- 1928 – Birth of actor Hardy Krüger
- 1948 – Birth of politician Joschka Fischer, Federal Foreign Minister 1998–2005
- 1956 – Birth of singer and actor Herbert Grönemeyer
- 1990 – Lothar de Maizière becomes the first democratically elected minister-president of the GDR
- 1999 – Five people die in the first serious accident on the Schwebebahn Wuppertal in almost 100 years