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100 Notable alumni of University of Cologne

Updated: June 22, 2026 EliteDegrees

University of Cologne is ranked #168 in the world and #11 in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from University of Cologne sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with University of Cologne won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.

Hermann Simon

1. Hermann Simon

1947-. (aged 79)
university teacher economist writer
Hermann Simon is a German author and businessperson. He is chairman of Simon-Kucher, a strategy and marketing consultancy. He is a strategy, marketing and pricing consultant. An ongoing online German-language survey voted him the second-most influential management thinker. Simon has authored numerous books and writes articles for international newspapers and business magazines. He is also known for coining the term...
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Jürgen Flimm

2. Jürgen Flimm

1941-2023 (aged 82)
theatrical director musician film director television actor actor
Jürgen Flimm was a German theatre and opera director, theatre manager, and academic teacher. Flimm was first active in drama, and made the Thalia Theater in Hamburg one of the most successful German theatres when he managed it from 1985 to 2000. He was general manager of the Salzburg Festival and RuhrTriennale festivals, and intendant of the Berlin State Opera...
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Werner Hoyer

3. Werner Hoyer

1951-. (aged 75)
university teacher economist politician
Werner Hoyer is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) between 2012 and 2023.
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Reinhold Ewald

4. Reinhold Ewald

1956-. (aged 70)
astronaut physicist
Reinhold Ewald is a German physicist and ESA astronaut.
Ole Bischof

5. Ole Bischof

1979-. (aged 47)
judoka
Ole Bischof is a German judoka. He is trained by 1984 Olympic gold medalist Frank Wieneke.
Valentin Tomberg

6. Valentin Tomberg

1900-1973 (aged 73)
martinist jurist mystic
Valentin Tomberg was an Estonian-Russian Catholic mystic, polyglot scholar and esotericist.
Manfred Lahnstein

7. Manfred Lahnstein

1937-. (aged 89)
writer economist university teacher politician
Manfred Lahnstein is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In 1982 he was German Federal Minister of Finance as well as Federal Minister of Economics and until 2004 worked for the media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
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Kurt Bock

8. Kurt Bock

1958-. (aged 68)
business executive
Kurt Bock, is a German businessman who has been president of the German Chemical Industry Association since 2016, and was chief executive officer (CEO) of BASF, the world's largest chemical producer, from 2011 to 2018.
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Stefan Andres

9. Stefan Andres

1906-1970 (aged 64)
novelist writer autobiographer playwright poet
Stefan Paul Andres was a German novelist.
Jerónimo Saavedra

10. Jerónimo Saavedra

1936-2023 (aged 87)
academic lawyer politician trade unionist
Jerónimo Saavedra Acevedo was a Spanish politician and academic. He served as President of the Canary Islands twice, from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1991 to 1993.
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Conrad Celtes

11. Conrad Celtes

1459-1508 (aged 49)
historian university teacher mathematician librarian poet
Conrad Celtes was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led the theatrical performances at the Viennese court and reformed the syllabi.
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Christoph Bernhard von Galen

12. Christoph Bernhard von Galen

1606-1678 (aged 72)
Catholic priest Catholic bishop
Christoph Bernhard Freiherr von Galen was Prince-bishop of Münster. He was born into a noble Westphalian family.
Hans Mayer

13. Hans Mayer

1907-2001 (aged 94)
literary historian journalist poet lawyer university teacher writer
Hans Mayer was a German literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist.
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Gustav Trolle

14. Gustav Trolle

1488-1535 (aged 47)
Catholic priest politician
Gustav Eriksson Trolle was the archbishop of Uppsala in Sweden, in two sessions, during the turbulent Reformation events.
Johannes Althusius

15. Johannes Althusius

1557-1638 (aged 81)
jurist writer university teacher theologian philosopher
Johannes Althusius was a German–Dutch jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.
Heino Falcke

16. Heino Falcke

1966-. (aged 60)
astrophysicist astronomer physicist university teacher
Heino Falcke is a German professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands). His main field of study is black holes, and he is the originator of the concept of the 'black hole shadow'. In 2019, Falcke announced the first Event Horizon Telescope results at the EHT Press Conference in Brussels.
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Jesús Padilla Gálvez

