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Famous Germans, Swiss and Austrians
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 | Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) -- Became the first chancellor (1949-1963) of the new Federal Republic of
Germany and helped lead West Germany to postwar recovery and prosperity. Adenauer held the
record for his term in office until it was broken by former German chancellor, Helmut Kohl. Bonn was chosen as West Germany's
"provisional" capital, in part because it was Adenauer's home town. |
| Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915) -- German
neuropathologist who in 1906 identified the memory-loss ailment named after him. He was
born in 1864 in Markbreit, Germany. Excelling in science at school he later studied
medicine in Berlin, Tübingen, and Würzburg. Alzheimer was buried next to his wife in the
Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt am Main. -- (History of Alzheimer's) |
| Nadja Auermann (1970- ) -- Though
less well-known than her fellow German rival, Claudia Schiffer,
Auermann has come on strong lately in her equally dramatic rise to modeling stardom. |
| Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) -- The most prominent in an amazing series of musical Bachs spanning the
16th to the 19th centuries. J.S. Bach's career began in earnest when he became court
organist at Weimar in 1708. By 1714 he had been appointed Konzertmeister. He went on to
compose musical monuments like the "Brandenburg Concertos," the "Pastoral
Symphony," and "The Well-Tempered Clavier." |
| Karl Baedeker (1801-1859) -- Father
of the travel guide (Reiseführer). The first Baedeker guide, Rheinlande,
was published in 1839 in Koblenz. That first book established the Baedeker's reputation
for accuracy and detail. Karl Baedeker was born into a publishing family in Essen. The
eldest son of Gottschalk Diederich Baedeker, whose father Zacharias (1750-1800) had
established the Baedeker publishing house in 1775, Karl Baedeker continued his family's
publishing tradition in Essen. After his death the Baedekers moved their travel publishing
to Leipzig. After WWII, the Baedeker headquarters relocated to Freiburg in southwest
Germany. |
| Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) -- Born
in tiny Bonn, he moved to Vienna, the musical capital of Europe, at the age of 22.
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" became the official anthem of the European Community in
1986, and the unofficial anthem of German unification in 1989. Beethoven's grand
symphonies, chamber music, and other classical works now also belong to the entire world. |
| Peter Behrens (1868-1940) -- Became famous as the chief designer and architect for Germany's AEG
electrical concern between 1909 and 1912. Behrens proved that industrial plants could also
be eye-pleasing architectural works. He influenced the later work of Walter
Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier, all of whom worked under Behrens. |
| Karl Benz (1844-1929) and Gottfried Daimler (1834-1900) -- Independently
invented the first practical internal-combustion powered automobile (Benz in 1885, Daimler
in 1886), though they never met. The two firms merged in 1926 to form Daimler-Benz, today
Germany's largest industrial concern. Benz, born in Karlsruhe, invented the differential
drive and other automotive technology, including two types of internal-combustion engines
and electrical ignition. |
| Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) -- Unified
Germany in 1871. As Reichskanzler (imperial chancellor) Bismarck stayed at the helm
of the Prussian Second Reich until 1890. A scheming manipulator to the end, even his
introduction of the first social security system for workers (1883) was politically
motivated. |
| Willy Brandt (1913-1992) -- Became
mayor of West Berlin in 1957, was German chancellor (SPD,
Social Democrats) from 1969 to 1974, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for
his Ostpolitik of rapprochement with East Germany. Brandt was a popular statesman
and remained influential in the SPD party right up to his death. |
| Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) -- Born in Wirsitz in eastern Germany (now Poland) and worked at
Peenemünde developing the V2 rockets that struck at Britain in 1944-45. One of the first
true "rocket scientists," he and about 120 other German scientists were brought
to the U.S. to work on rocket systems. The U.S. space program was greatly speeded up by
their work, culminating in the Saturn V rocket that sent Americans to the moon on the
Apollo mission in 1969, when von Braun was the head of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Alabama. |
| Charlemagne (Karl der Große,
742-814) -- Emperor (Kaiser) of the Holy Roman Empire of the German
Nation (das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation), the First Reich. He had
become King of the Franks in 776. The Germanic Charlemagne and his Frankish tribe gave
France its name. Frankreich (empire of the Franks) is the German word for France. |
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| Adolf (Adi) Dassler (1900-1959) -- Founded the German sports shoemaker Adidas (AH-dee-dahs). The cobbler's son, born in
Herzogenaurauch, Germany, invented spiked shoes for track and field. Jesse Owens
was wearing a pair of Dassler's shoes when he won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. (The
firm was not known as Adidas until the late 1940s.) Ironically, Puma, Adidas' biggest
competitor in Europe, was founded around 1950 by Adolf's brother Horst after the two had a
falling-out. |
| Ruth Dreifuss (1940- ) -- Switzerland's first female president took office on the first day of
1999. (The office is an appointed one-year term and rotates among the seven Cabinet
ministers in the Swiss federal government.) This is all the more notable when one realizes
that women have only had the right to vote in Swiss national elections since 1971! The
Jewish Dreifuss was born in German Switzerland, but later moved to Geneva, where she
worked as a secretary and journalist and attended university. Fluent in five languages,
Dreifuss served in many governmental capacities before being appointed Home Affairs
Minister in 1993. |
| Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) -- Led the way to a new art perspective of the world with his realistic
drawings of animals (a hare being one of the most famous), Ritter, Tod und Teufel,
in which death is portrayed as a skeleton, and other subjects. (The Art of Albrecht Dürer) |
| Albert Einstein (1879-1955) -- Published his theory of relativity in 1905. Born in Ulm, Germany,
Einstein later attended university in Zurich, Switzerland, where he received his Ph.D. In
1916, while a professor at the University of Berlin, Einstein published his general theory
of relativity, a significant expansion of his earlier work. He received the 1921 Nobel
Prize in physics. In 1933 Einstein moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he was to live
for the rest of his life. Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt helped start the
Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb by the United States. Einstein
became a U.S. citizen in 1940. |
| Elisabeth (1837-1898)
-- Better known as Sisi.
