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)

Events

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.

v t e 1888 in Europe
Sovereign states	Andorra Austria-Hungary Baden Belgium Bulgaria Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Ottoman Empire Portugal Prussia Romania Russia San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Cyprus Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Malta