Famous People
This index of names includes people from the German-speaking countries who have played a significant role in world history in the areas of politics, science, the arts, and technology.
A-B-C | D-E-F | G-H-I | J-K-L | M-N-O
P-Q-R | S-T | U-V | W-X-Y-Z | Links | Index
New Biographies
- Famous German • Top pop star
Herbert Grönemeyer is Germany's best-known and most successful singer, actor and composer. - Famous American • Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Famous German • Inventor
Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) - German inventor of the world's first programmable computer + Zuse-Jahr 2010 - Famous American • Elvis joins the army
Elvis Presley in West Germany - 1958-1960 - Famous German • WWI flying ace
The Red Baron - Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918)
A-B-C
- Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) First chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915)
- Ursula Andress (1936- ) Swiss actress, Honey Ryder
in Dr. No (1962), the first James Bond film - Arminius (Hermann der Cherusker)
- Nadja Auermann (1970- )
- Andreas Baader (1943-1977) of the infamous Baader-Meinhof gang.
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
- Michael Ballhaus (1935- ) German cinematographer
- Albert Ballin (1857-1918) Shipping magnate (Hapag)
- Karl Baedeker (1801-1859) and the first tourist guides
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
- Peter Behrens (1868-1940)
- Karl Benz (1844-1929) and Gottfried Daimler (1834-1900)
- Heinrich Berger (1844-1929) - Berlin-born musician and leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band in Honolulu.
See: The German/Austrian-Hawaii Connection (blog) - Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) and Prussia
- Willy Brandt (1913-1992)
- Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) Rocket scientist
- Martin Buber (1878-1965)
- Charlemagne (Karl der Große, 742-814)
D-E-F
- Adolf (Adi) Dassler (1900-1959) German inventor, entrepeneur
- Leonardo DiCaprio - German-American actor
- Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) German film actress
- Ruth Dreifuss (1940- )
- Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) German artist
- Rudi Dutschke (1940-1979)
- Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) - German bacteriologist, physician
Gravesite > Ehrlich’s Grave - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and his Theory of Relativity
- Elisabeth (1837-1898), better known as Sisi in Austria
- Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), Karl Marx' friend
- Erik H. Erikson (1902-1994)
- Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736)
- Roger Federer - Swiss tennis star. More on our Sports page
- Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) - German-American artist
- Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) - German poet, novelist
Gravesite > Fontane’s Grave - Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- Gert Fröbe (1913-1988) German actor (“Goldfinger”)
- Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852)
- Anton Fugger (1493-1560) - German banker
G-H-I
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
- Steffi Graf - More about her on our Sports page
- Günter Grass (1927- ) Nobel Prize-winning author
- Walter Gropius (1883-1969) German architect
- Herbert Grönemeyer (1956- ) German musician, actor
- Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg (ca. 1397-1468)
- Gunther von Hagens (1945- ) German anatomist, artist
- Peter Handke (1942- ) Austrian novelist and playwright
- Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) - German philosopher
- Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901-1976)
- Hermann der Cherusker (Arminius in Latin, ca. 18B.C.-19A.D.)
- Alfred Herrhausen, director of Deutsche Bank killed in terrorist car-bomb attack in 1989
- Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894)
- Roman Herzog (1942- )
- Werner Herzog (1934- ) Film director
- Martina Hingis on our Sports Page
- Andreas Hofer (1776-1822)
- E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822)
- Erich Honecker (1912-1994)
- Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
- Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000)
Famous Graves in Germany
Where are they buried?
J-K-L
- Helmut Jahn (1940- ) German-American architect
- Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
- Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Austrian writer
- Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) German philosopher
- Karl der Große (Charlemagne)
- Erich Kästner (1899-1974) - German author
Gravesite > Kästner’s Grave - Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
- Henry A. Kissinger (1923- ) German-American advisor to presidents
- Paul Klee (1879-1940) Swiss artist
- Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) Austrian artist
- Robert Koch (1843-1910) German scientist, physician
- Helmut Kohl (1930- ) Former German Kanzler (1982-1998)
- Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) Austrian artist
- Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) - Austrian film actress
- Karl Lagerfeld (1933- ) German fashion designer
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
- Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896)
- Ernst Litfass (1816-1874) - German inventor
Gravesite > Litfass’ Grave - Peter Lorre (1904-1964) - Austrian film actor
- “Mad” Ludwig II (King of Bavaria, 1864-1886)
- Martin Luther (1483-1546) - Protestant reformer
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1926-1968) - He wasn't German, but he has German connections!