The Sisi '98 page is about Franz
Joseph's wife and popular Austrian Empress, who was assassinated in 1898. |
| Roland Emmerich -- The director of the movies
"Independence Day" and "Godzilla". |
| Erik H. Erikson (1902-1994) -- Grew
up in Karlsruhe as Erik Homburger but changed his name to Erikson before coming to the
United States. Erikson was a disciple of Freud, but disagreed with
the Freudian philosophy that early childhood and sex mainly determined a person's
identity. Erikson, a psychoanalyst, author, and professor (Yale, Harvard, Berkeley),
coined the term "identity crisis" and wrote several
"psychobiographies" on figures such as Darwin, Einstein,
Gandhi, and Jesus. He never obtained a college degree. |
| Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) -- The
German physicist who invented the temperature scale named for him. Although born in
Danzig, he lived most of his life in England and the Netherlands. |
| Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) -- Born
in New York City but spent 50 years of his life in Germany. His father, Carl, came from
Germany and fought as a Confederate in the War between the States. Lyonel was an artistic
leader in Expressionism and worked for a time at the Bauhaus. |
| Anton Fugger (1493-1560) -- Presided
over the Fugger dynasty and fortune at the height of its wealth and power. In 1546 the
Fugger empire was worth 5,100,000 gulden. Anton's uncle and predecessor, Jakob Fugger
II ("the Rich," 1459-1525), built the "Fuggerei"-- 52 low-rent
houses in Augsburg -- between 1516 and 1523. The Fuggerei (FOO-gehr-eye) foundation
operates to this day. During the 15th and 16th centuries the Fuggers developed their great
wealth through world-wide enterprises in banking, trading, and mining. |
G-H-I
| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -- The
"Gothic Shakespeare" -- with contemporaries Schiller and
von Kleist -- began the German literature movement known as Romanticism. This giant of
German culture wrote the famous two-part drama, Faust, many classic poetic works,
and an international "best selling" novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther,
that precipitated a rash of youth suicides across Europe. Goethe also was interested in
science. His Metamorphose der Pflanzen ("Metamorphosis of Plants") was
more accurate than Farbenlehre ("Theory of Color"). 1999 is das
Goethe-Jahr -- a year-long celebration of the 250th birthday of the
Germany's best-known cultural icon. |
| Günter Grass (1927- ) -- Born
in the seaport city of Danzig (Gdansk). His Tin Drum (1959), Cat and Mouse
(1961), and The Dog Years (1963), known as the "Danzig trilogy," became
world-wide bestsellers. Grass continues to produce novels and other works today. Known for
his leftist views, he has taken an active role in German politics, and opposed total
German unity following the collapse of East Germany in 1989. |
| Walter Gropius (1883-1969) -- Founded the famous German Bauhaus
school of architecture and design in 1919. He came to America after the Nazis came to
power, taught at Harvard, and designed buildings such as the Pan Am building in New York
City. (Also see Peter Behrens.) |
| Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg (ca. 1397-1468) -- Working
in Mainz, he started printing the Bible in Latin in 1450. It took five years for Gutenberg
and his assistants to produce just 200 copies. Today his 42-line Bible is the most
valuable book in the world, but Gutenberg lost money on the deal. Only 48 Gutenberg Bibles
are known to still exist. Gutenberg revolutionized the world with his printing press using
metal moveable type. |
| Peter Handke (1942- )
-- Austrian novelist and
playwright. The work that probably did the most to bring him into the limelight was his
1966 play Publikumsbeschimpfung (Insulting the Audience). One of his best
novels is Die linkshändige Frau (The Left-handed Woman, 1980). Handke uses
an unconventional dead-pan style of writing that some have compared to Kafka or even
Chandler. Recently, Handke caused a stir by supporting the Bosnian Serbs against the
Croats in his book, Gerechtigkeit für Serbien ("Justice for Serbia"). A
new Handke novel, loosely set in Santa Fe, is entitled In einer dunklen Nacht ging ich
aus meinem stillen Haus (lit., "In a dark night I left my quiet house").