17. Jesús Padilla Gálvez

1959-. (aged 67)
university teacher editor writer philosopher translator
Jesús Padilla Gálvez is a Spanish philosopher who has worked primarily in philosophy of language, logic, and the history of sciences.
Kurt Alder

18. Kurt Alder

1902-1958 (aged 56)
university teacher chemist
Kurt Alder was a German chemist and Nobel laureate.
Turgut Özakman

19. Turgut Özakman

1930-2013 (aged 83)
screenwriter playwright lawyer dramaturge
Turgut Özakman was a Turkish lawyer, a civil servant, a dramaturge and a writer.
Magnus Manske

20. Magnus Manske

1974-. (aged 52)
Wikimedian biologist biochemist software developer bioinformatician
Heinrich Magnus Manske is a German biochemist who is a researcher on malaria. He is a senior staff scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK and a software developer of one of the first versions of the MediaWiki software, which powers Wikipedia and a number of other wiki-based websites.
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Emily Haber

21. Emily Haber

1956-. (aged 70)
diplomat
Emily Margarethe Haber is a German diplomat. She served as State Secretary from 2011 to 2018: from 2011 to 2013, at the Federal Foreign Office and from 2014 to 2018, at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
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Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald

22. Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald

1902-1982 (aged 80)
anthropologist prehistorian university teacher paleoanthropologist paleontologist
Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (13 November 1902 – 10 July 1982) was a German-Dutch paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominins, including Homo erectus. His discoveries and studies of hominid fossils in Java and his studies of other important fossils of south-eastern Asia firmly established his reputation as one of the leading figures of 20th-century paleo-anthropology.
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Ursula Krechel

23. Ursula Krechel

1947-. (aged 79)
translator playwright poet writer
Ursula Krechel is a German writer and poet.
Johann von Staupitz

24. Johann von Staupitz

1465-1524 (aged 59)
university teacher theologian
Johann von Staupitz OSA was a German Catholic priest and theologian, university preacher, and Vicar General of the Augustinian friars in Germany, who supervised Martin Luther during a critical period in his spiritual life. Martin Luther himself remarked, "If it had not been for Dr. Staupitz, I should have sunk in hell." Although he remained Catholic, died as a Benedictine...
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Naika Foroutan

25. Naika Foroutan

1971-. (aged 55)
university teacher sociologist
Naika Foroutan is an Iranian-German social scientist.
Hans-Ulrich Wehler

26. Hans-Ulrich Wehler

1931-2014 (aged 83)
opinion journalist historian university teacher journalist social historian
Hans-Ulrich Wehler was a German left-liberal historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th-century Germany.
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Freya von Moltke

27. Freya von Moltke

1911-2010 (aged 99)
writer peace activist journalist jurist resistance fighter
Freya von Moltke was a German American lawyer and participant in the anti-Nazi opposition group, the Kreisau Circle, with her husband, Helmuth James von Moltke. During World War II, her husband acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany and became a founding member of the Kreisau Circle, whose members opposed the government of Adolf...
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Carmen Thomas

28. Carmen Thomas

1946-. (aged 80)
television presenter radio personality journalist
Carmen Thomas is a German journalist, radio and television presenter, author and lecturer. On television, she was the first woman to present the ZDF's das aktuelle Sportstudio. She worked for public radio, running Hallo Ü-Wagen, a weekly travelling talk radio show for two decades. In 1990 Forbes named her one of the 100 most influential women in Germany.
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Ralf Höcker

29. Ralf Höcker

1971-. (aged 55)
opinion journalist television presenter lawyer non-fiction writer jurist
Ralf Höcker is a German lawyer und author. He is involved in several factions within the CDU. In public perception, he is noted for numerous high-profile legal mandates related to the press and recurring media presence.
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Erich Mende

30. Erich Mende

1916-1998 (aged 82)
jurist politician
Erich Mende was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the leader of FDP from 1960 to 1968 and the vice chancellor of Germany from 1963 to 1966.
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Claudia Stamm

