Biographies of Notable Austrians, Germans and German-Swiss

Many people from the German-speaking countries have played a significant role in European and world history in the fields of politics, education, science, the arts and technology. You’ll also find bios of Americans who have a Germanic connection.

FEATURED: Tim Walz: German American VP Candidate – About the Minnesota governor recently selected to run as Kamala Harris’s vice president on the Democratic ticket. Walz has several recent German ancestors.

FEATURED: Mae West: The German Girl – The trailblazing stage and film star Mae West wrote the screenplays for many of her Hollywood films. Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, she was known as the “German girl.” Her mother, Matilda “Tillie” Delker, was born in Germany.

In this section you will find links to full biographies of notable Austrians, Germans, German-Swiss, and German Americans. These are more detailed biographies than our mini bios. Below are summary descriptions of each person with a full biography. Click on a name to go to that biography.

Marlene Dietrich visits US troops in Belgium in 1944. PHOTO: National Archives

FEATURED: Carl Laemmle and Universal Pictures – The German Jewish immigrant Carl Laemmle (1867-1939) founded Universal Pictures in 1912. Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States. Unlike most foreign-born film moguls, the Swabian Carl Laemmle maintained ties to his German hometown of Laupheim, returning for annual visits for most of his life.

ALSO SEE: German Americans – Biographies of notable people of German, Austria or German-Swiss ancestry

Featured Biographies

In alphabetical order by last name

• ADENAUER | Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was West Germany’s very first chancellor.
• ANDERSON | Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was a distinguished African American contralto who performed in the USA and internationally. She was famous for being banned by the DAR in Washington, DC – but she was also banned in Salzburg. See Marian Anderson in Salzburg for more.
• ANDRESS | Ursula Andress (1935- ) is the Swiss actress who was the first Bond girl.
• ASTAIRE | Fred Astaire (1899-1987) – The American dancing icon was born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska to an Austrian father and a mother whose parents came from Germany. Astaire always hid his Jewish origins.
• BALLHAUS | Michael Ballhaus (1935-2017) was the German cinematographer behind famous Hollywood films such as Air Force One, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and The Departed.
• BALLIN | Albert Ballin (1857-1918) was the German shipping line owner who invented the ocean cruise. He also created BallinStadt, a special facility to house impoverished emigrants before they sailed to the New World aboard his ships.
• BENEDICT XVI | Benedict XVI (1927- ) – Joseph Ratzinger became Papst Benedikt XVI (Pope Benedict XVI) in April 2005. In February 2013 he became the first pope in almost 600 years to resign rather than die in office. Take a virtual tour of Marktl am Inn, his birthplace, and the house where he lived as a child, now a museum.
• BRAUN | Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) was a charismatic German-American rocket scientist (and former Nazi) who helped put Americans on the moon.
• CASH | Johnny Cash in Germany – About Johnny Cash’s time in the Air Force in West Germany, his concerts in Germany, and his songs in German
• CHAMISSO | Adelbert von Chamisso – Why are an island and a wilderness region in Alaska named after Chamisso? He was born in France, but died in Berlin. From 1815 to 1818 he was the official botanist for a Russian around-the-world exploratory voyage that sought the elusive Northwest Passage, and visited Alaska, Hawaii, and California. Chamisso was just one of several Germans serving the Russian America Company.
• DARNELL | Bruce Darnell (1957- ) is an African American who became a TV personality in Germany.
• DICAPRIO | Leonardo Dicaprio (1974- ) has a German mother, and his middle name is Wilhelm.
• DIETRICH | Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) was a German film star who came to the US in 1930.
• ESSLINGER | Harmut Esslinger (1944- ) is a noted German industrial designer.
• FLEISCHER | Max Fleischer and Betty Boop (1883-1972) – Fleischer was a Jewish Austrian-American cartoon animator, inventor, film director, and producer best known for his Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman animated characters.
• FORSTER | Marc Forster (1969- ) is a Swiss-German Hollywood film director (World War Z, Quantum of Solace).
• FREUD | Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis.
• GERKAN | Meinhard von Gerkan (1935- ) is a noted German architect. His Hamburg-based international architectural firm Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) has designed a wide range of well-known projects, including airport terminals in Berlin, Hamburg, and Stuttgart, as well as train stations and opera houses in China.
• GOETHE | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was Germany’s greatest author, dramatist and poet.
• GOTTSCHALK | Thomas Gottschalk (1950- ) is the most famous TV personality in Germany, even if you have never heard of him.

Famous Graves in Germany – Where are they buried?

• GRAF | Steffi Graf (1969- ) is a former German tennis champion, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada with her American husband Andre Agassi. Graf and Boris Becker were Germany’s “dream couple” of tennis in the 1980s.
• GROPIUS | Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was a German architect who helped found the Bauhaus.
• HUMBOLDT | Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was a Prussian explorer, scientist, writer and philosopher. See this book review and bio: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf
• KAYMER | Martin Kaymer (1984- ) is a German golf pro. Kaymer held the No. 1 spot in world golf for eight weeks in 2011. Following a long slump, he made a dramatic comeback in 2014.
• KING | Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) visited East and West Berlin in 1964.
• KLUM | Heidi Klum (1973- ) is a German-American fashion model, television host and producer, fashion designer, businesswoman, and actress who lives and works in both southern California and Germany.
• LAEMMLE | Carl Laemmle and Universal Pictures – The German Jewish immigrant Carl Laemmle (1867-1939) founded Universal Pictures in 1912. Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.
• LAMARR | Hedy Lamarr’s (1914-2000) was an Austrian-born film actress who became a big Hollywood star in the 1940s and ’50s. She was also an award-winning inventor!
• LANG | Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was the Austrian-born film director of Metropolis, Frau im Mond, M, Fury and The Big Heat.
• LORRE | Peter Lorre (1904-1964), best known for his roles in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, came to Hollywood from Austria and Germany.
• LUDWIG II | Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) was the famous King of Bavaria (1864-1886) who built Neuschwanstein Castle and other palaces. Learn more about the king and his Wittelsbach dynasty.
• LUTHER | Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the German Protestant reformer who created the Lutheran church.