Handke now lives in Paris. |
| Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) -- Considered
one of the greatest composers who ever lived. Born in Lower Austria, Haydn's genius
spanned 50 years of creativity in the service of the Esterhazy court in Eisenstadt and
Vienna. Although he traveled little, his time in London was important to his career and
his musical work. By the time of his death in Vienna in 1809, Haydn had composed over 100
symphonies, 84 string quartets, and numerous other works, some of which have been lost. |
| Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901-1976) -- German physicist who is best known for his "uncertainty
principle." Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 for his work in quantam
mechanics. He was a professor at Leipzig University from 1927 to 1941. Heisenberg also led
the unsuccessful German effort to develop an atomic bomb during WWII. |
| Hermann der Cherusker (Arminius in
Latin, ca. 18B.C.-19A.D.) -- A Roman-trained
chief of the Cherusci, defeated the Romans at the battle of the Teutoburger Wald (Forest)
in 9 A.D. The Romans had difficulties bringing the Germanic tribes under control, and the
Rhine remained the northeastern border of the Roman empire for 300 years. Hermann was
slain by his own tribesmen in 19 A.D. Although the Roman historian Tacitus labeled him
"the liberator of Germany," the concept of a unified Germany was not even
imagined in Arminius' time. But that did not prevent German nationalists from adopting
Arminius as a German hero in the 19th century. They erected a huge, rather ugly monument
to Hermann (and his defeat of P. Quintilius Varus' three legions) that still stands near
the German city of Detmold today. |
| Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) -- German physicist who did pioneering research related to electricity
and electromagnetic waves, which were first known as "hertzian waves." His name
also became the term used for radio and electrical frequencies: hertz (Hz), as in
kilohertz (KHz) or megahertz (MHz). The hertz designation has been an official part of the
international metric system since 1933. Before Hertz gained professorships in Karlsruhe
and Bonn, he had studied under the famous scientist Hermann von Helmholtz in Bonn, and it
was Helmholtz who encouraged Hertz to attempt to win the science prize that led to some of
Hertz's most important discoveries. From 1885 to 1889 Hertz became the first person to
broadcast and receive radio waves, and to establish the fact that light was a form of
electromagnetic radiation. (The Italian Marconi didn't begin his own wireless experiments
until 1894, based on the earlier work of Hertz, Maxwell, and others.) Hertz probably would
have gone on to make many more scientific contributions, but he died quite young, less
than a month before his 37th birthday. |
| Roman Herzog (1934- ) -- Succeeded Richard von Weizsäcker as president of Germany in July
1994. A law professor and former judge on Germany's highest court, Herzog held the largely
ceremonial post of Bundespräsident for the term of five years. At the end of that
term he was succedded by Johannes Rau. Herzog, as did
Weizsäcker before him, has set a high standard for his fellow Germans and occasionally
taken them to task for their tendency to dwell on the past and fear the future. |
| Andreas Hofer (1767-1810) -- Tyrolean popular hero and martyr. Hofer's birthplace was near St.
Leonard in what is today South Tyrol (Südtirol) in the German-speaking part of
northern Italy. The former innkeeper (reflected in his nickname, der Sandwirt)
gained fame as a patriot in the struggle between Bavaria and Austria over Tyrol (Tirol).
After Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria in 1805, Hofer led the rebellion to return his homeland
to Austria. Despite his several military victories over Bavarian forces, most notably in
the battle of Berg Isel (1809), Hofer was later betrayed and taken prisoner. On Napoleon's
orders, Hofer was executed on Feb. 20, 1810. Since then, many poems and songs have been
written in tribute to Hofer. The "Andreas-Hofer-Lied" is still the Tyrolean
anthem. Hofer's bones lie with those of other Tyrolean patriots in a church in Innsbruck,
Austria. |
| E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) -- (Full name: Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. He replaced his original
"Wilhelm" with the name "Amadeus" in honor of Mozart ca. 1813.)
