Events in the year 1896 in Germany.

• Kaiser – Wilhelm II
• Chancellor – Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst

• King of Bavaria – Otto
• King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
• King of Saxony – Albert
• King of Württemberg – William II

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis III
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Peter II
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Charles Alexander

• Schaumburg-Lippe – George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Principality of Lippe – Alexander, Prince of Lippe (with Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as regent)
• Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
• Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
• Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

• Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
• Duke of Brunswick – Prince Albert of Prussia (regent)
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
• Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

• Cameroon (Kamerun) – Theodor Seitz (2nd term)
• German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Hermann Wissmann to 3 December, then Eduard von Liebert
• German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Hugo Rüdiger to 17 August, then from 22 September Curt von Hagen (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
• German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Theodor Leutwein (Landeshauptleute)
• Togoland – August Köhler (Landeshauptleute)

• 12 April – German football club Hannover 96 is founded.
• 1 June – Institut für Serumforschung und Serumprüfung in Berlin is opened.

• Gottlieb Daimler produces the first gasoline truck.
• Emperor William Monument in Porta Westfalica is completed.
• German physicist Wilhelm Wien derives the Wien approximation.

• 11 January – Heinrich Stuhlfauth, German football player and goalkeeper (died 1966)
• 4 February – Friedrich Hund, German physicist (died 1997)
• 9 February – Erich Vagts, German politician (died 1980)
• 14 February – Werner Richard Heymann, German film composer (died 1961)
• 23 February – Herbert Weichmann, German politician (died 1983)
• 25 February – Ida Noddack, German chemist (died 1978)
• 2 March – Caesar von Hofacker, German colonel (died 1944)
• 22 March – Karl Dannemann, German actor (died 1945)
• 1 April – Wilhelm Sauter, German painter (died 1948)
• 13 May – Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (died 1967)
• 20 May – Paul Kemp, German actor (died 1953)
• 9 June – Karl Sack, German jurist (died 1945)
• 16 July – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German physician (died 1969)
• 23 July – Reinhold Frank, German lawyer (died 1945)
• 19 August – Josef Kammhuber, German general (died 1986)
• 23 August – Hubert von Meyerinck, German actor (died 1971)
• 15 September – Theodor Haubach, German journalist (died 1945)
• 14 October – Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff, German police officer and politician (died 1944)
• 18 October – Friedrich Hollaender, German film composer and author (died 1976)
• 30 October – Roma Bahn, German actress (died 1975)
• 9 November – Hellmut von der Chevallerie, German general (died 1965)
• 28 November – Otto Graf, German actor (died 1977)
• 3 December – Carlo Schmid, German politician (died 1979)
• 18 December – Hans Otto Erdmann, German officer (died 1944)
• 27 December – Carl Zuckmayer, German writer and playwright (died 1977)
• 31 December – Carl Ludwig Siegel, German mathematician (died 1981)

• 29 February – Albrecht von Stosch, German admiral (born 1818)
• 28 April – Heinrich von Treitschke, German historian (born 1834)
• 18 May – Otto von Camphausen, German politician (born 1812)
• 20 May – Clara Schumann, German musician and composer (born 1819)
• 2 June – Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs, German geographer, explorer and author (born 1831)
• 11 July – Ernst Curtius, German archaeologist and historian (born 1814)
• 13 July – August Kekulé, German chemist (born 1829)
• 10 August – Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer of aviation (born 1848)
• 13 August – Philipp Ludwig von Seidel, German mathematician (born 1821)
• 22 October – Christian Roos, German bishop of Roman-Catholic Church (born 1826)
• 3 November – Eugen Baumann, German chemist (born 1846)
• 19 November – Otto Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, German politician (born 1837)
• December – Bianka Blume, German opera singer (born 1843).^[1]
• 17 December – Paul Beiersdorf, German pharmacist (born 1836)
• 26 December — Emil du Bois-Reymond, German physiologist (born 1818)