From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Numerous figures in German culture and history (some still living) were either born, resident, or spent a substantial part of their lives in the
former eastern territories of Germany . A non-exhaustive list follows:
[1]
Politicians, statesmen and diplomats
Catherine II, 1780s
18th century
19th century
Philipp zu Eulenburg
Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria
Ferdinand Lassalle (1825 in Breslau – 1864 in
Carouge ) a German-Jewish jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist, initiated international-style
socialism in Germany
Adalbert Falk (1827 in
Metschkau – 1900 in
Hamm ) was a German politician and lawyer
Eduard Lasker (1829 in
Jarotschin – 1884
New York ,
United States ) a German politician and jurist, inspired by the
French Revolution , he became a spokesman for liberalism
Leo von Caprivi (1831 in Berlin – 1899 in
Skyren ) an
Imperial German Army general, served as
Chancellor of Germany from 1890 to 1894
Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg (1847 in
Königsberg – 1921 in Liebenberg,
Löwenberger Land ) a diplomat and composer, close friend of
Wilhelm II . He fell from power in 1907 due to the
Harden–Eulenburg affair when he was accused of
homosexuality .
Elard von Oldenburg-Januschau (1855 in
Beisleiden - 1937 in
Marienwerder ) was a German Junker and conservative
German National People's Party politician
Georg Michaelis (1857 in
Haynau – 1936 in
Bad Saarow ) was
Chancellor of Germany for a few months in 1917
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858 in
Dolzig Palace – 1921 in
Huis Doorn ,
Netherlands ) was the last German empress and queen of
Prussia by marriage to
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Walther von Lüttwitz (1859 in
Bodland – 1942 in Breslau) a German general who fought in
World War I , driving force behind the
Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch of 1920
Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky (1860 in
Kreuzenort –
Kuchelna 1928) was a German diplomat who served as Ambassador to Britain during the
July Crisis in 1914
Arthur Zimmermann (1864 in
Marggrabowa – 1940 in Berlin) was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire from 22 November 1916/17, author of the intercepted and decoded
Zimmermann Telegram
Frederick Augustus III of Saxony (1865 in
Dresden – 1932 in
Sibyllenort ) was the last
King of Saxony (1904–1918) and a member of the
House of Wettin
Paul Hensel (1867 in
Gehsen – 1944 in
Kolberg ) a
German Lutheran theologian and politician, champion of the
Masurians
Otto Landsberg (1869 in
Rybnick – 1957 in
Baam , Netherlands) a German jurist, politician and diplomat, went to
Versailles to receive
Treaty of Versailles
Gustav Bauer (1870 in
Darkehmen – 1944 in Berlin) was a
German Social Democratic Party leader and 11th
Chancellor of Germany 1919 to 1920
Wilhelm Pieck (1876 in
eastern Guben – 1960 in
East Berlin )
German Communist Party politician, first President of the
German Democratic Republic in 1949
Reinhold Wulle (1882 in
Falkenberg – 1950 in
Gronau ) a German journalist, anti-Semite and
Völkisch politician
20th century
Egon Krenz
Military figures
Historical
Army
Paul v. Hindenburg
SS
Air Force
Manfred von Richthofen
Espionage
Scientists and mathematicians
Alois Alzheimer
Wernher von Braun, 1960
Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651 in
Kieslingswalde – 1708 in Dresden) a German mathematician, physicist, physician, and philosopher
Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden (1752 in
Hamelin - 1815 in
Schloss Buchwald ), mining engineer and government official who contributed to the industrialisation of Silesia
Karl Godulla (1781 in
Makoschau - 1848 in
Breslau ) industrialist, the "King of Zinc", industrialised Silesia
Heinrich Göppert (1800 in
Sprottau – 1884 in Breslau) a German botanist, paleontologist and
paleobotanist
Ferdinand Schichau (1814 in
Elbing – 1896 in
Elbing ) a German mechanical engineer and businessman
Hermann Brehmer (1826 in
Strehlen – 1889 in
Görbersdorf ) a German physician who established the first German sanatorium for the systematic open-air treatment of
tuberculosis in
Görbersdorf
Ferdinand Cohn (1828 in Breslau – 1898) a German biologist, one of the founders of modern
bacteriology and
microbiology .
Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833 in
Bad Carlsruhe in O.S – 1905 in Berlin) better known in English as Baron von Richthofen, was a German traveller, geographer, and scientist.