M-N-O
- Ernst Mach (1838-1916) Austrian scientist (mach speed)
- Thomas Mann (1875-1955) German author
- Karl Marx (1818-1883) and the Communist Manifesto
- Karl May (1842-1912) German writer of westerns and adventure stories
- Ulrike Marie Meinhof (1934-1976) German terrorist
- Lise Meitner (1878-1968) - Austrian physicist
- Phillip Melanchthon (Phillip Schwartzerd, 1497-1560)
- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) German-American writer
- Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899)
- Angela Merkel (1954- ) German chancellor
- Franz Johann Mesmer (1734-1815)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- F.W. Murnau (1888-1931) - German film director
Gravesite > Murnau’s Grave - Thomas Nast (1840-1902) German-American cartoonist
- Nena (Susanne Kerner, 1961- ) German singer
- Richard Josef Neutra (1892-1970)
- Helmut Newton (1921-2004) German fashion photographer
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
- Auma Obama (1960- ) is the president's half-sister.
- Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854)
- Adam Opel (1837-1895) German founder of the company that bears his name
- Carl Orff (1888-1931) - German composer
Gravesite > Orff’s Grave - Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics
- Women - Power-Frauen from Austria, Germany, Switzerland
P-Q-R
- Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
- Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827)
- Alfred Preis (1911-1993) - Austrian-born architect who designed the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
See: The German/Austrian-Hawaii Connection (blog) - André Previn (1929- ) - German-American film music composer
- Elvis Presley in West Germany - 1958-1960
- Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911)
- Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
- Johannes Rau (1931-2006) - German president
Gravesite > Rau’s Grave - Red Baron, the - Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”
- Dean Reed - The “Red Elvis” GDR rock star
- Hanna Reitsch (1912-1979) - Famous Nazi test pilot
- Erich Maria Remarque (Remark) (1898-1970)
- Ernst Reuter (1889-1953) - German politician, Berlin mayor
Gravesite > Reuter’s Grave - Paul Julius Baron von Reuter (Israel Beer Josaphat, 1816-1899)
- Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918) The “Red Baron” WWI flying ace
- Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) - Film director, actress
Gravesite > Riefenstahl’s Grave - Rainer Maria Rilke (René Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria Rilke, 1875-1926)
- John (Johann) August Roebling (1806-1869)
- Erwin Rommel (Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, 1891-1944) The “Desert Fox.”
- Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923)
- Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929)
- Mayer Anselm Rothschild (1743-1812)
- Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976)
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Famous Graves in Germany
Where are they buried?
S-T
- Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
- Claudia Schiffer (1971- )
- Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)
- Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) - German architect
Gravesite > Schinkel’s Grave - Max Schmeling (1905-2005)
- Helmut Schmidt (1918- )
- Gerhard Schröder (1944- ) Elected German chancellor in September 1998.
- Carl Schurz (1829-1906)
- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
- Heidi Simonis (1943-)
- Alexander Spoerl (1917-1978)
- Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923)
- Rita Süssmuth (1937- )
- Edward Teller (1908- )
- Gerhard Thiele (1952- )
- Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935)
U-V
- Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973)
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)
- Gunther von Hagens (1945- ) German anatomist, artist
- Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)
- Manfred von Richthofen - The “Red Baron” WWI flying ace
- Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917)
W-X-Y-Z
- Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
- August von Wassermann (1866-1925)
- Billy Wilder (1906-2002) - German-Hollywood
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
- Carl Zeiss (1816-1888)
- Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917)
Gravesite > Zeppelin’s Grave - Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) - German inventor of first computer
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MORE > Famous Women from Austria, Germany, Switzerland
MORE > Famous Graves in Germany - Where are they buried?
