Output shrank by 10.1% during the April-June period from the previous quarter, the country’s official statistics agency said.
It was the biggest drop since quarterly growth statistics began being compiled in 1970. The plunge far exceeded the previous worst ever recorded performance, a fall of 4.7% in the first quarter of 2009 during the global financial crisis.
Tough pandemic restrictions shut down everything from taverns to car dealerships across the country.
Germany has cautiously reopened and the economy has started bouncing back, but economists say it is far from the pre-virus level.
Economist Carsten Brzeski at the bank ING Germany said the recovery would be “a long ride.”
Mr Brzeski said: “This picture shows the deepest but also the shortest recession ever. All monthly indicators since May have already pointed to a strong rebound of economic activity in the course of what has been the worst quarterly performance ever.”
The German government has enacted a multibillion-euro stimulus package of emergency loans, credit guarantees and tax breaks to cushion the impact.
The German data release comes ahead of expected figures for Italy, France and the 19-country eurozone as a whole on Friday. Those numbers are likewise expected to be dismal, although they are backward-looking and do not account for the rebound in activity after many of the toughest restrictions were lifted.
So far government support measures across the currency union have held the increase in unemployment in check, one factor that could help support the rebound.
The jobless rate inched up to 7.8% in June from 7.7% in May, according to a separate report published on Thursday.
