is sold to American private equity companies like Cerberus Capital Management and J.C. Flowers & Co. December 7 December - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer succeeds Angela Merkel as the new chairperson of the Christian Democratic Union, one of the major political parties in Germany. Deaths January 2 January - Michael Pfeiffer, professional football player and manager (born 1925) 4 January - Philipp Jenninger, politician (born 1932) 5 January - Hans Werner Kettenbach, writer (born 1928) 10 January - , writer and playwright (born 1927) 12 January - Heinrich von Stietencron, Indologist (born 1933) 15 January - Karl-Heinz Kunde, cyclist (born 1938) 30 January - Rolf Schafstall, footballer (born 1937) February 3 February - Rolf Zacher, actor (born 1941) 14 February - Anton Regh, footballer (born 1940) 20 February - Herbert Ehrenberg, politician (born 1926) March 10 March - Ralf Waldmann, German motorcycle racer (born 1966) 11 March - Lorenz Dittmann, art historian (born 1928) 11 March - Siegfried Rauch, actor (born 1932) 11 March - Karl Lehmann, Roman Catholic Cardinal prelate, Bishop of Mainz (born 1936) 17 March - Michael Rutschky, German author, Heinrich-Mann-Prize (born 1943) April 7 April - Peter Grünberg, German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (born 1939) 17 April - Karl Rawer, physicist, specialist in radio wave propagation and the ionosphere (born 1913) 19 April - Herbert Pilch, linguist and celtologist (born 1927) 25 April - Hans Dresig, Professor for Applied mechanics and Theory of Mechanisms and Machines (born 1937) 26 April - Wolfgang Zapf, sociologe (born 1937) May 1 May - Elmar Altvater, political scientist (born 1938) 2 May - Harald Range, German lawyer (born 1948) 2 May - Wolfgang Völz, actor (born 1930) 17 May - Jürgen Marcus, singer (born 1948) 20 May - Dieter Schnebel, composer (born 1930) 20 May - Roland Vogt, politician (born 1941) 22 May - Daniela Samulski, swimmer (born 1984) June 9 June - Reinhard Hardegen, German U-boat commander (born 1913) 15 June - Enoch zu Guttenberg, conductor (born 1946) 18 June - Paul Gratzik, German poet and novelist (born 1935) 29 June - Franz Beyer, German musicologist (born 1922) July 3 July - Karin Eckhold, German actress (born 1938) 9 July - Hans Günter Winkler, showjumper (born 1926) 14 July - Christa Dichgans, painter (born 1940) 24 July - Duke Carl Gregor of Mecklenburg, German nobleman and musician (born 1933) 24 July - Walter Hirrlinger, German politician (born 1926)