Bavaria - Famous People

Famous People

There are many famous people who were born or lived in present-day Bavaria:

• Popes Pope Benedict XVI (baptismal name: Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger)—the current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; Pope Damasus II and Pope Victor II.
• Painters such as Hans Holbein the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach, Carl Spitzweg, Franz von Lenbach, Franz von Stuck, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Erwin Eisch, Gabriele Münter.
  • Musicians such as Johannes Heesters, Orlando di Lasso, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Richard Wagner (originally from Saxony), Richard Strauss, Carl Orff, Johann Pachelbel and Theobald Boehm, the inventor of the modern flute, and countertenor Klaus Nomi.
  • Modern musicians Klaus Doldinger, Barbara Dennerlein, Hans-Jürgen Buchner, Sportfreunde Stiller.
• Opera singers like Jonas Kaufmann and Diana Damrau.
• Writers, poets and playwrights like Hans Sachs, Jean Paul, Frank Wedekind, Christian Morgenstern, Oskar Maria Graf, Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas Mann and his sons Klaus and Golo Mann, Ludwig Thoma, Henrik Ibsen, Michael Ende.
• Scientists such as Max Planck, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, and Werner Heisenberg, as well as Adam Ries, Joseph von Fraunhofer, Georg Ohm, Johannes Stark, Carl von Linde, Ludwig Prandtl, Rudolf Moessbauer, Lothar Rohde, Hermann Schwarz, Robert Huber, Martin Behaim, Levi Strauss, and Rudolf Diesel.
• Physicians like Max Joseph von Pettenkofer, Sebastian Kneipp and the neurologist Alois Alzheimer, who first described Alzheimer's Disease.
• Football players like Max Morlock, Karl Mai, Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner, Bernd Schuster, Klaus Augenthaler, Lothar Matthäus, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Holger Badstuber, Thomas Müller, Dietmar Hamann and Stefan Reuter
  • Other sportspeople such as golfer Bernhard Langer and basketball player Dirk Nowitzki
• Actors like Werner Stocker, Helmut Fischer, Walter Sedlmayr, Gustl Bayrhammer, Ottfried Fischer, Ruth Drexel, Elmar Wepper, Fritz Wepper, Uschi Glas, Yank Azman.
• Entertainers Siegfried Fischbacher
• Film directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Joseph Vilsmaier, and Werner Herzog.
• Mysterious people: Kaspar Hauser (the famous foundling), The Smith of Kochel (legend).
• Legendary outlaws such as Mathias Kneißl, the legendary robber or Matthias Klostermayr, better known as Bavarian Hiasl.
• Famous army officer, aristocrat and co-conspirator of the 20 July plot Claus von Stauffenberg, born in early 20th century Swabia.
• Noted automobile designer Peter Schreyer, born in Bad Reichenhall
• The fashion designer Damir Doma, who shows men's and women's collection in Paris, grew up in Traunstein.