• MALER | Teobert Maler (1842-1917) was a noted Austrian/German amateur archaeologist who photographed Maya ruins in the Yucatan.
• MARX | Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German philosopher, writer and journalist who published the “Communist Manifesto” in 1848.
• MAY | Karl May (1842-1912) was the German author of Western and other adventure stories set in North America, Asia, and other parts of the world. At one time, it was impossible to grow up in Germany without reading his books or watching movies with characters named Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, and Kara Ben Nemsi – set in places May (pron. MY) never saw in person. Germans still flock to the annual Bad Segeberg outdoor stage productions featuring Karl May’s stories.
• MEITNER | Lise Meitner (1878-1968) – The Austrian physicist who discovered and named nuclear fission, but was cheated out of a Nobel Prize by her collaborator Otto Hahn.
• MENCKEN | H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) – The German-American “Sage of Baltimore” was an author, journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, and a controversial critic of American life and culture.
• MERKEL | Angela Merkel (1954- ) was Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021.
• NAST | Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is the German-American political cartoonist who helped create the modern image of Santa Claus.
• OWENS | Jesse Owens (1913-1980), African American athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olymics in Berlin.
• PRESLEY | Elvis Presley was a GI in West Germany in the early 1960s, the only time he traveled outside the United States!
• PUCK | Wolfgang Puck was born in a small town in Austria in 1949, studied cooking in Europe, went to America and became one of the first celebrity chefs in the USA.
• REED | Dean Reed (1938-1986), the “Red Elvis,” was an American rock star in East Germany who died under mysterious circumstances.
• RICHTHOFEN, F. von | German Geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen and The Silk Road (1833-1905) – Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen (an uncle of the Red Baron below) was the first geographer to use the term Seidenstraße (“Silk Road”) in print. His expeditions in China and the American West are well documented in his comprehensive publications.
• RICHTHOFEN, M. von | Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918), the Red Baron, was a German World War I flying ace.
• RIEFENSTAHL | Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was a controversial film director during the Nazi era.
• SALTEN | Felix Salten (1869-1945) was the Austrian Jewish author of Bambi and several other books that were later made into Disney movies.
• STEINER | Max Steiner (1888-1971) was the noted Austrian film music composer for Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, King Kong and many other Hollywood films.
• TARZAN | Tarzan in Acapulco – Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) was born in Austria-Hungary, in what is today Romania. The Olympic swimming champ later became Tarzan on the silver screen. But why is he buried in Acapulco?
• VEIDT | Conrad Veidt (1893-1943), best known as the evil Major Strasser in Casablanca, was a German film actor who worked in Hollywood during both the silent and talkies eras.
• VON BRAUN | See “BRAUN” above.
• VON CHAMISSO | See “CHAMISSO” above.
• VON GERKAN | See “GERKAN” above.
• VON HUMBOLDT | See “HUMBOLDT” above.
• VON RICHTHOFEN | See “RICHTHOFEN” above.
• WAGNER | Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a ground-breaking and controversial German composer. He revolutionized the opera world with his Ring Cycle, Tristan and Isolde, and Parsifal. Wagner built a special theater in Bayreuth for his annual Bayreuth Festival.
• WALZ | Tim Walz: German American VP Candidate – About the Minnesota governor recently selected to run as Kamala Harris’s vice president on the Democratic ticket. Walz has several recent German ancestors.
• WEISSMULLER | Tarzan: Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) was born in Austria-Hungary, in what is today Romania. The Olympic swimming champ later became the most famous Tarzan on the silver screen.
• WEST | Mae West: The German Girl – The trailblazing stage and film star Mae West wrote the screenplays for many of her Hollywood films. Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, she was known as the “German girl.” Her mother, Matilda “Tillie” Delker, was born in Germany. But West “embellished” some of her family history, making it difficult to accurately trace her ancestry. She claimed her mother was born in Bavaria, but it’s more likely Tillie was born in Württemberg. Mae West has become an icon in many ways, including lending her name to a well known life vest and a tall sculpture in Munich.
• WILDER | Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was an Austrian-American film director. His classic films include Double Indemnity and Some Like It Hot.
• WILLIAMS | Tim Williams – The Trivago Guy – Americans have seen him in many Trivago commercials, but they probably didn’t know this Texas-born actor and musician lives and works in Berlin. And did you know that Trivago is a German company?
• ZIMMER | Hans Zimmer (1957- ) is a noted German-born Hollywood film music composer (Thelma & Louise, Lion King, Inception, Interstellar).
• ZUSE | Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) invented the first digital, programmable computer.

Next | Mini Bios A-Z

SPECIAL FEATURE
Donna Summer and the Spago-Moroder-Puck Connection – No, Boston-born Donna Summer, the “Queen of disco,” was not German, but she spoke German and her music career got its start in Munich, Germany in the 1970s. More…

Related Pages
MORE BIOGRAPHIES

• Black History and Germany – Brief biographies of notable African Americans who have a Germanic connection
• German Americans – Biographies of notable people of German, Austria or German-Swiss ancestry
• Mini Bios A-Z – Brief biographies of people from the German-speaking world
• Birthday and Holiday Calendar with notable people from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
• Germans in Hollywood – More bios
• Notable Women from Austria, Germany, Switzerland
• Famous Graves in Germany – Where are they buried?