Events in the year 1940 in Germany.
Quick Facts Decades:, See also: ...
Close
April
- 9 April
- 20 April - on his 51st birthday, Hitler orders the formation of a new SS regiment, containing Norwegians and Danes as well as Germans.
November
- 11 November — World War II: The German Hilfskreuzer (commerce raider) Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
- 14 November — World War II: The city of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed).
- 16 November — World War II: In response to Germany levelling Coventry 2 days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents will have died from Allied attacks).
- 18 November — World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
Date unknown
- In 1940, German optometrist Heinrich Wöhlk invented plastic Contact lenses.
- hülsta (hülsta-werke Hüls GmbH & Co. KG), a German furniture manufacturer is founded in Stadtlohn.[8]
- 4 January — Helmut Jahn, German architect (died 2021)
- 16 January — Franz Müntefering, German politician
- 23 January - Armin Maiwald, German author, television director and producer
- 24 January — Joachim Gauck, President of Germany
- 28 January - Bernd Klingner, German sport shooter
- 31 January - Werner Franke, German biologist (died 2022)
- 9 February — Hubert Burda, German publisher
- 17 February
- 20 February - Christoph Eschenbach, German conductor[9]
- 29 February - Margit Carstensen, German actress (died 2023)[10]
- 2 March — Lothar de Maizière, German politician
- 4 March — Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, German judge
- 7 March — Rudi Dutschke, German radical student leader (died 1979)[11]
- 17 March — Gottfried Münzenberg, German chemist
- 21 March — Paul Friedrichs German motocross racer (died 2012)
- 26 March — Victor von Halem, German operatic bass (died 2022)
- 22 April — Berndt Seite, German politician
- 3 May — Conny Plank, German musician (died 1987)
- 11 June — Volkmar Sigusch, German sexologist, physician and sociologist (died 2023)
- 15 June — Franz Wegner, German physicist
- 20 June — Eugen Drewermann, German theologian
- 21 June
- 25 June — Peer Augustinski, German actor and comedian (died 2014)
- 7 July
- 27 July — Pina Bausch, German choreographer (died 2009)
- 7 August — Martin Heisenberg, German neurobiologist
- 9 August — Marie-Luise Marjan, German actress
- 13 August — Dirk Sager, German journalist (died 2014)
- 15 August — Dietmar Schwager, German football player (died 2018)
- 25 September — Werner Münch, German politician
- 27 September — Rudolph Moshammer, German fashion designer (died 2005)
- 26 October — Tilo Prückner, German actor
- 29 October — Heinrich Mussinghoff, German bishop of Roman Catholic Church
- 2 November — Carolin Reiber, German television presenter
- 15 November — Klaus Ampler, German cyclist (died 2016)
- 22 November — Frank Duval, German composer, conductor, songwriter and singer
- 24 November — Hermann Otto Solms, German politician
- 7 December — Klaus Tschira, German entrepreneur (died 2015)
- 12 December — Ulla Wiesner, German singer
- 18 December — Klaus Wennemann, German actor (died 2000)
- 22 December — Eberhard Schöler, German table tennis player
- 29 December — Brigitte Kronauer, German writer
- 30 December — Renate Jaeger, German judge
- 2 January — Albert Richter, German cyclist (born 1912)
- 2 February — Carl Grünberg, German philosopher (born 1861)
- 9 February — William Dodd, United States Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, historian and author (born 1869)
- 27 February — Peter Behrens, German architect (born 1868)
- 29 February — Josef Swickard, German actor (born 1866)[12]
- 3 March — Karl Muck, German conductor (born 1859)[13]
- 15 March — Robert Leffler, German actor and singer (born 1866)
- 20 March — Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (born 1860)
- 25 April
- 26 April — Carl Bosch, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)[14]
- 26 May — Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (born 1906)
- 6 June — Arthur Zimmermann, German diplomat (born 1864)
- 22 June — Walter Hasenclever, German poet and playwright (born 1890)[15]
- 5 July — Friedrich Robert von Beringe, German army officer (born 1865)
- 19 July — Max Bodenheimer, lawyer (born 1865)
- 21 July — Elisabeth von Eicken, painter (born 1862)
- 1 August — Paul Hirsch, German politician (born 1868)
- 24 August — Paul Nipkow, German technician and inventor (born 1860)
- 26 September — Walter Benjamin, German philosopher and cultural critic (born 1892)[16]
- 11 October – Adolf von Trotha, German admiral (born 1868)
- 28 November — Helmut Wick, wing commander in the Luftwaffe (born 1915)
- 1 December — Johann Viktor Bredt, German jurist and politician (born 1879)
- 3 December — Wolff von Stutterheim, Wehrmacht general and Knight's Cross recipient (born 1893)
- 11 December — Fritz Erler, German painter (born 1868)
Willi Frischaur & Robert Jackson (1955). The Altmark Affair. New York, NY: Macmillan. p. 246.
Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of World War II. Prentice-Hall. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-13-354027-7.
Hooton, E.R. (2007). Luftwaffe at War: Blitzkrieg in the West. London: Chevron/Ian Allan. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6.
Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of World War II. Prentice-Hall. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-13-354027-7.
Roy Hemming (1994). Discovering Great Music: A New Listener's Guide to the Top Classical Composers and Their Best Recordings. Newmarket Press. p. 248. ISBN 9781557042101.
- Bloch, Leon Bryce and Lamar Middleton, ed. The World Over in 1940 (1941) detailed coverage of world events online free; 914pp