18 May – Helmut Haussmann, German politician
• 22 May – Gesine Schwan, German politician
• 24 May – Gerd Gies, German politician
• 31 May – Antje Vollmer, German theologian and politician (died 2023)
• 28 June – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 30 June – Hartmann von der Tann, German journalist
• 30 June – Dieter Kottysch, German boxer (died 2017)
• 4 July
  • Conny Bauer, German trombonist
  • Heide Simonis, writer and politician (died 2023)
• 6 July – Hans-Jürgen Papier, German judge
• 7 July – Jürgen Geschke, German track cyclist
• 25 July
  • Hans-Peter Kaul, German judge (died 2014)
  • Erika Steinbach, German politician
• 29 July
  • Michael Holm, German singer
  • Ingrid Krämer, German diver
• 4 August – Barbara Saß-Viehweger, German politician, lawyer and civil law notary
• 12 August – Herta Däubler-Gmelin, politician
• 27 August – Wolfgang Nordwig, German pole vaulter
• 3 September – Dagmar Schipanski, German physicist and politician (died 2022)
• 7 September – Lena Valaitis, German singer
• 16 September
  • Oskar Lafontaine, German politician
  • Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter, German Lutheran bishop
• 25 September – Willi Entenmann, footballer and coach (died 2012)
• 27 September – Walter Riester, German politician
• 28 September
  • Michael Herz, German businessman
  • Ursula Werner, German actress
• 29 September – Wolfgang Overath, German footballer
• 30 September – Johann Deisenhofer, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 6 October – Udo Zimmermann, German composer and opera director (died 2021)
• 19 October – Axel Ullrich, German biologist
• 20 October – Madeleine Schickedanz, German entrepreneur
• 22 October – Wolfgang Thierse, German politician
• 28 October – Cornelia Froboess, German actress
• 20 November – Bernard Broermann, German businessman (died 2024)
• 21 November – Kasper König, German museum director (died 2024)
• 23 November – Günther Beckstein, German politician
• 1 December – Ortrun Enderlein, German luger, Olympic champion (1964)
• 8 December – Bodo Tümmler, German Olympic middle-distance runner
• 12 December – Renate Schmidt, German politician
• 17 December – Heidemarie Koch, German archaeologist (died 2022)
• 23 December – Queen Silvia of Sweden
• 25 December – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
• 31 December – Wolfgang Gerhardt, German politician (died 2024)

Deaths

* 10 January – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and leader of the Gauss South Polar Expedition (born 1865) ^[3]

• 13 January – Else Ury, German writer (born 1877)
• 15 January – George of Saxony, Crown prince of Saxony (born 1893)
• 14 February – David Hilbert, German mathematician (born 1862)
• 14 February – Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm Hinz, German archaeologist of Roman military structures (born 1887) ^[4]
• 22 February – Hans Scholl, German White Rose resistance member (executed by Nazis) (born 1918)
• 22 February – Sophie Scholl, German White Rose resistance member (executed by Nazis) (born 1921)
• 26 February – Theodor Eicke, German Nazi official (born 1892)
• 10 March – Otto Modersohn, German painter (born 1865)
• 22 March – Hans Woellke, German shot putter (born 1911)
• 7 April – Jürgen von Alten, German stage and film actor (born 1903) ^[5]
• 13 April – Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (born 1888)
• 24 April – Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, German general (born 1878)
• 8 May – Otto Gessler, former Reich Minister of Defence during the Weimar Republic (born 1875) ^[6]
• 15 May – Ludwig Roselius, German businessman (born 1874)
• 31 May – Helmut Kapp, German Gestapo official
• 13 July – Luz Long, German long jump athlete (born 1913)
• 21 July – Theodor von Guérard, German jurist and politician (born 1863)
• 5 August – Liane Berkowitz, German resistance fighter of the Red Orchestra organisation (born 1923)
• 2 September – Wilhelm Geiger, German Orientalist in the fields of Indo-Iranian languages (born 1856)
• 16 September – Robert Schmidt, German politician (born 1864)
• 22 September – Heinrich Waentig, German politician (born 1870)
• 23 September – Theodor Wolff, German writer and journalist (born 1868)
• 5 October – Ludwig von Estorff, German general (born 1859 in Germany)
• 15 December – Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi ideologue and Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (born 1893) ^[7]
• date unknown: Gottlob Walz, German diver (born 1881)

References

1. Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of World War II. Prentice-Hall. p. 276. ISBN   0-13-354027-8.
2. Griehl, Manfred; Dressel, Joachim (1998). Heinkel He 177 – 277 – 274. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing. pp. 166–67. ISBN   1-85310-364-0.
3. "Erich von Drygalski – Biography". Encyclopaedia of Antarctic Exploration. Germany Polar Research. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
4. "Hermann Hinz biography". City of Potsdam Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
5. Meier, Sabine (8 April 1943). "Jürgen von Alten: Auf der Straße der Schatten". Munich Daily. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
6. "Otto Gessler – Former Reich Minister of Defence". Federal Archives of Germany. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
7. Schmidt, Anna (1950). "Espionage Report: The Contested Death of Alfred Rosenberg". Journal of Modern German History. 12 (4): 47–58. Retrieved 19 August 2025.