31. Claudia Stamm

1970-. (aged 56)
politician
Claudia Stamm is a German politician.
Julian Barbour

32. Julian Barbour

1937-. (aged 89)
translator theoretical physicist physicist university teacher
Julian Barbour is a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science.
Ulrich Walter

33. Ulrich Walter

1954-. (aged 72)
non-fiction writer university teacher engineer astronaut physicist
Ulrich Hans Walter is a German physicist, engineer and former DFVLR astronaut.
Lev Kopelev

34. Lev Kopelev

1912-1997 (aged 85)
literary historian military personnel opinion journalist university teacher biographer
Lev Zalmanovich Kopelev (Russian: Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912 – 18 June 1997) was a Soviet author and dissident.
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Jürgen Rüttgers

35. Jürgen Rüttgers

1951-. (aged 75)
jurist politician
Jürgen Rüttgers is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010.
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Britta Heidemann

36. Britta Heidemann

1982-. (aged 44)
fencer
Britta Heidemann is a German épée fencer. In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Günter Verheugen

37. Günter Verheugen

1944-. (aged 82)
university teacher politician journalist
Günter Verheugen is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission (Barroso I). After his retirement, he is now honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt...
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Oliver Bäte

38. Oliver Bäte

1965-. (aged 61)
chief executive officer business executive manager
Oliver Bäte is a German business executive who has been the CEO of Allianz since October 2014.
Hans Albert

39. Hans Albert

1921-2023 (aged 102)
university teacher philosopher sociologist
Hans Albert was a German philosopher. He was professor of social sciences at the University of Mannheim from 1963, and remained at the university until 1989. His fields of research were social sciences and general studies of methods. He was a critical rationalist, paying special attention to rational heuristics. Albert was a strong critic of the continental hermeneutic tradition coming...
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Robert Hübner

40. Robert Hübner

1948-2025 (aged 77)
athlete writer historian papyrologist chess player
Robert Hübner was a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.
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Stefan Homburg

41. Stefan Homburg

1961-. (aged 65)
university teacher economist
Stefan Homburg is a retired German professor of economics. He was the director of the Institute of Public Finance at the University of Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany until his early retirement in 2021. Outside academia he is best known for his controversial statements regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut

42. Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut

1960-. (aged 66)
diplomat
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut is a German diplomat currently serving as the German ambassador to the Netherlands (Aug. 2024). He was the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey. He was previously German Ambassador to France from 2015 to 2020. Before that, he served as the chief adviser for European affairs to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
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Hermann Gröhe

43. Hermann Gröhe

1961-. (aged 65)
jurist lawyer politician German Minister of State
Gottfried Hermann Gröhe is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.
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Sarah-Lee Heinrich

44. Sarah-Lee Heinrich

2001-. (aged 25)
politician
Sarah-Lee Heinrich is a German non-party politician after leaving the German Green Party in September 2024. She was a federal speaker for the Grüne Jugend from October 2021 to October 2023.
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Timotheus Höttges

45. Timotheus Höttges

1962-. (aged 64)
chairman of the executive board manager entrepreneur chief executive officer
Timotheus Höttges is a German businessman who has been serving as chief executive officer of Deutsche Telekom AG, the majority shareholder of T-Mobile US, since 2014.
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Dorothee Sölle

46. Dorothee Sölle

1929-2003 (aged 74)
Protestant theologian literary scholar university teacher theologian writer
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle, known as Dorothee Sölle, was a German Lutheran liberation theologian who coined the term "Christofascism".
Manuel Andrack

47. Manuel Andrack

1965-. (aged 61)
author dramaturge journalist
Manuel Claus Achim Andrack is a German journalist, television presenter, and author. He is best known as the sidekick of the Harald Schmidt Show.
Otto Graf Lambsdorff

48. Otto Graf Lambsdorff

1926-2009 (aged 83)
lawyer politician
Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was the German Federal Minister of Economics from 1977 to 1984, when he resigned due to corruption allegations.
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Carlo Masala