Hoffmann was one of the first science fiction/fantasy writers, who wrote about
Mesmer and mesmerism in Das öde Haus (1817) and Der unheimliche Gast
(1818). Jacques Offenbach later immortalized some of his stories operatically in The
Tales of Hoffmann (1881). The versatile Hoffmann was also a lawyer, composer, and
painter. |
| Erich Honecker (1912-1994) -- Took over the reigns of the GDR in 1971 and stayed in power until The Berlin Wall came tumbling down -- an ironic fact, as he had
been put in charge of building the Wall by Walter Ulbricht, and
just months before the fall, had predicted it would stand for another 100 years. After
attempting to put him on trial for Wall crimes (shoot-to-kill orders), a German court let
him off for health reasons. After 14 months of self-imposed exile in Chile, he died there
of liver cancer on May 29, 1994. |
| Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) -- German naturalist and explorer who traveled in the Americas, meeting
President Jefferson in 1804 during a brief visit to the United States. His extensive work
researching everything from magnetism to ocean currents made him one of the first
environmental scientists. The Humboldt Current west of South America is named for him, as
are the Mare Humboldtianum and the Humboldt Crater on the moon, and various counties,
communities, mountain ranges, and a river in the US state of Nevada. His older brother, Wilhelm
von Humboldt (1767-1835) was a distinguished linguist, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University in Berlin. |
| Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928- ) -- Austrian artist and architect whose colorful, playful works seem to be
either loved or hated. Born on 15 December 1928 in Vienna as Friedrich Stowasser,
Hundertwasser has been controversial ever since his first art exhibition in 1952. His
adventurous, non-traditional approach to art and architecture, which blurs the distinction
between the two, has won him awards as well as condemnation. His works range from postage
stamps to major architectural projects, including his Hundertwasser Haus apartment complex
in Vienna (completed in 1986), the redesign of a Danube cruise ship (1996), a winery in
Napa, California (1990), and a ceramic mural in Lisbon (1998) (www.hundertwasser.de/) |
| Helmut Jahn (1940- )
-- German-American architect with offices in Chicago, Frankfurt, and Munich. Born Jan. 4,
1940 in Nuremberg, Germany, Jahn studied architecture in Munich and at the Illinois
Institute of Technology. In 1981 he became a principal in the architectural firm of
Murphy/Jahn. In 1991 Jahn was chosen as one of the Ten Most Influential Living American
Architects. In addition to teaching, Jahn has designed the
following notable projects: Messeturm (trade fair tower), Frankfurt; State of Illinois
Center, Chicago; United Airlines Terminal, O'Hare Airport, Chicago; The Tower, 10940
Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles; Kempinski
Airport Hotel, Munich. (For architecture, also see Walter Gropius
and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.) |
| Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) -- Swiss
psychologist, psychiatrist and inventor of analytical psychology. Born near Basel, Jung
was at one time an important collaborator with Sigmund Freud, but he
broke with Freud in 1912 in a disagreement over the causes of certain psychological
disorders. Jung also placed heavy emphasis on the psychological meaning of dreams. |
| Franz Kafka (1883-1924) -- He
did not even want his "kafkaesque" works published, but the Prague-born author
who wrote in German became posthumously famous for his stories of people fighting to
survive in a bizarre, inhumane world, as in Der Prozess (The Trial) and Die
Verwandlung (Metamorphosis), the tale of a man who wakes up one day to discover
he is a giant bug. |
| Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) -- One of the greatest philosophers of all time, he was born in
Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). A teacher and professor (of logic and
metaphysics at the Univ. of Königsberg) for most of his life, Kant's best known work, Critique
of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft), was first published in 1781. A
second revised edition appeared in 1787. In Critique, Kant criticized the
assumptions of Leibniz and other earlier philosophers that
man was capable of understanding "truths" through pure reason and thought. The
idea of the "thing in itself" ("das Ding an sich"), existing
independent of any human subjective view, stems from Kant. |
| Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) -- German
astronomer and mathematician, most famous for his work on planetary motion. |
| Henry A. Kissinger (1923- ) -- Born
in Fürth, Germany, Kissinger came to the US at the age of 15. After graduating from
Harvard, he went on to become Nixon's Secretary of State in 1973. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in that same year for his Vietnam war negotiations. |
| Paul Klee (1879-1940)
-- Became one of the most
famous artists of the 20th century. Born near Bern, Switzerland to a German father and a
Swiss mother, Klee produced an astounding number of paintings, graphics, and sculptures in
his lifetime -- some 9,000 works, almost all of which he personally cataloged. Although
considered Swiss, Klee was never granted Swiss citizenship until after his death --
despite the fact that he was born, died, and spent half his life in Switzerland. Between
1898 and 1933, Klee worked in Germany, primarily in Munich and Düsseldorf. He was
associated for a time with the Bauhaus design school and the Blaue Reiter artists' group
in Germany. But, although he was also claimed by the Dadaists and the Surrealists, Klee is
not so easily classified. Klee lived and worked in his own universe. Best known for
whimsical works such as "Twittering Machine," colorful abstract designs, and his
naive/primitive paintings that often resemble cave drawings or petroglyphs, Klee was also
a talented musician and writer. He wrote prolifically about his own theory of art. (The Art of Paul Klee) |
| Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) -- Austrian
artist who developed a unique graphic style that helped create and promote art
nouveau/Jugendstil. The son of an engraver, born on July 14 in Baumgarten near Vienna,
Klimt left out the conventional fig-leaf and scandalized fin-de-siècle Vienna with
his openly erotic paintings of aloof femmes fatales. Klimt's stylized, geometric
compositions, particularly in his later period -- "The Kiss" (1908) is a classic
example -- have been described as possessing a "bloodless eroticism." Klimt was
one of the founders of the Vienna Secessionist art movement in 1897, from which he himself
later seceded in order to follow his own artistic path in 1902. (The Art of Gustav Klimt) |
| Robert Koch (1843-1910) | German bacteriologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his