Paul Ehrlich (1854 in
Strehlen – 1915 in Bad Homburg) a German Jewish physician and scientist who worked on
hematology ,
immunology , and antimicrobial chemotherapy
Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (1860 in
Lauenburg in Pommern – 1940 in Berlin) was a German technician and inventor of the
Nipkow disk
David Hilbert (1862 in
Wehlau – 1943 in Göttingen) was a German mathematician, developed
invariant theory and the
axiomatization of geometry
Hugo Münsterberg (1863 in
Danzig – 1916 USA) a German-American psychologist, pioneer in
applied psychology
Johannes Thienemann (1863 – 1938 in
Rossitten ) a German
ornithologist who in 1901 established the
Rossitten Bird Observatory , the world's first, on the
Curonian Spit
Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915 in Breslau) a German
psychiatrist and
neuropathologist , identified "presenile dementia", later called
Alzheimer's disease
Walther Nernst (1864 in
Briesen – 1941 in
Zibelle ) a German chemist, worked on
thermodynamics , won the 1920
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Emil Krebs (1867 in
Freiburg in Schlesien – 1930 in Berlin) a German
polyglot and
sinologist
Fritz Haber (1868 in Breslau – 1934 in Basel) a German chemist, won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the
Haber–Bosch process
Georg von Arco (1869 in
Großgorschütz – 1940 in Berlin) a German physicist, radio pioneer and joint founder of
Telefunken
Max Born (1882 in Breslau – 1970 in Göttingen) a German physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of
quantum mechanics
Edward Sapir (1884 in
Lauenburg – 1939 USA) a Prussian-American anthropologist-linguist, important figure in
linguistics
Gerhard Domagk (1895 in
Lagow – 1964 in Burgberg) a German pathologist and bacteriologist, discovered the first commercially available antibiotic (
Prontosil ) and received the 1939
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906 in
Kattowitz – 1972 USA) a German-born American theoretical physicist, won the 1963
Nobel Prize in Physics for proposing the
nuclear shell model of the
atomic nucleus
Wernher von Braun (1912 in
Wirsitz – 1977 USA) a German, later American, aerospace engineer and space architect, invented the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany and the Saturn V for the United States
Günter Blobel (born 1936 in
Waltersdorf ) a Silesian German biologist and winner of the 1999
Nobel Prize in Physiology
Klaus Clusius (1903 in Breslau - 1963 in Zürich), physical chemist who worked on Germany's
abortive nuclear weapon project
Immanuel Kant
Arthur Schopenhauer, 1859
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Philosophers and theologians
Historians and archaeologists
Musicians
Classical
George Henschel
Otto Klemperer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Georg Riedel (1676 - in
Königsberg - 1738 in
Königsberg ) was a German composer and cantor. He has been referred to as the "East Prussian Bach"
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687 in
Grottkau – 1750 in Dresden) a German composer and lutenist.
Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 in Königsberg – 1814 in Giebichenstein near
Halle ) a German composer, writer and music critic.
Franz von Oppersdorff (1778 in
Oberglogau - 1818) a Silesian nobleman and a great lover of music, who commissioned
Beethoven's Fourth and
Fifth Symphonies
Johann Sedlatzek (1789 in
Oberglogau – 1866 in Vienna) a Silesian flautist born into a family of tailors
Carl Loewe (1796 in
Löbejün – 1869 in Kiel) a German composer, tenor singer and conductor, worked in
Stettin for 46 years
Otto Nicolai (1810 in Königsberg – 1849 in Berlin) a German composer, conductor and founder of the
Vienna Philharmonic
Johann Gottfried Piefke (1817 in
Schwerin an der Warthe – 1884 in
Frankfurt an der Oder ) a German conductor, Kapellmeister and composer of military music
Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski (1822 in
Groß-Leesen – 1896 in
Sondershausen ) a German violinist, conductor and musicologist
Philipp Scharwenka (1847 in
Samter – 1917 in
Bad Nauheim ) a German composer and teacher of music
Sir
George Henschel (1850 in Breslau – 1934 in
Aviemore ) a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor and composer
Xaver Scharwenka (1850 in
Samter – 1924 in Berlin) a German pianist, composer and teacher of Bohemian-Polish descent
Franz Eckert (1852 in
Neurode - 1916 in
Keijo ,
Japanese Korea ), arranged the melody of
Kimigayo , the
Japanese national anthem
Moritz Moszkowski (1854 in Breslau – 1925 in Paris) a German-Jewish composer, pianist and teacher
Richard Wetz (1875 in
Gleiwitz – 1935 in Erfurt) a German late Romantic composer best known for his three symphonies
Otto Klemperer (1885 in Breslau – 1973 in Zurich) a German-born conductor and composer, widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century
Dame
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf DBE (1915 in
Jarotschin – 2006 in
Schruns ) a German soprano, amongst the foremost singers of lieder and was renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta; one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th Century
Kurt Masur (1927 in
Brieg – 2015 USA) a German conductor, Kapellmeister of the
Gewandhaus , and music director of the
New York Philharmonic
Modern
Poets, writers and dramatists
Poets
E. T. A. Hoffmann
Günter Grass, 2006
Writers
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776 in
Königsberg – 1822 in Berlin) a Prussian Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist
Bogumil Goltz (1801–1870) a German humorist and satirist, schooled in
Marienwerder and
Königsberg , lived in
Gollub
Gustav Freytag (1816 in
Kreuzburg – 1895 in
Wiesbaden ) a German novelist and playwright.
Gerhart Hauptmann (1862 in
Ober Salzbrunn – 1946 in
Agnetendorf ) a German dramatist and novelist. He received the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.
Alfred Döblin (1878 in
Stettin – 1957 in Emmendingen) a German novelist, essayist, and doctor
Arnold Zweig (1887 in
Glogau – 1968 in East Berlin) a German writer and anti-war and antifascist activist
Marion Dönhoff (1909 in
Schloss Friedrichstein – 2002) a German journalist who worked for over 55 years for the Hamburg-based, weekly newspaper
Die Zeit , as an editor and later publisher.
Siegfried Lenz (1926 in
Lyck – 2014 in Hamburg) a German writer of novels, short stories and essays
Günter Grass (1927 in
Danzig – 2015 in
Lübeck ) a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999
Janosch , (born 1931 in
Hindenburg ) is one of the best-known German children's book authors and illustrators
Painters and visual artists
Architects
Film, TV, and theatre
Veruschka Gräfin von Lehndorff, 2011
Miscellaneous
Beate Uhse, 1971
See also
References