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AT A GLANCE
FAMOUS GERMANS
Celebrated classics, courageous visionaries,
astute thinkers: Germany’s history is rich in
people who achieved extraordinary things.
Many of them are famous far beyond the
country’s borders. The Goethe-Institut has
been indirectly spreading the name of the
most well-known of all Germans, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe, throughout the world
since 1951. In Paris, the Maison Heinrich
Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe
Poet, playwright, scholar:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–
1832) is regarded as an all-round genius
and the classic in German literature.
Heine at Cité Internationale Universitaire de
Paris (CIUP) keeps alive the memory of the
gifted literary figure, who had a chronic
soul-searching relationship with his home
country. Wagner fans from all over the
world congregate every year at the Bayreuth
Festival to pay homage to “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. Names such as Humboldt and
Einstein, Röntgen and Planck, Benz and Otto
established Germany’s reputation as a country of researchers and engineers.
In earlier days, women faced difficulties leading similarly high-profile lives. Yet there are
Friedrich von Schiller
A fighter for freedom: Friedrich von
Schiller (1759–1805) is regarded as one
of the world’s great playwrights (“The
Robbers”, “Mary Stuart”, “Don Carlos”)
and as an important essayist.
nonetheless many famous women, such as
Clara Schumann, Maria Sybilla Merian, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Rosa Luxemburg, Anna Seghers, and the great choreograph Pina
Bausch. They are to this day regarded as role
models for a modern society which enables
men and women alike to participate and enjoy equal opportunities – even though this
still requires a concerted effort.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Virtuoso of Baroque church music:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
perfected the strict “art of the fugue”
and composed more than 200 cantatas
and oratorios.