History UsefulNotes / DichterAndDenker

* Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868) -- An Austrian by nationality but a master of German prose, immensely admired by Creator/FriedrichNietzsche (who ranked him second only to Goethe), Thomas Mann, Milan Kundera and Hannah Arendt. He's considered one of the most internationally neglected German writers despite attempts by poets W. H. Auden and Marianne Moore to try and bring him to a wider audience. He's best known for his novels, ''Der Nachsommer'' (translated in English as "Indian Summer"), ''Witiko'' and his short stories such as ''Brigitta'' and ''Rock Crystal''. He's considered to be representative of the Bidermeier era and is known for his detailed landscape descriptions in his prose.

* Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976) -- Quantum physicist. Because he was a proponent of Einsteinian physics (Why did the Nazis consider that bad? ''See above!''), some [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] considered him a "white Jew". Nevertheless, he stayed in Germany, where he had to research nuclear physics and was the leading scientist in the Nazi atomic bomb program. How close he really came to discovering the principles of a working atomic bomb is often debated, although it is generally agreed that he did not come really close. His ''Uncertainty Principle'' has become [[http://dresdencodak.com/2005/06/14/lil-werner/ a stock element of nerd humour]], right up there next to UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat. Also, the [[Franchise/StarTrek Heisenberg compensator]] is named after him... but these days, most people just think of [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]].

* Franz Marc (1880 - 1916) -- Important member of the expressionist movement and co-founder (together with the Russian Wassily Kandinsky) of the artist group ''Der blaue Reiter'' (''The Blue Rider''). Most well known are probably his many paintings depicting horses. He sadly died relatively young during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Battle of Verdun]].

* Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914) -- often considered the German Creator/LewisCarroll, he is most famous for his humorous nonsense poetry, in particular the ''Galgenlieder'' (Gallow Songs). He did also write serious works, but they never got as popular as his non-sense ones. Died shortly before WW1, with a lot of his work only published posthumously. The Nasobēm, a creature he described in a poem as walking on its noses, gave rise to the scientific joke of the order of the Rhinogradentia [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinogradentia]], or snouters, complete with descriptions of behavious, habitat, etc., which have been added to many serious scientific encyclopedias.

* Christoph Martin Wieland (1733 - 1813) -- Together with Herder, Goethe and Schiller forms the tetralogy of the ''Weimarer Klassik'', as he and the other three lived together for a time in that small town, the residence of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Notable enough as a writer in his own right that Napoleon invited him to see him in 1808, Wieland is also important as a translator of Shakespeare's works. Heinrich Heine still preferred Wieland's prose translations over the blank verse versions of Schlegel and Tieck.

* Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856) -- Among other writings, author of the poem ''Germany. A Winter's Tale'', in which Heine describes satirically his tour through Germany (he emigrated to UsefulNotes/{{France}} in 1831). Centuries later, the title of Sönke Wortmann's movie ''Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen'' (''Germany. A Summer's Tale'') is a ShoutOut. [[IsntItIronic Quite ironic]], [[FridgeLogic if you think about it for a moment]], given that Wortmann's movie is rather positive, while Heine portrays [[UsefulNotes/AllTheLittleGermanies the political atmosphere in his contemporary Germany]] in rather a negative way.

* Creator/HeinrichVonKleist (1777 - 1811) -- Kleist was a highly popular playwright, whose characters taken from classical and medieval world nonetheless had a modern, psychological contemporary spirit. His short stories were much loved by Creator/FranzKafka, who cited ''Literature/MichaelKohlhaas'' as one of his favorites. His writings are still shocking for their violence and sexuality, which makes him a major Romantic writer even if he was highly ironic in spirit. He died with his lover, Henriette Vogel in a murder-suicide pact first by shooting her and then himself. No one who had read his works was surprised in the least.

* Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) -- Building off of the works of Nietzsche, he ended up with a unique--and [[MindScrew impossible to describe]]--philosophy of his own. During the Nazi period, he actually became a Nazi, which he repented after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]]. Despite the Nazism, he was a GentileJewChaser, having stormy affairs with his Jewish students Hannah Arendt and Elisabeth Blochmann; of course, this was justified, in that he shared Nietzsche's disdain for anti-Semitism, and he probably joined the Nazis over different matters.

* Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) -- Building off of the works of Nietzsche, he ended up with a unique--and [[MindScrew impossible to describe]]--philosophy of his own. During the Nazi period, he actually became a Nazi, which he repented after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]]. Despite the Nazism, he had quite the case of MatzoFever, having stormy affairs with his Jewish students Hannah Arendt and Elisabeth Blochmann; of course, this was justified, in that he shared Nietzsche's disdain for anti-Semitism, and he probably joined the Nazis over different matters.

* Heinrich von Kleist (1777 - 1811) -- Kleist was a highly popular playwright, whose characters taken from classical and medieval world nonetheless had a modern, psychological contemporary spirit. His short stories were much loved by Creator/FranzKafka, who cited ''Literature/MichaelKohlhaas'' as one of his favorites. His writings are still shocking for their violence and sexuality, which makes him a major Romantic writer even if he was highly ironic in spirit. He died with his lover, Henriette Vogel in a murder-suicide pact first by shooting her and then himself. No one who had read his works was surprised in the least.

* Creator/KarlMarx (1818 - 1883) -- Father of Marxism (although he went on record to say that he wasn't a Marxist), which shaped socialism, social democracy and communism. Because of this, [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade some people see him in a negative light]], [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade others in a positive light]]. [[NamesTheSame Not related]] to [[Creator/MarxBrothers Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo or Gummo]]. Appeared on the East German 100-Mark banknote because ''of course'' he did.

* Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) -- His criticisms regarding the Catholic Church triggered the founding of Protestantism. Also, together with his buddy Philipp Melanchthon, he translated the Bible into German. [[TheDarkSide Unfortunately, some of his own writings are unambiguously anti-Semitic.]] His Bible translation, pamphlets, fables and chorales reshaped the German language, so he would also deserve to be listed under writers. He also set some of his own chorales to music. [[NamesTheSame Not to be confused]] with [[UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr this]] other historically important Protestant minister!

* Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805) -- Best buddy of Goethe. Wrote plays like ''Myth/WilliamTell'', ''Mary Stuart'', ''Theatre/{{Wallenstein}}'' and ''Theatre/TheRobbers''. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Also you can eat]] [[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schillerlocken his hair.]] The lyrics to Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's ''Music/OdeToJoy'' were lifted almost word-for-word from one of his poems.

* Creator/JohannesBrahms (1837 - 1897) -- Romantic composer born in Hamburg and known for his four symphonies and his lullaby. Worked in Vienna mostly.

** Although he did actually have ''[[MassiveNumberedSiblings twenty]]'' children (of whom ten survived to adulthood). Admittedly this was by two wives, but each qualifies separately--his first, Maria Barbara, [[KissingCousins his second cousin]], died young, after giving him seven children; his second, Anna Magdalena, was a singer and musical copyist, and besides giving him 13 children edited his work.

* Salomon (Salomo) Franck (1659 - 1725) -- Scientist, lawyer, and poet. Best known for writing the librettos for some of J.S. Bach's greatest cantatas.

-->-- '''Jean Paul Richter'''[[note]]This famous phrase has been much mangled since it first appeared in Richter's ''Peacetime Sermon to Germany'' in 1808. There it took the form "...and so, just as the French are the masters of the land and the English those of the larger seas, we [Germans] are the masters both of those and of the air encompassing everything... . The phrase was popularized by its appearance in an extremely abbreviated French form in Mme. de Staël's ''About Germany'' (1813); by 1827 or so it had been haphazardly Englished and became a favorite of English newspaper editors (who, as Thomas Carlyle growled in ''The Edinburgh Review'', knew precious little else of Richter). Though later commonly interpreted as meaning that the Germans lived only in their imaginations, one may note that Richter himself stated that the Germans are masters, not only of the air, but of the land and sea as well; by this he was not asserting a universal Teutonic empire, but that the Germans typically displayed all the characteristics of all the various nations of Europe.[[/note]]

-->-- '''Jean Paul Richter'''[[note]]This famous phrase has been much mangled since it first appeared in Richter's ''Peacetime Sermon to Germany'' in 1808. There it took the form "...and so, just as the French are the masters of the land and the English those of the larger seas, we [Germans] are the masters both of those and of the air encompassing everything... . The phrase was popularized by its appearance in an extremely abbreviated French form in Mme. de Staël's "Germany" (1813); by 1827 or so it had been haphazardly Englished and became a favorite of English newspaper editors (who, as Thomas Carlyle growled in ''The Edinburgh Review'', knew precious little else of Richter). Though later commonly interpreted as meaning that the Germans lived only in their imaginations, one may note that Richter himself stated that the Germans are masters, not only of the air, but of the land and sea as well; by this he was not asserting a universal Teutonic empire, but that the Germans typically displayed all the characteristics of all the various nations of Europe.[[/note]]

