Vacuum is a pre‐requisite for the successful operation of the European XFEL. Apart of the need to specify pressure levels a large variety of other requirements have to be fulfilled. Specifically, the cleanliness level is noteworthy, as it has to be established in a large system. The respective parts of the particle accelerator and the X‐ray optics are of kilometer length in total. Many of the vacuum components have been developed for the European XFEL to enable the transport of a high quality electron beam. Redundancy and segmentation have been instrumental for the very fast commissioning of the system. The first experiments with X‐ray laser light have been performed successfully.