49. Carlo Masala

1968-. (aged 58)
university teacher political scientist
Carlo Masala is a German political scientist, lecturer and researcher. He is currently professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich, lecturer at the University of Munich, and lecturer as well as member of the senate of the Munich School of Political Science. He has become known to a wider audience through frequent appearances on German television as an...
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Michael Mronz

50. Michael Mronz

1967-. (aged 59)
sporting director
Michael Mronz is a German sports and events manager.
Karolos Papoulias

51. Karolos Papoulias

1929-2021 (aged 92)
legal counselor jurist diplomat politician
Karolos Papoulias was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015.
Bijan Djir-Sarai

52. Bijan Djir-Sarai

1976-. (aged 50)
politician
Bijan Djir-Sarai is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from 2009 until 2013 and since 2017 until March 2025.
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Ronald Pofalla

53. Ronald Pofalla

1959-. (aged 67)
jurist lawyer pedagogue politician
Ronald Pofalla is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013, in the second coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. From 2017 to 2022, he was the CEO of the infrastructure department of Deutsche Bahn.
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Rainer Barzel

54. Rainer Barzel

1924-2006 (aged 82)
jurist military personnel minister politician
Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the eighth president of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984.
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Peter Canisius

55. Peter Canisius

1521-1597 (aged 76)
university teacher theologian Catholic priest
Peter Canisius SJ was a Dutch Jesuit priest known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and the British Isles. The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany is largely attributed to the work there of the Jesuits, which Canisius led. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as...
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Max Otte

56. Max Otte

1964-. (aged 62)
author economist entrepreneur university teacher opinion journalist
Matthias "Max" Otte is an economist, publicist and right-wing political activist who holds German and U.S. citizenship. Otte, who has held professorships in Worms, Graz and Erfurt, is currently a fund manager. He has written several books, mainly on financial policy topics.
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Marco Buschmann

57. Marco Buschmann

1977-. (aged 49)
jurist lawyer justice minister politician
Marco Buschmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Federal Minister of Justice in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet from 2021 to November 2024. He served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2013 and again since 2017 to 2025.
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Herbert Reul

58. Herbert Reul

1952-. (aged 74)
politician Studienrat
Herbert Reul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and Hendrik Wüst (since 2021). He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
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Katharina Dröge

59. Katharina Dröge

1984-. (aged 42)
politician political economist
Katharina Dröge is a German economist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Britta Haßelmann. She previously served as one of the group’s managers (Parlamentarische Geschäftsführerin) from 2018 to 2021. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013.
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Norbert Walter-Borjans

60. Norbert Walter-Borjans

1952-. (aged 74)
politician
Norbert Walter-Borjans, also known by the nickname NoWaBo, is a German economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as co-leader of the SPD (alongside Saskia Esken) from 2019 to 2021. He served as State Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017.
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Tina Hassel

61. Tina Hassel

1964-. (aged 62)
television presenter radio personality journalist
Tina Hassel is a German broadcast journalist. Since July 2015 she has been director of the capital studio of ARD, the German public broadcasting association.
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Ulla Kock am Brink

62. Ulla Kock am Brink

1961-. (aged 65)
television presenter
Ursula Eva Maria Kock am Brink is a German television presenter.
Sandra Navidi

63. Sandra Navidi

1972-. (aged 54)
author jurist lawyer chief executive officer
Sandra Navidi is a German attorney, author, consultant, media contributor and public speaker.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

64. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

1486-1535 (aged 49)
philosopher mercenary astronomer lawyer occultist
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German Renaissance polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, knight, theologian, and occult writer.
Mesut Yılmaz

65. Mesut Yılmaz

1947-2020 (aged 73)
diplomat politician
Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two prime-ministerial terms lasted just months (in 1991 and 1996), while the third ran from June 1997 to January 1999. The first was brought to an...
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Dagmar Rosenfeld

66. Dagmar Rosenfeld

1974-. (aged 52)
journalist
Dagmar Rosenfeld is a German journalist.
Henryk Broder

67. Henryk Broder

1946-. (aged 80)
film screenwriter film producer film director journalist television actor
Henryk Marcin Broder, self-designation Henryk Modest Broder, is a Polish-born German journalist, author, and television personality. He was born into a Jewish family in Katowice, Poland.
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Gerhart Baum

