January

Please find below a list of birthdays and death anniversaries of German-speaking people, cultural and historical events in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, fun and public holidays, and any other interesting events that happened or are associated with a certain date in January.

This is not a comprehensive list and I aim to update it whenever I write a new article.

January 1

german new year's traditions silvester traditionen in deutschland

January 1 is New Year’s Day (Neujahr) and a public holiday in Germany. Find out more about customs around New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day here.

January 6

epiphany dreikönigstag heilige drei könige sternsinger sternsingen

January 6 is Epiphany or Dreikönigstag, or Heilige Drei Könige. It commemorates the three Wise Men or Holy Kings visiting Baby Jesus. It’s a public holiday in Austria, in some cantons in Switzerland, in the three German states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Saxony-Anhalt. Read about it here.

January 7

henny porten germany's first movie star, to the left a vintage photograph of a young Porten, text in the middle (gold on black background), old timey film camera to the right, Image of film negative runs across top and bottom

Henny Porten was born on January 7, 1890. She was one of Germany’s first movie stars during the rise of the silent film industry. Porten also worked as a producer and made a successful transition to talking movies.

Find out more here.

elisabeth schwarzhaupt german federal minister

Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt was born on January 7, 1901. She was the first female Federal Minister of Germany. From 1961 until 1966, she served as the Minister of Health.

Read about her accomplishments here.

January 12

January 12 is Marzipan Day and marzipan in many shapes and forms is very popular in Germany, especially around Christmas time.

Click here to find out more about the history of Marzipan in Germany.

luise rainer academy award winner german actor

Luise Rainer was born January 12, 1910. The German actress was the first one to win an Academy Award two years in a row, 1936 and 1937. She is also the only German actor to win an Oscar.

Find out more about her life here.

January 30

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

January 30 is the Feast Day of Saint Aldegundis. The Merovingian nun and abbess died on January 30, 684. She is known for helping the poor and sick, and is one of the 14 Nothelfer (Holy Helpers or Auxiliary Saints). In the Koblenz region, a sweet pretzel called “Aldegundisbrezel” is sold in her honor.

The photo shows a shrine for Saint Aldegundis at the “Staffelberg” in Franconia in the state of Bavaria. It says: “Hlg Adelgundis bitte für uns”, meaning “Saint Adelgundis pray for us.” Notice that the spelling of “Aldegundis” varies.

More about Aldegundis and sweet pretzels here.

January 31

melitta bentz coffee filter

Melitta Bentz was born on January 31, 1873. She is the inventor of the coffee filter and the founder of the company Melitta which still exists today.

Read more about her here.