List of German Jews

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 were either killed in the Holocaust or left, 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.

Historical Figures

Politicians

• Kurt Eisner, Bavarian prime minister
• Gregor Gysi, communist politician
• Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, Nobel Prize (1973)
• Ferdinand Lassalle, founder of first German worker's party
• Eugen Levine, Bavarian prime minister
• Hugo Preuss, author of Weimar constitution
• Walter Rathenau, German Foreign Minister

Activists

• Daniel Cohn-Bendit, student leader, MEP
• Rosa Luxembourg, communist leader
• Aryeh Neier, former head of HRW & ACLU

Scientific Figures

Physicists

• Hans Bethe, nuclear physics, Nobel Prize (1967) (half Jewish)
• Max Born, quantum mechanics, Nobel Prize (1954)
• Albert Einstein, theoretical physics, Nobel Prize (1921)
• James Franck, quantum physics, Nobel Prize (1925)
• William Herschel, astronomer, discovered Uranus (half Jewish)
• Caroline Herschel, astronomer (half Jewish)
• Heinrich Hertz, electromagnetic radiation (half Jewish)
• Fritz London, quantum mechanics
• Albert Michelson, measured speed of light, Nobel Prize (1907)
• Rudolf Peierls, solid state theory
• Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of CMB, Nobel Prize (1978)
• Jack Steinberger, particle physics, Nobel Prize (1988)
• Otto Stern, experimental physicist, Nobel Prize (1943)

Chemists

• Adolf von Baeyer, industrial chemist, Nobel Prize (1905) (half Jewish)
• Heinrich Caro, industrial chemist
• Fritz Haber, developed the Haber process, Nobel Prize (1918)
• Viktor Meyer, organic chemist
• John Polanyi, chemist, Nobel Prize (1986) (half Jewish)
• Rudolf Schoenheimer, biochemist
• Otto Wallach, chemist, Nobel Prize (1910)
• Richard Willstätter, chemist, Nobel Prize (1915)

Biologists

• Konrad Bloch, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1964)
• Ernst Chain, developed penicillin, Nobel Prize (1945)
• Ferdinand Cohn, pioneer in microbiology
• Paul Ehrlich, developed magic bullet concept, Nobel Prize (1908)
• Arthur Eichengrun, possible inventor of aspirin
• Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, biochemist
• Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich maneuver
• Bernard Katz, biophysicist, Nobel Prize (1970)
• Hans Kosterlitz, discovered endorphins
• Hans Adolf Krebs, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953)
• Otto Loewi, pharmacologist, Nobel Prize (1936)
• Fritz Lipmann, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953)
• Otto Meyerhof, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1922)
• Oskar Minkowski, physiologist
• Otto Warburg, physiologist, Nobel Prize (1931) (half Jewish)
• August Paul von Wassermann, developed the Wasserman test

Mathematicians

• Georg Cantor, set theory (half Jewish)
• Adolf Fraenkel, set theory
• Alexander Grothendieck, algebraic geometry, Fields Medal (1966)
• Felix Hausdorff, topology
• Heinz Hopf, topology (half Jewish)
• Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, analysis
• Leopold Kronecker, number theory
• Hermann Minkowski, geometrical theory of numbers
• Emmy Noether, algebra & theoretical physics
• Abraham Robinson, nonstandard analysis
• Klaus Roth, diophantine approximation, Fields Medal (1958)

Computer Scientists

• Michael Rabin, computer algorithms, Turing Award (1976)
• Joseph Weizenbaum, AI critic, ELIZA

Psychologists

• Erik Erikson, developmental psychologist
• Kurt Goldstein, Gestalt-influenced neurologist
• Magnus Hirschfeld, sexologist
• Kurt Koffka, Gestalt psychologist
• Kurt Lewin, social psychologist
• Ulric Neisser, cognitive psychologist (half Jewish)
• William Stern, the Intelligence Quotient
• Max Wertheimer, Gestalt psychologist