work on tuberculosis. Koch also made discoveries related to anthrax, diphtheria, cholera,
and other diseases. |
| Helmut Kohl (1930- ) -- The former German Kanzler (1982-1998, CDU) presided over German reunification and proved to be
more clever a politician than some had thought, weathering considerable difficulties in
bringing east and west Germans together. He won re-election in 1994 and broke Konrad Adenauer's old record for length of time in office. Gerhard Schröder succeeded Kohl as chancellor in September 1998. |
| Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) -- Austrian
artistic pioneer. Also a writer, his major work was in painting, and his impressionistic
portraits and landscapes never took on the cubist, expressionist style of his time, but
had a splashy style that was Kokoschka's alone. He later took up the cause of children's
education and welfare, dedicating much of his art to that end. He published an
autobiography, My Life, in 1974. |
| Karl Lagerfeld (1938- ) -- Noted German fashion designer Lagerfeld is originally from Hamburg,
but he now lives and works primarily in Paris and other world fashion capitals. |
| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) -- German philosopher and mathematician born in Leipzig. Leibniz, later
recognized as a vital pioneer in developing a philosophy of pure logic based on
mathematical concepts, died virtually forgotten in Hannover. |
| Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) -- German aviation pioneer and inventor of the first practical glider
(1877). Lilienthal demonstrated the advantages of curved surfaces for wings, and his
designs were studied by the American Wright brothers prior to their first motorized flight
(1903). Beginning in 1891, Lilienthal made some 2500 successful glider flights, most from
an artificial hill near Lichterfelde, before he was killed in a crash on Aug. 9, 1896 in
the Stollerier mountains. He published Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst
in 1889 (Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation, 1911). |
| Martin Luther (1483-1546) -- Started the Protestant Reformation by nailing his "Ninety-Five
Theses" to the church door in Wittenberg. At his heresy trial in Worms he defiantly
declared, "Hier stehe ich." ("Here I stand.") Luther also had an
impact on standardizing the German language through his translation of the Bible into
German. |
M-N-O
| Ernst Mach (1838-1916) -- Gave his name to the air speed system that measures the speed of an
aircraft in relation to the speed of sound, Mach 1 being the local speed of sound. Mach
was an Austrian scientist and philosopher who served as a professor in Graz, Vienna, and
Prague. He wrote many scholarly works, some of which are credited with helping to pave the
way for Einstein's departure from Newtonian physics. |
| Thomas Mann (1875-1955) -- Buddenbrooks
(1900), Death in Venice (1912), The Magic Mountain (1924), and Felix
Krull (1954) are the most famous works of this Nobel Prize-winning writer (1929). His
older brother Heinrich Mann (1871-1950) was also a noted novelist and writer (Professor
Unrat, 1905 - the basis for the famous film, "The Blue Angel" with Marlene
Dietrich). Both brothers spent the years after 1933 living in exile, most of that time in
Santa Monica, California. |
| Karl Marx (1818-1883) -- German philosopher and writer whose enormous impact on the world --
for good or bad -- continues today. The "inventor" of communism was born Karl
Heinrich Marx in the German city of Trier (then in Rhenish Prussia) to a Jewish family
whose members were all Lutherans. Marx studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and
Jena. He was greatly influenced by the writings of the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831). Because of his rebellious tendencies, Marx spent most of his adult life in
exile. After 1849, he lived the rest of his life in London with his wife and children,
usually on the verge of starvation. Before going into British exile, Marx and his friend
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) had completed The Communist Manifesto ("Workers
of the world, unite!"), first published in London in February 1848. Also in London
Marx helped organize the First International (workers party, 1864) and wrote Das
Kapital (1867-1894) -- a work that consumed the last 25 years of his life. He was only
able to finish the first three of five volumes before his death. (Engels completed the
work based on Marx's notes.) Most of Marx's influence came after his death (at the age of
65), primarily in connection with Lenin's 1917 revolution in Russia (Marxism-Leninism). |
| Karl May (1842-1912) -- German writer who wrote some of his books about the American West in
prison. Before writing his tales of the "Wild West," he had never seen the US.
He made a brief visit to America shortly before his death, but he never saw the western
United States he had written about. Like most Germans today, he preferred the Indians over
the cowboys. Generations of German-speaking youth have grown up with the May-created
characters of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou in books and movies. His numerous adventure
books, including Durch die Wüste (1892), Winnetou (1893), and Im Lande
des Mahdi (1896), are well-known in the German-speaking world. Only a few of May's
works have ever been translated into English. |
| Lise Meitner (1878-1968) -- Austrian
physicist, born in Vienna, who did important work in beta and gamma radiation. In 1905
Meitner became only the second Austrian woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the
University of Vienna. Two years later she went to Berlin to work with the chemist Otto
Hahn, an association that lasted some 30 years. Meitner became a professor of physics at
the University of Berlin in 1926. After the Nazis came to power, Meitner continued her
scientific work in Stockholm. It was during her work in Scandinavia that she helped coin
the term "nuclear fission." However, she refused to work on the atomic bomb, and
later retired to England. |
| Phillip Melanchthon (Phillip Schwartzerd, 1497-1560) -- German
scholar and religious reformer, who worked with Luther and wrote or
helped draft several important Protestant works, including the Augsburg Confession (1530),
the key document of the Lutheran faith. Melanchthon helped temper Luther's views and was a
force for reconcilation between Protestants and Catholics. |
| H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) -- Henry
Lewis Mencken was the son of German-Americans in Baltimore. He became a famous and
controversial journalist and literary critic. His authoritative multivolume work, The
American Language, was published between 1919 and 1948. In the Smart Set, the
American Mercury, and the Baltimore Sun, Mencken wrote his unflinching, politically
incorrect criticisms of American life, to the point of being called "the most hated
man in America." He also wrote about the Germans in America, lamenting the fading of
their native language and literature. Among his last written words: "After all these
years, I remain a foreigner." |
| Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899) -- Invented
the famous Linotype typesetting machine, first used in 1886 for the New York Tribune. His
invention required ten years of hard work and revolutionized the printing of books and
newspapers. Mergenthaler was born in Hachtel, Germany. He died in Baltimore, Maryland. |
| Franz Johann Mesmer (1734-1815) -- Austrian physician who gave us the word "mesmerize." After
being accused of practicing magic rather than medicine, Mesmer was forced to leave Austria
in 1778. His technique of mesmerism was an early form of hypnotism, misunderstood both by
the medical community and Mesmer himself. A French commission, of which Benjamin Franklin
was a member, rendered an unfavorable judgment against Mesmer in 1784, claiming his cures
were not due to "animal magnetism" as he claimed. |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) -- Began his musical career at the age of four. His musical creations in
opera, chamber music, symphonies, and piano concertos are considered by many to be some of
the most superb of all time. Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria but spent most of his
working life in Vienna. |
| Thomas Nast (1840-1902) -- Born
in Landau, Bavaria, was the creator of the Democratic and Republican party mascots and the
"American" image of Santa Claus. His biting political cartoons helped coin the
term "nasty." |
| Richard Josef Neutra (1892-1970) -- This
Austrian-American architect came to the U.S. in 1923 to work in Chicago with Frank Lloyd
Wright and other American architects. He became known for his own unique designs in steel
and concrete after his earlier work with houses, using natural materials. |
| Helmut Newton (1921- ) -- Noted German fashion photographer. Newton, who hails from Berlin,
helped revolutionize fashion photography in the 1970s by foregoing the studio in favor of
natural outdoor settings. |
| Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) -- The German philosopher and writer, born in Saxony in eastern Germany,
became famous for his Übermensch (superman) and the wisdom of his Zarathustra. His
philosophy, expounded in works like Die Geburt der Tragödie (The Birth of
Tragedy, 1872), Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883),
and Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power, 1888), was falsely adopted by
the Nazis (aided by Nietzsche's sister), but only by corrupting and editing Nietzsche's
true ideas, which rejected anti-Semitism, as well as German nationalistic and racist
tendencies. Nietzsche suffered from physical and mental illness in his last years. (View Nietzsche's
grave in Germany.) |
| Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854) -- German
physicist for whom the ohm, a unit of electrical resistance, is named. As a professor of
physics at the Polytechnische Schule in Nürnberg and later in Munich, Ohm made important
discoveries about electrical properties that came to be formulated as Ohm's Law (1827). |
| Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) -- Came from Nürnberg and held important musical positions as an
organist-composer there and in several other German cities as well as in Vienna, Austria.
His works include suites, cantatas, and various chorale works. His "Canon" is a
popular classical work to this day. - Visit the Classics
World - Johann Pachelbel website for his recordings. |
| Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) -- Born
in Zürich. A champion of the poor and underprivileged, he established an orphanage (1774)
and later a renowned boarding school in Yverdon, Switzerland (1805), which attracted
observers from many countries to witness Pestalozzi's theories in practice. It was
Pestalozzi who first developed educational concepts like teacher training and curriculum
innovations like group work, field trips, grade levels, ability grouping, and allowing for
individual differences. He had a profound influence on many others in educational theory,
including Friedrich Froebel, the German inventor of the kindergarten. |
| Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) -- Born
in Austria-Hungary. In 1868 he became a reporter for the St. Louis Westliche Post, a
German-language newspaper which he came to own three years later. After problems in St.
Louis, Pulitzer bought the New York World and turned it into a successful, aggressive
newspaper. He endowed the Columbia University school of journalism in 1912 and established
the Pulitzer prizes for literature and journalism. |
| Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) -- The
father of the modern, scholarly approach to history. Before Ranke, most historical works
were based on legend, tradition, and hearsay rather than objective research using original
source material. Ranke, a professor of history in Berlin, published his own English,
French, German, and world histories drawn on historical documents and other scholarly
sources. |
| Johannes Rau --
Rau has long been a fixture on the German political scene. For two decades he was the
prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and has twice
before sought national office, running against Helmut Kohl for the
chancellorship in 1986 and against Roman Herzog for the presidency
in 1994. In 1999 Rau succeeded Roman Herzog as the Federal Republic's eighth president. |
| Erich Maria Remarque (Remark) (1898-1970) -- Born
Erich Paul Remark in Osnabrück, Germany, Remarque came to the U.S. in the 1930s after the
huge success of his WWI novel Im Westen nichts Neues (All Quiet on the Western
Front, 1929), which became an equally big hit movie in 1930. In Hollywood Remarque was
romantically involved with Marlene Dietrich, but he eventually married the American
actress Paulette Goddard. |
| Paul Julius Baron von Reuter (Israel Beer Josaphat,
1816-1899) -- Founded a news agency in Aachen, Germany and Verviers, Belgium in
1849, using carrier pigeons to dispatch the news that arrived by telegraph in the two
cities. Two years later Reuter moved to London and established the Reuters Telegrams news
agency. Today Reuters is one of the largest
international news and press agencies. Born in Kassel, Reuter adopted his new name in
1844, later became a British citizen, and received the title of baron in 1871. |
| Rainer Maria Rilke (René Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria
Rilke, 1875-1926) -- The Austrian poet was born in Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary
(now in the Czech Republic). He studied there and in Munich. Rilke infused his poetry with
the essence of the "thing in itself" ("das Ding an sich," from Kant's philosophy) to avoid traditional subjective or objective views.
