West Germany edit

• President – Theodor Heuss (starting 13 September)
• Chancellor – Konrad Adenauer (starting 20 September)

East Germany edit

• Head of State – Wilhelm Pieck (starting 11 October)
• Head of Government – Otto Grotewohl (starting 12 October)

• 8 May - The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany was approved in Bonn.
• 8 May - The Soviet War Memorial in East-Berlin is established.
• 12 May - The Berlin Blockade ends.
• 15/16 May - East German Constitutional Assembly election, 1949
• 14 August - West German federal election, 1949
• 16 September - Hamburger Morgenpost is first published.
• 20 September - The First Adenauer cabinet led by Konrad Adenauer was sworn in.
• 7 October - Constitution of East Germany
• Date unknown: Liebherr, a multinational equipment manufacturer, is founded in Baden-Württemberg, to build the mobile tower crane devised by Hans Liebherr.^[1]
• Date unknown: Germany company Heckler & Koch was founded.
• Date unknown: German company Adidas was founded.
• Date unknown: The Currywurst is invented by Herta Heuwer in Berlin.

• January 9 - Mary Roos, German singer
• January 15 - Jürgen Roters, German politician
• January 24 - Nikolaus Brender, German journalist
• February 5 - Kurt Beck, German politician
• February 13 - Jo Baier, German film director
• February 22 - Joachim Witt, German singer
• March 2 - Wolfgang Sandner, German physicist (died 2015)
• March 5 - Franz Josef Jung, German politician
• March 11 - Georg Schramm, German psychologist and Kabarett artist
• March 26 - Patrick Süskind, German writer
• April 5 - Klara Höfels, German actress and theatre director (died 2022)
• April 6 - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist
• April 7 - Evelyn Haas, German judge
• April 11 - Bernd Eichinger, German film producer, director and screenwriter (died 2011)
• May 10 - Hans Reichel, German guitarist (died 2011)
• May 12
  • Raimund Hoghe, German choreographer (died 2021)
  • Hans Leyendecker, German journalist
• June 8 - Hildegard Falck, German athlete
• June 12 - Jens Böhrnsen, German politician
• June 13 - Ulla Schmidt, German politician
• June 15 - Elmar Hörig, German television presenter
• June 27 - Günther Schumacher, German track cyclist
• June 28 - Peter Gruss, German biologist
• June 29 - Kurt Schrimm, German prosecutor
• July 4 - Horst Seehofer, German politician
• July 19 - Maren Kroymann, German actress and singer
• August 3 - Fritz Egner, German television host
• August 22 - Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, German nobleman, head of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
• August 30 - Peter Maffay, German singer
• September 2 - Frank Ripploh, German actor and film director (died 2002)
• September 3 - Volker Kauder, German politician
• September 19 - Richard Rogler, German Kabarett performer and comedian
• September 22 - Ludwig Schick, German bishop of Roman Catholic Church
• October 4 - Albrecht von Boeselager, German lawyer and forester
• October 18 - Erwin Sellering, German politician
• November 8 - Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, German journalist
• November 24 - Bruno Weil, German conductor

• January 5 - Max Bockmühl, German chemist (born 1882)
• January 10 - Erich von Drygalski, German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist (born 1865)
• March 4 - Joannes Baptista Sproll, German bishop of Roman Catholic Church (born 1870)
• March 12 - August Bier, German surgeon (born 1861)
• March 25 - Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, German nobleman (born 1887)
• March 28 - Theodor Seitz, German colonial politician (born 1863)
• March 30 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (born 1884)
• April 8 – Wilhelm Adam, German general (born 1877)
• May 21 — Klaus Mann, German writer (born 1906)
• May 22 - Hans Pfitzner, German composer (born 1869)
• June 23 - Heinrich Schnee, German lawyer, colonial civil servant, politician, writer, and association official (born 1871)
• July 18 - Bernhard Hoetger, German painter and sculptor (born 1874)
• September 4 - Herbert Eulenberg, German author and poet (born 1876)
• September 8 - Richard Strauss, German composer (born 1864)
• September 14 - Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen, German politician (born 1901)
• October 21 - Johannes Bell, German politician (born 1868)
• November 23- Gustav Radbruch, German legal scholar and politician (born 1878)
• December 23 - Arthur Eichengrün, German chemist (born 1867)
• December 30 - Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, sovereign of the Principality of Lippe (born 1871)