Academic Figures

• Hannah Arendt, political theorist
• Rudolf Arnheim, philosopher & art theorist
• Erich Auerbach, literature critic
• Theodor Benfey, linguist
• Basil Bernstein, linguist
• Eduard Bernstein, founder of evolutionary socialism
• Franz Boas, cultural anthropologist
• Ernst Cassirer, philosopher
• Norbert Elias, sociologist
• Frankfurt School, largely Jewish:
  • Theodor Adorno, sociologist (half Jewish)
  • Walter Benjamin, literary critic & philosopher
  • Erich Fromm, psychologist & humanistic philosopher
  • Max Horkheimer, philosopher & sociologist
  • Herbert Marcuse, sociologist, New Left figurehead
  • Franz Oppenheimer, sociologist and economist
• Edmund Husserl, philosopher
• Karl Mannheim, sociologist
• Karl Marx, founder of communism
• Fritz Mauthner, author & philosopher
• Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher
• Oskar Morgenstern, economist
• Hans Reichenbach, philosopher (half Jewish)
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, literary critic
• Edward Sapir, anthropologist-linguist
• Reinhard Selten, economist, Nobel Prize (1994) (half Jewish)
• Georg Simmel, sociologist

Cultural Figures

Showbusiness

• Lou Jacobs, clown
• Ted Koppel, TV journalist (German parents)
• Carl Laemmle, film producer
• Ernst Lubitsch, director
• Judith Malina, The Living Theatre
• Mike Nichols, director
• Andrew Sachs, TV actor
• Jerry Springer, TV host (German parents)
• Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist

Musicians

• Paul Dessau, composer
• Hanns Eisler, composer
• Carl Flesch, violinist
• Lukas Foss, composer & conductor
• Nina Hagen, singer (half Jewish)
• Otto Klemperer, conductor
• Felix Mendelssohn, composer
• Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, composer
• Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer
• Jacques Offenbach, 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
• Frank Auerbach, painter
• Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer
• Lucian Freud, painter
• Eva Hesse, sculptor
• Peter Max, pop artist
• Helmut Newton, photographer
• Meret Oppenheim, surrealist
• Hans Schleger, designer
• Erich Salomon, news photographer

Writers & Poets

• Anne Frank, diarist
• Heinrich Heine, poet
• Paul Heyse, author, Nobel Prize (1910) (half Jewish)
• Else Lasker-Schüler, writer, poet & artist
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, author & screenwriter
• H.A. & Margaret Rey, children's writers
• Nelly Sachs, poet, Nobel Prize (1966)
• Jakob Wassermann, novelist
• Peter Weiss, dramatist & writer
• Carl Zuckmayer, playwright

Business

Inventors

• Ralph Baer, inventor of the games console
• Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone
• Arthur Korn, pre-inventor of the fax
• Julius Lilienfeld, pre-inventor of the transistor
• Otto Lilienthal, aviation pioneer
• Siegfried Marcus, pre-inventor of the automobile
• Johann Philipp Reis, pre-inventor of the telephone

Entrepeneurs

• Ernest Oppenheimer, diamond tycoon
• Emil Rathenau, founder of AEG
• Paul Reuter, founder of Reuters
• Mayer Amschel Rothschild and family, financiers & bankers
• Joseph Seligman, banker & US civil war financer
• Jacob Schiff, railroad financier
• Levi Strauss, clothing manufacturer
• Isador & Ida Straus, owners of Macy's department store & Titanic victims
• Leonard, Oscar & Hermann Tietz, founders of Kauhof, Hertie & KaDeWe department stores
• Siegmund Warburg, banker

Sports

• Gretel Bergmann, high jumper
• Barney Dreyfuss, co-founder of the World Series
• Ludwig Guttmann, founder of the Paralympics
• Emanuel Lasker, world chess champion
• Helene Mayer, fencer (half Jewish)
• Daniel Prenn, tennis player
• Siegbert Tarrasch, chess player

See also: List of Jews, List of Jews by country