List of German Jews
Template:JewsByCountry The Jewish presence in Germany, at over 1600 years old, predates that of Christianity. A "Golden Age" in the first millennium saw the emergence of the Ashkenazi Jews, while the persecution and expulsion that followed the Crusades led to the appearance of Yiddish and an overall move eastwards (though Jews never fully abandoned Germany). A change of status in the 17th century, combined with the Jewish Enlightenment – the Haskalah – meant that by the 1920s Germany had one of the most integrated Jewish populations in Europe, comprising over 500,000 people, and contributing prominently to German culture and society. The vast majority either left the country or were killed in the Holocaust, and the current German Jewish population consists primarily of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The following is a list of some prominent German Jews or Germans of Jewish parentage.
Historical figures
Politicians
- Daniel Cohn-Bendit, member of European Parliament, student leader in 1968
- Kurt Eisner, Bavarian prime minister
- Klaus Gysi, communist politician, East German minister of culture (Jewish father)
- Rudolf Hilferding, finance minister of the Weimar Republic
- Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, Nobel Prize (1973)
- Ferdinand Lassalle, founder of first German worker's party
- Eduard Lasker, co-founder of the National Liberal Party
- Eugen Levine, Bavarian prime minister
- Rosa Luxemburg, co-founder of the KPD
- Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, financial planner & court Jew
- Hugo Preuss, author of Weimar constitution
- Walter Rathenau, foreign minister of the Weimar Republic
- Gabriel Riesser, deputy speaker of Frankfurt Assembly in 1848, first Jewish judge in Hamburg
- Herbert Weichmann, mayor of Hamburg
- Markus Wolf, East German spymaster (Jewish father)
- Jeanette Wolff, West Berlin politician
Activists
- Nahum Goldmann, president of World Jewish Congress
- Josel of Rosheim, court Jew & Jewish advocate
Religious figures
Rabbis
- Leo Baeck, Reform rabbi & scholar
- Jacob ben Asher, medieval rabbi (German-born?)
- Asher ben Jehiel, medieval rabbi and Talmudist, father of Jacob ben Asher
- Eliezer ben Nathan, medieval rabbi
- David Einhorn, Reform rabbi
- Abraham Geiger, Reform rabbi
- Samuel Holdheim, Reform rabbi
- Samson Raphael Hirsch, Orthodox rabbi
Scholars
- Heinrich Graetz, Jewish historian
- Isaak Markus Jost, Jewish historian
- Moses Mendelssohn, Jewish Enlightenment philosopher
- Gershom Scholem, Jewish scholar & historian
- Leopold Zunz, Jewish scholar
Other
- Ayya Khema, Buddhist teacher (born Jewish)
- Johannes Pfefferkorn, antisemitic controversialist (born Jewish)
- Edith Stein, canonized nun, Holocaust victim (born Jewish)
Scientific figures
Physicists
- Sir Hans Bethe, nuclear physics, Nobel Prize (1967) (Jewish mother)
- Max Born, quantum mechanics, Nobel Prize (1954)
- Albert Einstein, theoretical physics, Nobel Prize (1921)
- James Franck, quantum physics, Nobel Prize (1925)
- Martin Gumpert, physicist, writer
- William & Caroline Herschel, astronomers (father 'of Jewish descent')
- Heinrich Hertz, electromagnetic radiation (Jewish parents)
- Ernst Ising, statistical mechanics
- Fritz London, quantum mechanics
- Leonard Mandel, quantum optics
- Albert Michelson, measured speed of light, Nobel Prize (1907)
- Sir Rudolf Peierls, solid state theory
- Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of CMB, Nobel Prize (1978)
- Ernst Pringsheim
- Karl Schwarzschild, physicist & astronomer
- Jack Steinberger, particle physics, Nobel Prize (1988)
- Otto Stern, experimental physicist, Nobel Prize (1943)
Chemists
- Adolf von Baeyer, industrial chemist, Nobel Prize (1905) (Jewish mother)
- Heinrich Caro, industrial chemist
- Nikodem Caro, industrial chemist
- Arthur Eichengrün, possible inventor of aspirin
- Adolph Frank, industrial chemist
- Hans Goldschmidt, industrial chemist
- Fritz Haber, developed the Haber process, Nobel Prize (1918)
- Heinrich Meibom
- Viktor Meyer, organic chemist
- Leonor Michaelis, biochemist
- Ludwig Mond, chemist & industrialist
- John Polanyi, chemist, Nobel Prize (1986) (Jewish father)
- Rudolf Schoenheimer, biochemist
- Otto Wallach, chemist, Nobel Prize (1910)
- Richard Willstätter, chemist, Nobel Prize (1915)
Biologists, Physicians(Doctors)
- Konrad Bloch, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1964)
- Sir Ernst Chain, developed penicillin, Nobel Prize (1945)
- Ferdinand Cohn, pioneer in microbiology
- Paul Ehrlich, developed magic bullet concept, Nobel Prize (1908)
- Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, biochemist
- Ernst Gräfenberg, obstetrician, the G-Spot
- Joseph Jadassohn
- Sir Bernard Katz, biophysicist, Nobel Prize (1970)
- Hans Kosterlitz, discovered endorphins
- Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953)
- Jacques Loeb, physiologist
- Otto Loewi, pharmacologist, Nobel Prize (1936)
- Fritz Lipmann, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953)
- Otto Meyerhof, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1922)
- Oskar Minkowski, physiologist
- Nathanael Pringsheim
- Albert Schatz, biochemist, streptomycin
- Otto Warburg, physiologist, Nobel Prize (1931) (Jewish father)
Mathematicians
- Felix Bernstein, set theory
- Richard Brauer, modular representation theory
- Georg Cantor, set theory (Jewish father)
- Moritz Cantor, historian of mathematics
- Richard Courant, mathematical analysis & applied mathematics
- Max Dehn, topology
- Adolf Fraenkel, set theory
- Hans Freudenthal, algebraic topology
- Alexander Grothendieck, algebraic geometry, Fields Medal (1966) (Jewish father)
- Felix Hausdorff, topology
- Heinz Hopf, topology (Jewish father)
- Adolf Hurwitz, mathematician
- Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, analysis
- Leopold Kronecker, number theory
- Edmund Landau, number theory
- Rudolf Lipschitz, mathematician
- Hermann Minkowski, geometrical theory of numbers
- Emmy Noether, algebra & theoretical physics
- Richard Rado, combinatorics
- Abraham Robinson, nonstandard analysis
- Klaus Roth, diophantine approximation, Fields Medal (1958)
- Arthur Moritz Schönflies, mathematician
- Issai Schur, mathematician
- Otto Toeplitz, linear algebra & functional analysis
Computer scientists
- Michael Rabin, computer algorithms, Turing Award (1976)
- Joseph Weizenbaum, AI critic, ELIZA
Psychologists
- Karl Abraham, psychoanalyst
- Rudolf Arnheim, perception theorist
- Erik Erikson, developmental psychologist (Jewish mother)
- Erich Fromm, psychologist & humanistic philosopher
- Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, psychoanalyst
- Kurt Goldstein, Gestalt-influenced neurologist
- Magnus Hirschfeld, sexologist
- Kurt Koffka, Gestalt psychologist
- Kurt Lewin, social psychologist
- Hugo Münsterberg, industrial psychologist
- Ulric Neisser, cognitive psychologist (Jewish father)
- Erich Neumann, analytical psychologist
- Fritz Perls, psychotherapist
- William Stern, the Intelligence Quotient
- Max Wertheimer, Gestalt psychologist
Academic figures
Philosophers
- Isaak Benrubi
- Ernst Bloch, philosopher
- Constantin Brunner, philosopher
- Ernst Cassirer, philosopher
- Hermann Cohen, philosopher
- Kurt Grelling, philosopher
- Max Horkheimer, philosopher & sociologist
- Hans Jonas, philosopher
- Leo Loewenthal
- Karl Löwith, philosopher
- Salomon Maimon
- Fritz Mauthner, author & philosopher
- Georg Misch
- Leonard Nelson, philosopher
- Hans Reichenbach, philosopher (Jewish father)
- Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy
- Max Scheler, philosopher (Jewish mother)
Historians, social and political scientists
- Theodor Adorno, sociologist (Jewish father)
- Hannah Arendt, political theorist
- Reinhard Bendix, sociologist
- Eduard Bernstein, founder of evolutionary socialism
- Franz Boas, cultural anthropologist
- Lewis A. Coser, sociologist
- Norbert Elias, sociologist
- Amitai Etzioni, sociologist
- Ernst Fraenkel, political scientist
- Peter Gay, history (born Peter Froehlich)
- Moses Hess, socialist
- Siegfried Kracauer, sociologist & film critic
- Ludwig Lachmann, economist
- Leo Löwenthal, critical theorist
- Karl Mannheim, sociologist
- Herbert Marcuse, sociologist, New Left figurehead
- Karl Marx, founder of communism (Jewish parents converted to Protestantism before Karl's birth)
- Oskar Morgenstern, economist
- George Mosse, historian
- Franz Neumann, legal theorist
- Franz Oppenheimer, sociologist & economist
- Friedrich Pollock, economist & sociologist
- Reinhard Selten, economist, Nobel Prize (1994) (Jewish father)
- Georg Simmel, sociologist
- Hugo Sinzheimer
- Saul Friedlaender, historian
- Franz Weidenreich, physical anthropologist
- Louis Wirth, sociologist
- Michael Wolffsohn, historian
Linguists and literature critics
- Erich Auerbach, literature critic
- Joseph Derenbourg, orientalist
- Theodor Benfey, linguist
- Walter Benjamin, literary critic & philosopher
- Basil Bernstein, linguist
- Julius Fürst, orientalist
- Theodor Goldstücker
- Victor Klemperer, linguist & diarist
- Marcel Reich-Ranicki, literary critic
- Edward Sapir, anthropologist-linguist
- Heymann Steinthal, linguist
Cultural figures
Showbusiness
- Hans Behrendt, director