His work had great influence on English poetry and poets such as Auden. - (View Rilke's grave in Switzerland.) |
| John (Johann) August Roebling (1806-1869) -- Designed
and supervised the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (opened in 1883). Washington
Roebling finished the project following his father's death) and other spans using his
"wire rope" suspension system. Educated in Berlin, J.A. Roebling came to the
U.S. from Thuringia in 1831. His company later supplied cable for the Golden Gate and
other modern suspension bridges. |
| Erwin Rommel (Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, 1891-1944) | The famous "Desert Fox" commander of the
North African campaign was born in Heidenheim, near Ulm on Nov. 15, 1891. While earning
the respect of both sides in WWII, Rommel became disillusioned with Hitler. Although the
Nazis accused him of being involved in the abortive July 20, 1944 bombing/assassination
attempt against Hitler, his active role in the plot is doubtful. Two Nazi generals visited
Rommel at his home and forced him to choose between suicide by poison or a trial for
treason. After saying good-bye to his wife and son, Rommel took the poison the Nazis so
thoughtfully provided. Several days later a huge state funeral in Ulm honored the popular
field marshal. His suicide and alleged treason were kept quiet. Rommel's son Manfred would
later become the mayor of Stuttgart. - (View Rommel's grave near Ulm,
Germany.) |
| Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) -- The
German word for x-ray is Röntgen, named for the German physicist who discovered
them. The very first Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Röntgen in 1901. |
| Mayer Anselm Rothschild (1743-1812) -- Founder of the famous House of Rothschild and its European banking
empire. His five sons later helped spread the Rothschild ("red shield")
name beyond Frankfurt to London, Naples, Paris, and Vienna. All of the sons were made
barons by Austria in 1812, receiving the right to use the noble "von" in front
of their names. Later Rothschilds were involved in establishing a Jewish homeland. |
| Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976) -- One
of the leading masters of German Expressionism and a member of the artistic school known
as Die Brücke ("The Bridge"). His favored medium was the woodcut. Born
near Chemnitz, Schmidt-Rottluff was made an honorary citizen of Berlin in 1970 and he died
there six years later. For more about Schmidt-Rottluff and his art see Schmidt-Rottluff. |
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| Claudia Schiffer (1971- ) -- Known as one of fashion's top models, the tall, Teutonically blonde Mannekin
from Düsseldorf is also one of the world's richest. Discovered by German designer Karl Lagerfeld in 1988, Schiffer announced in October 1998 that she
would retire from the fashion runway. She said she would continue in photo and ad work. |
| Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) -- Second only to Goethe, one of Germany's
greatest dramatists and poets. Schiller was forced by Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg to
study law and medicine for eight years. It comes as no surprise then to discover the theme
of rebellion and protest in many of Schiller's works. His dramas include Die Räuber
(1781), Kabale und Liebe (1784), Don Carlos (1787), Wallenstein
(1800, considered his greatest drama and translated into English by Coleridge), and Wilhelm
Tell (1804). |
| Helmut Schmidt (1918-) -- Schmidt was Willy Brandt's successor in 1974 and chancellor (SPD) for
the next seven years (before the "other" Helmut, Helmut
Kohl). One of the most intellectual of all German chancellors, Schmidt speaks
eloquently in both German and English and has written several books. He is still popular,
appearing regularly as a commentator and publishing Die Zeit, one of Germany's most
respected weeklies. |
| Gerhard Schröder (1944- ) -- Elected German chancellor in September 1998, Schröder (spelled
Schroeder in English) is the former governor (Ministerpräsident) of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen).
He succeeded Helmut Kohl, who had set the new German record for
time in office as chancellor: 16 years (1982-1998). |
| Carl Schurz (1829-1906) -- Born
near Cologne, Germany, fled to America by way of England from the German revolution of
1848. Schurz was a Union general in the Civil War, became a U.S. Senator (R, Missouri,
1869-1875), Secretary of the Interior in the Rutherford B. Hayes administration, and
confidant of Abraham Lincoln (for whom he campaigned). He also edited several newspapers
and wrote two biographies. As interior secretary, Schurz promoted civil service reform and
was sympathetic to the American Indians. The small reservation town of Schurz, Nevada
honors his name. |
| Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) -- Generous
doctor to the natives in Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), where he lived
from 1913 until his death there in 1965. He established a hospital for the natives in
Lambarene and worked tirelessly to improve the living conditions there. Schweitzer was
also an accomplished musician (notably on the organ) and theologian/philosopher who wrote
several books on religious, humanitarian themes, as well as a classic work on J.S. Bach. During his time in Africa, Schweitzer often traveled abroad to
lecture and give organ recitals. His 1931 autobiography is entitled Aus meinem Leben
und Denken (My Life and Thought). In 1952 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg in German Alsace, now in France. |
| Heidi Simonis (1943-)
-- The first woman to
become governor (Ministerpräsidentin) of any of the 16 German states (Bundesländer).