-->-- '''Jean Paul Richter'''[[note]]This famous phrase has been much mangled since it first appeared in Richter's ''Peacetime Sermon to Germany'' in 1808. There it took the form "...and so, just as the French are the masters of the land and the English those of the larger seas, we [Germans] are the masters both of those and of the air encompassing everything... . The phrase was popularized by its appearance in an extremely abbreviated French form in Mme. de Staël's "Germany"; by 1827 or so it had been haphazardly Englished and became a favorite of English newspaper editors (who, as Thomas Carlyle growled in ''The Edinburgh Review'', knew precious little else of Richter). Though later commonly interpreted as meaning that the Germans lived only in their imaginations, one may note that Richter himself stated that the Germans are masters, not only of the air, but of the land and sea as well; by this he was not asserting a universal Teutonic empire, but that the Germans typically displayed all the characteristics of all the various nations of Europe.[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The "Dichterfürsten"[[note]]Princes of Poetry[[/note]] Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller.]]

After 1945 some changed the wording to "Land der Richter und Henker" - land of judges and executioners, due to the way in which the legal profession had been largely complicit in the Nazi crimes.

-->-- '''Jean Paul Richter'''[[note]]This famous phrase has been much mangled since it first appeared in Richter's ''Peacetime Sermon to Germany'' in 1808. There it took the form "...and so, just as the French are the masters of the land and the English those of the larger seas, we [Germans] are the masters both of those and of the air encompassing everything... . The phrase was popularized by its appearance in an extremely abbreviated French form in Mme. de Staël's "Germany"; by 1827 or so it had been haphazardly Englished and became a favorite of English newspaper editors (who, as Thomas Carlyle growled in ''The Edinburgh Review'', knew precious little else of Richter). Though later commonly interpreted as meaning that the Germans lived only in their imaginations, one may note that Richter himself stated that the Germans are masters, not only of the air, but of the land and sea as well; by this he was not asserting universal Teutonic dominance, but that the Germans typically displayed all the characteristics of all the various nations of Europe.[[/note]]

->''"Der liebe Gott hat am Anfang den Franzosen die Herrschaft des Landes gegeben; den Englischen die Herrschaft des Meeres; aber den Deutschen die Herrschaft der Wolken"''.

-->-- '''Jean Paul Richter'''[[note]]Lived 1763-1825, so he was hardly talking about the [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Luftwaffe]][[/note]]

* Hrotsvit (Roswitha) of Gandersheim (ca. 935 - after 975) -- Considered the first female German poet, this nun wrote in Latin. Her works include a history of the life of Emperor Otto the Great in classical hexameters and some of the first new dramas since Roman antiquity. Her ''Theophilus'' is considered the first literary treatment of a DealWithTheDevil.

* Creator/ETAHoffmann (1776 - 1822) -- Born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, he changed his third name to Amadeus out of admiration for Mozart. A writer, music critic and composer whose [[Theatre/TheTalesOfHoffmann tales]] epitomized "Dark Romanticism" and had a huge influence in and outside Germany that his life and works were turned into an opera by Jacques Offenbach. Well-known works include the early crime novella ''Das Fräulein von Scudery'', ''Literature/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing'', and ''Literature/TheSandman''.

* Jacob (1785 - 1863) and Wilhelm (1786 - 1859) Grimm, [-AKA-] Creator/TheBrothersGrimm -- The Grimm Bros. are famous for a number of things, among them: 1) Their collection of {{Fairy Tale}}s, and 2) the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Wörterbuch Deutsches Wörterbuch]]'', a ''reallllllly'' big German dictionary, begun in 1838 -- the last volume of the first edition was published as late as 1961, with the addition of a source volume in '71.! (It isn't a 'simple' dictionary but, like the ''OxfordEnglishDictionary'', one which contains detailed information about the etymology and history of the words and language. A 'simple' dictionary more likely to be known by people who speak or learn German would be the ''Duden''.) The Brothers Grimm were portrayed on the [[UsefulNotes/TheBerlinRepublic '90s-version]] of the 1000 Deutsche Mark banknote. Also, Jacob Grimm was a famous linguist (the term was philologist at the time), who discovered [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_Law Grimm's Law]], which details the transformation from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic.