Parents in the above three states may be breathing a sigh of relief now that their children are back in the classroom for the new school year.
Bremen and Lower Saxony are also back this week, but other states have a little longer off.
This is because Germany's different states operate a staggered holiday schedule to avoid overburdening travel infrastructure.
Fourteen of Germany's states take part in the annual rotation juggle, but the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are (currently) exempt.
This means they invariably get to enjoy the last slot in the sought-after month of August and children in those states go back to school last in September.
READ ALSO: Why German states are clashing over the school holiday schedule
Even for visitors and those without children, it can be helpful to know when school vacations come to an end in each state because it gives a sense of when certain regions will be a bit quieter again.
With whole states out for break at once, local roads and regional trains and buses tend to be quite a bit more congested when children are off school en masse.
Here's when kids go back to school in all of Germany's 16 federal states this year:
Baden-Württemberg
The southern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are consistently among the last state to break for summer, so they also among the last to start the new academic year.
This year students in the south-western state will see lessons resume on Monday, September 15th.
Bavaria
Tuesday, September 16th.
READ ALSO: OPINION - Germany's unfair school system entrenches inequality
Berlin & Brandenburg
Monday, September 8th.
Bremen
Thursday, August 14th.
Hamburg
Thursday September 4th.
Hesse
Monday, August 18th.
Lower Saxony
Thursday, August 14th.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Monday, September 8th.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Wednesday, August 27th.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Monday, August 18th.
Saarland
Friday, August 15th.
Saxony & Saxony-Anhalt
Monday, August 11th.
Schleswig-Holstein
Monday, September 8th.
Thuringia
Monday, August 11th.
READ ALSO: German word of the day - Einschulung
Germany's school vacation periods
School children in Germany receive 75 days of holiday per year which are divided into six school holiday periods: autumn, Christmas, winter, Easter, Whitsun and summer holidays.
Of these, the summer-holiday period is the longest by far: It's six or seven weeks compared to a few days or up to two weeks for the other breaks.
Comments