68. Gerhart Baum

1932-2025 (aged 93)
author jurist lawyer politician
Gerhart Rudolf Baum was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and a lawyer. From 1978 to 1982, he served as Federal Minister of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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Guido Cantz

69. Guido Cantz

1971-. (aged 55)
orator comedian television presenter
Guido Cantz is a German television presenter.
Anke Engelke

70. Anke Engelke

1965-. (aged 61)
program host director actor entertainer children's writer
Anke Christina Fischer is a German comedian, actress, voice-actress, and television presenter.
Heinrich Böll

71. Heinrich Böll

1917-1985 (aged 68)
writer translator novelist poet Nobel Prize winner
Heinrich Theodor Böll was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post–World War II writers, Böll received the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
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Richard David Precht

72. Richard David Precht

1964-. (aged 62)
university teacher publicist journalist presenter pundit
Richard David Precht is a German philosopher and author of successful popular science books about philosophical issues. He hosts the TV show "Precht" on ZDF.
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Mark Benecke

73. Mark Benecke

1970-. (aged 56)
actor writer biologist expert witness entomologist
Mark Benecke is a German forensic biologist.
Jörg Meuthen

74. Jörg Meuthen

1961-. (aged 65)
university teacher economist politician
Jörg Hubert Meuthen is a German economist, academic and politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Germany from 2017 until 2024.
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Marietta Slomka

75. Marietta Slomka

1969-. (aged 57)
news presenter journalist television presenter non-fiction writer political scientist
Marietta Slomka is a German journalist who has been the anchor of TV news show heute-journal since 2001.
Hans-Georg Maaßen

76. Hans-Georg Maaßen

1962-. (aged 64)
jurist university teacher
Hans-Georg Maaßen is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency and one of three agencies in the German Intelligence Community. He was removed from his Federal role in 2018 after controversial comments exonerating far...
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Jan Hofer

77. Jan Hofer

1950-. (aged 76)
presenter news presenter journalist television presenter
Jan Hofer is a German broadcast newsreader and television presenter. He was a well-known and popular reader of the news programme Tagesschau on Das Erste. Hofer was the chief reader on Tagesschau from 2004 until December 2020, having been a newsreader on that programme since 1985. Since leaving Tagesschau, he has been lead anchorman for RTL Direkt.
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Lena Meyer-Landrut

78. Lena Meyer-Landrut

1991-. (aged 35)
voice actor composer model pianist actor
Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut, also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the event with the song "Satellite". Both "Satellite" and her debut album My Cassette Player (2010) debuted at number one in Germany and became platinum sellers. With her three entries...
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Thomas Rabe

79. Thomas Rabe

1965-. (aged 61)
business executive
Thomas Rabe is a German business executive. He is currently the chairman of the German sportswear brand Adidas. In 2006, he was appointed to the Bertelsmann executive board, of which he has been chairman and chief executive officer since 2012. Under his leadership, the group has become more international, more digital and more diversified. In particular, he has advanced the...
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Stefan Raab

80. Stefan Raab

1966-. (aged 60)
comedian entrepreneur television producer musician entertainer
Stefan Konrad Raab is a German entertainer, television host, producer, and businessman. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy talk show TV total on ProSieben and also created a number of other television shows on the channel, most notably Schlag den Raab and Bundesvision Song Contest.
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Uwe Boll

81. Uwe Boll

1965-. (aged 61)
film producer screenwriter film director
Uwe Boll is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his 2005 Alone in the Dark adaptation is considered one of the worst films ever made. Boll's subsequent projects, released during the 2010s, were mostly released direct-to-video. After retiring in 2016...
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Otto Piene

82. Otto Piene

1928-2014 (aged 86)
sculptor painter draftsperson
Otto Piene was a German-American artist specializing in kinetic and technology-based art, often working collaboratively. He lived and worked in Düsseldorf, Germany; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Groton, Massachusetts.
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Michaela Noll

83. Michaela Noll

1959-. (aged 67)
lawyer politician
Michaela Marion Noll is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 until 2021.
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Peter Grünberg

