Incumbents

National level

Kaiser – Wilhelm II
Chancellor – Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg to 13 July, then Georg Michaelis to 31 October, then from 1 November Georg von Hertling

State level

Kingdoms

Grand Duchies

Principalities

Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
Principality of Lippe – Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe
Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz (with Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line, as regent)
Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line
Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Duchies

Colonial Governor

German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Albert Heinrich Schnee, although much of territory under Allied occupation.

Events

January/February – Turnip Winter
19 January – Zimmermann Telegram
2 February – Atlantic U-boat Campaign: Germany announces its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare, rescinding the 'Sussex Pledge'.
3 February – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
13 February – Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Psychiatrie in Munich is officially founded.
24 February – Walter Hines Page, United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico, if Mexico will take sides with Germany when the United States declares war on Germany.^[2]
13 March – The German Leather Museum in Offenbach am Main is opened by Hugo Eberhardt.
2 April – United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)
1 October – The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physik is officially founded in Berlin.
25 October – Hertling cabinet
18 December – German filmcompany UFA GmbH is founded in Berlin.
22 December – Deutsches Institut für Normung is founded.

Undated

German company Viessmann is founded.
German company Leoni AG is founded.

Births

5 January – Wieland Wagner, German opera director (died 1966)
22 January – Casimir Johannes Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, German politician.^[3] (died 2010)
18 February – Gertraud Winkelvoss, German neo-Nazi politician (died 1981)^[4]
24 March – Krafft Arnold Ehricke, German rocket-propulsion engineer and advocate for space colonization (died 1984)
9 April – Johannes Bobrowski, German poet and writer (died 1965)
16 May – Ulrich Matschoss, German actor (died 2013)
2 June – Heinz Sielmann, German zoologist, biologist and filmmaker (died 2006)
29 July – Rochus Misch, German bodyguard of Adolf Hitler (died 2013)
6 September – Philipp von Boeselager, German resistance fighter (died 2008)^[5]
12 September – Jürgen Seydel, German karateka (died 2008)
15 December
- Karl-Günther von Hase, German diplomat and journalist (died 2021)
- Hilde Zadek, German operatic soprano (died 2019)^[6]
21 December – Heinrich Böll, German writer (died 1985)^[7]
23 December – Armin Zimmermann, German admiral (died 1976)

Deaths

23 January – Jesko von Puttkamer, German nobleman and colonial military chief (born 1855)
16 February – August Rauber, German anatomist (born 1841)
8 March – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and aircraft manufacturer (born 1838)^[8]
14 March – Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, Prussian princess (born 1860)
17 March – Franz Brentano, German philosopher, psychologist, and priest (born 1838)
21 March – Alfred Einhorn, German chemist (born 1856)
31 March – Emil von Behring, German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1854)
6 April:
- Hans Berr, soldier turned World War I flying ace (born 1890)
- Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (1893–1917), German Prussian King
14 April – Hartmuth Baldamus, German World War I flying ace (born 1891)
21 April – Bernd von Arnim, German naval officer (born 1885)
24 April – Oscar Blumenthal, German playwright (born 1852)
17 June – Karl Zilgas, German football player (born 1882)
27 June – Karl Allmenröder, German World War I flying ace (born 1896)
27 June - Gustav von Schmoller, German economist (born 1838)
3 August - Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (born 1849)^[9]
13 August – Eduard Buchner, German chemist and zymologist (born 1860)
15 August – Gustav Körte, German archaeologist (born 1852)
16 August – Wilhelm Morgner, German painter (born 1891)
20 August – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist (born 1835)
5 September – Walther Schwieger, German U-boat commander of U-20, which sank the Lusitania (born 1885)
15 September – Kurt Wolff, German aviator (born 1895)
28 September – Kurt Wissemann, German World War I flying ace (born 1893)
25 October:
- Maximilian Bayer, German founder of Scouting in Germany (born 1872)
- Hans Olde, German painter (born 1855)
15 November – Hans Ritter von Adam, German flying ace in World War I (born 1886)
20 November – Ludwig Sütterlin, German graphic artist (born 1865)

References

^ Constance B. Hintz; E. W. Egan; Leonard F. Wise, eds. (1976). Kings, Rulers, and Statesmen. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 139. ISBN 9780806900513.
^ Daniel Larsen (2021). Plotting for Peace: American Peacemakers, British Codebreakers, and Britain at War, 1914-1917. Cambridge University Press. p. 385. ISBN 9781108486682.
^ "1st parliamentary term | Casimir J. Prinz zu SAYN-WITTGENSTEIN-BERLEBURG | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
^ Schumacher, Martin (2006). Die Volksvertretung 1946–1972 [The People's Representation 1946-1972] (PDF) (in German). Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties. p. 1376.
^ William Grimes (3 May 2008). "Philipp von Boeselager, Who Attempted an Assassination of Hitler, Dies at 90". New York Times.
^ "Nachruf: Trauer um Jahrhundert-Sängerin Hilde Zadek". Kleine Zeitung (in German). Graz. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
^ "Heinrich Böll". Nobel prize website.
^ Literature by and about 1917 in Germany in the German National Library catalogue
^ Helmut Rechenberg; Jagdish Mehra (2000). The Formulation of Matrix Mechanics and Its Modifications 1925–1926. Springer New York. p. 21.

v t e Years in Germany (1871–present)
19th century	Pre-1871 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e 1917 in Europe
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Austria-Hungary Baden Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Moldavia Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Ottoman Empire Portugal Prussia Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom West Ukraine
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Cyprus Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Malta