- Ludwig Berger, director
- Kurt Bernhardt, director
- Artur Brauner, film producer
- Friedrich Dalsheim, director
- E.A. Dupont, director
- Karl Grune, director
- Lou Jacobs, clown
- Carl Laemmle, film producer
- Ernst Lubitsch, director
- Richard Oswald, director
- Lilli Palmer, actress
- Hans Rosenthal, TV personality
- Robert Siodmak, director
- Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist
- Peter Zadek, theatre director
- Susan Sideropoulos, actress
- Friedrich Zelnik, director
Musicians
- Samuel Adler, composer
- Wolf Biermann, singer/songwriter (Jewish father)
- Paul Dessau, composer
- Hanns Eisler, composer
- Carl Flesch, violinist
- Lukas Foss, composer & conductor
- Berthold Goldschmidt, composer
- Nina Hagen, singer (Jewish father)
- Friedrich Holländer, composer
- Salomon Jadassohn
- Robert Kahn, composer
- Otto Klemperer, conductor
- Alfred Lion & Frank Wolff, founders of Blue Note Records
- Edmund Meisel, composer
- Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, composer
- Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer
- Menahem Pressler, pianist
- André Previn, conductor
- Kurt Sanderling, conductor
- William Steinberg, conductor
- Bruno Walter, conductor
- Franz Waxman, film composer
- Kurt Weill, composer
- Stefan Wolpe, composer
Artists
- Dankmar Adler, architect
- Anni Albers, textile designer
- Frank Auerbach, painter
- Eduard Bendemann, painter
- Erwin Blumenfeld, photographer
- Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer
- Lucian Freud, painter
- Eva Hesse, sculptor
- Max Liebermann, painter
- Peter Max, pop artist
- Erich Mendelsohn, architect
- Helmut Newton, photographer
- Felix Nussbaum, painter
- Meret Oppenheim, surrealist
- Erwin Panofsky, art historian
- Hans Schleger, designer
- Erich Salomon, news photographer
Writers and poets
- Süßkind von Trimberg, middle age writer
- Jurek Becker, writer
- Maxim Biller, writer
- Henryk Broder, journalist
- Lion Feuchtwanger, novelist
- Hubert Fichte, author (Jewish father)
- Anne Frank, diarist (emigrated from Germany at age 4)
- Friedrich Gundolf(born Gundelfinger), literary man
- Maximilian Harden, journalists
- Glückel of Hameln, 18th-century yiddish diarist
- Heinrich Heine, poet (converted to Protestantism, but was still regarded as Jewish)
- Stefan Heym, novelist, politician
- Paul Heyse, author, Nobel Prize (1910) (Jewish mother)
- Wolfgang Hildesheimer
- Barbara Honigmann, writer
- Judith Kerr, children's writer
- Wladimir Kaminer, writer, dj
- Else Lasker-Schüler, writer, poet & artist
- Henning Pawel, child-book author, writer. See German article
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, author & screenwriter
- H.A. & Margret Rey, creators of Curious George
- Nelly Sachs, poet, Nobel Prize (1966)
- Anna Seghers, novelist (Jewish grandparents)
- Rafael Seligmann, journalist
- Kurt Tucholsky, writer
- Samuel Ullman, poet
- Rahel Varnhagen, writer and saloniste (converted to Christianity)
- Jakob Wassermann, novelist
- Carl Zuckmayer, playwright (Jewish mother)
- Arnold Zweig, writer
Business
Inventors
- Ralph Baer, inventor of the games console
- Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone
- Julius Lilienfeld, pre-inventor of the transistor
- Siegfried Marcus, pre-inventor of the automobile
- Johann Philipp Reis, pre-inventor of the telephone
Entrepreneurs
- See also Court Jews
- Albert Ballin, cruise ship entrepreneur
- Gerson von Bleichröder, financier, advisor of Bismarck
- Mosse family
- Rudolf Mosse and family, newspaper magnates
- Oppenheimer family
- Ernest Oppenheimer, diamond tycoon
- Emil Rathenau, founder of AEG, father of Walter Rathenau
- Paul Reuter, founder of Reuters
- Rothschild family
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild and family, financiers & bankers
- Seligman family
- Joseph Seligman, banker & US civil war financier
- Jacob Schiff(Jacob H. Schiff), railroad financier
- Levi Strauss, clothing manufacturer
- Straus family
- Isidor Straus owner of Macy's department store & RMS Titanic victim
- Warburg family
- Siegmund Warburg, banker
Sports
- Gretel Bergmann, high jumper
- Hans Berliner, world postal chess champion
- Barney Dreyfuss, co-founder of the World Series
- Gottfried Fuchs, soccer player
- Ludwig Guttmann, founder of the Paralympics
- Bernhard Horwitz, chess player
- Emanuel Lasker, world chess champion
- Helene Mayer, fencer (Jewish father)
- Sarah Poewe, swimmer
- Daniel Prenn, tennis player
- Siegbert Tarrasch, chess player
Literature
Walter Tetzlaff, ed. "2000 Kurzbiographien bedeutender deutscher Juden des 20. Jahrhunderts" (Lindhorst: Askania, 1982).