84. Peter Grünberg

1939-2018 (aged 79)
researcher physicist teacher university teacher
Peter Andreas Grünberg was a German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives.
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Josephine Ortleb

85. Josephine Ortleb

1986-. (aged 40)
Restaurant specialist politician
Josephine Ortleb is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saarland since 2017. She has been its Vice President as of March 2025.
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Anne Will

86. Anne Will

1966-. (aged 60)
television presenter presenter journalist
Anne Will is a German television journalist and host of the eponymous political talk show. She was anchorwoman of the daily Tagesthemen news broadcast on ARD from 2001 until 2007.
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Melika Foroutan

87. Melika Foroutan

1976-. (aged 50)
actor film actor
Melika Foroutan is a German-Iranian actress.
Karl Carstens

88. Karl Carstens

1914-1992 (aged 78)
jurist diplomat law clerk politician
Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984.
Gabriele Renate Homey

89. Gabriele Renate Homey

1963-. (aged 63)
jurist philanthropist
Inaara Aga Khan is a German philanthropist. She was the second wife of Karim al-Husseini (Aga Khan IV), who served as the 49th Imam of the Nizari branch of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims; from May 1998 to March 2014, she held the title Begum Aga Khan.
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Henriette Reker

90. Henriette Reker

1956-. (aged 70)
local politician jurist lawyer
Henriette Reker is a German lawyer and independent politician. She is known for her pro-immigration stance and for being the victim of an assassination attempt in 2015. A day after the attack, Reker was elected mayor of Cologne after gaining 52.66% of the votes, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Reker was re-elected in 2020. Her term as...
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Anna Seghers

91. Anna Seghers

1900-1983 (aged 83)
novelist resistance fighter writer
Anna Reiling, known by the pen name Anna Seghers, was a German writer. She was notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian Communist, Seghers escaped Nazi-controlled territory through wartime France. She was granted a visa and gained ship's passage to Mexico, where she lived...
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Nicholas of Cusa

92. Nicholas of Cusa

1401-1464 (aged 63)
Catholic priest diplomat astronomer mathematician theologian
Nicholas of Cusa, also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus, was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renaissance humanism, he made spiritual and political contributions to European culture. A notable example of this is his mystical or spiritual writings on "learned...
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Klaus Kinkel

93. Klaus Kinkel

1936-2019 (aged 83)
lawyer politician
Klaus Kinkel was a German statesman, civil servant, diplomat and lawyer who served as the minister of Foreign affairs (1992–1998) and the vice chancellor of Germany (1993–1998) in the government of Helmut Kohl.
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Johann Eck

94. Johann Eck

1486-1543 (aged 57)
translator university teacher pundit theologian
Johann Eck, also known as Johann Maier von Eck and often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Roman Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and opponent of Martin Luther.
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Prince Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen

95. Prince Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen

1893-1968 (aged 75)
ruler
Albert Leopold Friedrich Christian Sylvester Anno Macarius, Prince of Saxony, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen was the second son of Frederick Augustus III, the last reigning king of Saxony before the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. Upon his father's death in 1932, he became the head of the Royal House of Saxony. He was Captain à la suite...
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Clemens Fuest

96. Clemens Fuest

1968-. (aged 58)
university teacher economist
Clemens Fuest is a German economist who has been President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich (LMU) since 2016.
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Philippe Oddo

97. Philippe Oddo

1959-. (aged 67)
banker
Philippe Oddo is a French financier and a managing partner of the ODDO BHF group.
Andreas Kaplan

98. Andreas Kaplan

1977-. (aged 49)
university teacher economist mathematician
Andreas Marcus Kaplan is president of Kühne Logistics University. He is specialized in the areas of social media, viral marketing, and the digital world in general.
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Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs

99. Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs

1903-1978 (aged 75)
minister nationalists politician
Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs, DMS served as the third state president of South Africa from 1975 to 1978.
Sevim Dağdelen

100. Sevim Dağdelen

1975-. (aged 51)
politician translator journalist
Sevim Dağdelen is a German politician and was from 2005 to 2025 a member of the German parliament, the Bundestag. She was elected for Left Party (die Linke) and switched in October 2023 to Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht.
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