Simonis was elected governor/prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein in 1993. Before that she
served as the German Finanz-Ministerin (treasury minister). |
| Alexander Spoerl (1917-1978) -- That
rarity in German literature, a master of witty, ironic humor. One of his classic works,
the semi-autobiographical Memoiren eines mittelmässigen Schülers (Memoirs of a
Mediocre Student, 1950), pokes fun at what might seem to be an unfunny subject,
describing in hilarious detail what it was like growing up in Germany just as the Nazis
were coming to power. In addition to other humorous novels, Spoerl wrote entertaining
manuals on coping with everyday equipment and tools in Mit dem Auto auf du (On
Familiar Terms with the Car) and Mit der Kamera auf du (On Familiar Terms
with the Camera). His father, Heinrich Spoerl (1887-1955), was also a humorist,
whose best known novel, Die Feuerzangenbowle (1933), was made into a movie with
Heinz Rühmann. |
| Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923) -- Professor,
mathematical genius, and theorist, he died with about 200 practical patents to his credit.
His inventions and improvements were primarily in the area of electrical devices and the
transmission of electricity. Steinmetz was born in Breslau. He studied there, in Berlin,
and in Zurich before coming to the U.S. in 1889. |
| Rita Süßmuth (1937- ) -- University
professor and member of parliament Süßmuth served as the president of the German lower
house of parliament (Bundestag) from 1988 to 1998. |
| Edward Teller (1908- ) -- Born
in Austria-Hungary and came to the U.S. in 1935 after studying in Germany. Known as the
"father of the H-bomb," Teller worked on the wartime Manhattan project at Los
Alamos, New Mexico. Teller accused American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer of blocking
progress on the H-bomb during hearings in 1954. |
| Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) -- German
satirist best known for his biting humor and critical views of the human species. He
committed suicide after his books were burned and he was exiled from Germany by the Nazis. |
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| Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973) -- Became one of the world's biggest liars as East German General
Secretary when he said only months before he ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall
in 1961: "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten." ("No one has
any intention of building a wall.") On August 13, 1961 Ulbricht ordered Erich Honecker to begin construction of the infamous Wall that would
fall 38 years later when Honecker was the leader of the soon-to-be-extinct DDR. |
| Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) -- Born in Aachen, Germany. Known for his trend-setting architecture and
the phrase "less is more," van der Rohe was associated with the Bauhaus
and later headed the school that became the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
He designed classic skyscrapers like New York's Seagram building (1958), which pioneered
the use of open space around such mid-city structures. (Also see Helmut
Jahn, Walter Gropius) |
| Richard Wagner (1813-1883) -- Revolutionized classical music with his "Tristan und
Isolde." His tremendous influence on opera came from popular works such as his
"Ring Cycle" and the "Meistersinger von Nürnberg." Wagner built his
famous music hall in Bayreuth, now the home of the annual Richard Wagner Festival (Festspiele).
Fortunately, Wagner's music transcends his dark side as an anti-Semite and a philanderer.
His life was also intertwined with that of "Mad King Ludwig" of Bavaria, who
supported Wagner financially for a time. - (See pictures of Wagner's grave in
Bayreuth) |
| August von Wassermann (1866-1925) -- Best
known as the German pathologist who invented a widely-used test for the diagnosis of
syphilis in 1906. Born in Bamberg, Wassermann studied in Vienna, Munich, Strassburg, and
Berlin, where he was a student of bacteriologist Robert Koch.
Wassermann also developed a treatment for diphtheria and vaccinations for cholera,
tetanus, and typhoid fever. |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) -- An
Austrian-British philosopher of Jewish descent born in Vienna, he had much of his work
published posthumously -- although his main work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,
considered a masterwork of philosophical thought (logical positivism), was first published
in England in German and English in 1922. Tractatus dealt with the question of
human language and thinking. Ironically, Wittgenstein claimed that his ideas were
misunderstood by those claiming to be his followers. |
| Carl Zeiss (1816-1888) -- Opened
a workshop in 1846 for constructing microscopes and other optical instruments. The Carl
Zeiss firm in Jena became famous for its quality glass and optical products. After World
War II it was split into a western and an eastern firm. |
| Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917) -- Inventor
of the rigid-frame airship, was born near Lake Constance (Bodensee). As a young military
officer, Zeppelin visited America in the midst of the Civil War to brush up on his
military science. |
| Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) -- Invented
the world's first mechanical binary digital computer, the Z1 (1936-1938), in Berlin. A
restored but non-functional Z1 is on display in the German Technology
Museum (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin. (Museum info only.) Zuse's Z2 (1940) was
the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer. A more advanced Z3 followed the
next year. A replica of a later Zuse (TSU-sa) computer, the Z4, can be found at the German Museum (Deutsches
Museum) in Munich. (With photo of a Z4 relay box.) The Z4, completed in 1945, is
considered the world's first programmable computer and predates the ENIAC in the U.S. by
several years. ("I remember mentioning to friends back in 1938 that the world
chess champion would be beaten by a computer in 50 years time. Today we know computers are
not far from this goal." -- Konrad Zuse) |
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