The Most Famous
CELEBRITIES from Germany
This page contains a list of the greatest German Celebrities. The pantheon dataset contains 181 Celebrities, 4 of which were born in Germany. This makes Germany the birth place of the 10th most number of Celebrities behind South Africa and India.
Top 4
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary German Celebrities of all time. This list of famous German Celebrities is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Anna Anderson (1896 - 1984)
With an HPI of 64.09, Anna Anderson is the most famous German Celebrity. Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages on wikipedia.
Anna Anderson (born Franziska Schanzkowska; 16 December 1896 – 12 February 1984) was an impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas II and Alexandra, was murdered along with her parents and siblings on 17 July 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but the location of her body was unknown until 2007. In 1920, Anderson was institutionalized in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt in Berlin. At first, she went by the name Fräulein Unbekannt (German for Miss Unknown) as she refused to reveal her identity. Later, she used the name Tschaikovsky and then Anderson. In March 1922, claims that Anderson was a Russian grand duchess received public attention. Most members of Grand Duchess Anastasia's family and those who had known her, including court tutor Pierre Gilliard, said Anderson was an impostor but others were convinced she was Anastasia. In 1927, a private investigation funded by the Tsarina's brother, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, identified Anderson as Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness. After a lawsuit lasting many years, the German courts ruled that Anderson had failed to prove she was Anastasia, but through media coverage, her claim gained notoriety. Between 1920 and 1968, Anderson lived in Germany and the United States with various supporters and in nursing homes and sanatoria, including at least one asylum. She emigrated to the United States in 1968. Shortly before the expiration of her visa she married history professor Jack Manahan, who was later characterized as "probably Charlottesville's best-loved eccentric". Upon her death in 1984, Anderson's body was cremated, and her ashes were buried in the churchyard at Castle Seeon, Germany. After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, the locations of the bodies of the Tsar, Tsarina, and all five of their children were revealed. Multiple laboratories in different countries confirmed their identity through DNA testing. DNA tests on a lock of Anderson's hair and surviving medical samples of her tissue showed that her DNA did not match that of the Romanov remains or that of living relatives of the Romanovs. Instead, Anderson's mitochondrial DNA matched that of Karl Maucher, a great-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska. Most scientists, historians and journalists who have discussed the case accept that Anderson and Schanzkowska were the same person.
2. Fritz Pfeffer (1889 - 1944)
With an HPI of 58.46, Fritz Pfeffer is the 2nd most famous German Celebrity. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Friedrich "Fritz" Pfeffer (30 April 1889 – 20 December 1944) was a German dentist and Jewish refugee who hid with Anne Frank and her family and the Van Pels family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp in Northern Germany. Pfeffer was given the pseudonym Albert Dussel in Frank's diary, and remains known as such in many editions and adaptations of the publication.
3. Walther Kadow (1900 - 1923)
With an HPI of 50.99, Walther Kadow is the 3rd most famous German Celebrity. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Walther Kadow (January 29, 1860 – May 31, 1923) was a German school teacher who was beaten and killed by Rudolf Höss and a group of Nazi Party accomplices in May 1923 in the forest near Parchim. Kadow, a World War I veteran, was a member of the right-wing German Völkisch Freedom Party, and was suspected of having betrayed German nationalist Albert Leo Schlageter to the French occupation authorities in the Ruhr. Schlageter was executed by the French and was later regarded as a martyr by the Nazis. Höss received a ten-year sentence but was released after four years under a general amnesty. His accomplice, Martin Bormann, a former student of Kadow, was sentenced to one year. Bormann later became Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler and received the Blood Order for his imprisonment over the murder. Höss later became the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.
4. Herbert Norkus (1916 - 1932)
With an HPI of 49.92, Herbert Norkus is the 4th most famous German Celebrity. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Herbert Norkus (26 July 1916 – 24 January 1932) was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and film Hitler Youth Quex.
Pantheon has 4 people classified as celebrities born between 1889 and 1916. Of these 4, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased celebrities include Anna Anderson, Fritz Pfeffer, and Walther Kadow. As of April 2022, 1 new celebrities have been added to Pantheon including Herbert Norkus.
Deceased Celebrities
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Anna Anderson
1896 - 1984
HPI: 64.09
Fritz Pfeffer
1889 - 1944
HPI: 58.46
Walther Kadow
1900 - 1923
HPI: 50.99
Herbert Norkus
1916 - 1932
HPI: 49.92
Newly Added Celebrities (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Celebrities were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Celebrities since 1700.
