49.0159° N, 8.4031° E

KARLSRUHE

Most Famous People Born in Karlsruhe, Germany

Notable people
1,427
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1920
Most distinctive
Author 4.6×

A baroque grand-ducal city founded in 1715 around the fan-shaped palace of the Margraves of Baden-Durlach. Karlsruhe's distinctive professions are academic authors, chemists, engineers, judges, and architects — the trades of a Residenzstadt that grew into a 19th-century technical university town and never lost the official-document register. Karl Benz built the first automobile here in 1885, and Oliver Kahn and a deep column of other Bundesliga footballers came out of the local Karlsruher SC academy.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Karlsruhe during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 165 notable births.

What Karlsruhe Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Karlsruhe's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (136).

Karlsruhe over-indexes on author4.6× the global rate.

Karlsruhe under-produces singer — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Politician136
  2. Football98
  3. Actor69
  4. Painter63
  5. Author56
  6. Academic56
  7. Writer44
  8. Lawyer38
  1. Author564.6×
  2. Academic563.9×
  3. Chemist173.4×
  4. Judge233.4×
  5. Engineer232.6×
  6. Historian372.5×
  7. Architect312.5×
  8. Officer212.2×
  1. Singer170.6×
  2. Football980.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Karlsruhe's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Sports
  • Art & Design
  • Film & TV
  • Other
All1,427
Sort By

Showing 68 of 1,427 notable people

0015 OFFICER

Walther von Reichenau

1884 - 1942

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0033 PSYCHIATRIST

Frieda Fromm-Reichmann

1889 - 1957

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0034 ARCHITECT

Otto Bartning

1883 - 1959

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0035 ARCHITECT

Ludwig Hilberseimer

1885 - 1967

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0049 PAINTER

Alexander Kanoldt

1881 - 1939

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0061 FOOTBALL

Gottfried Fuchs

1889 - 1972

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0064 POLITICIAN

Otto Wagener

1888 - 1971

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0127 ARTIST

Alastair (Baron Hans Henning Voigt)

1887 - 1969

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0137 FOOTBALL

Fritz Förderer

1888 - 1952

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0172 ILLUSTRATOR

Winold Reiss

1886 - 1953

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0175 PHYSICIST

Max Trautz

1880 - 1960

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0178 FOOTBALL

Max Breunig

1888 - 1961

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0186 ART HISTORIAN

Wilhelm Valentiner

1880 - 1958

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0187 PHILOSOPHER

Leopold Ziegler

1881 - 1958

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0207 OLYMPIC

Richard Fuchs

1887 - 1947

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0214 PAINTER

Hanns Katz

1882 - 1940

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0230 FOOTBALL

Emil Oberle

1889 - 1955

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0236 ACTIVIST

Rahel Straus

1880 - 1963

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0237 ACTOR

Karl Elzer

1881 - 1938

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0248 ARCHAEOLOGIST

Otto Weinreich

1886 - 1972

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0258 ECONOMIST

Achim von Arnim (Rektor)

1881 - 1940

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0264 CHEMIST

Carl Lautenschläger

1888 - 1962

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0275 HISTORIAN

Willy Andreas

1884 - 1967

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0284 ASTRONOMER

Wilhelm Lorenz (astronome)

1886 - 1918

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0307 FOOTBALL

Karl Wegele

1887 - 1960

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0308 FOOTBALL

Ernst Hollstein

1886 - 1950

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0347 AUTHOR

Otto Gmelin

1886 - 1940

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0354 FOOTBALL

Robert Neumaier

1885 - 1959

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0437 AUTHOR

Richard Sexau

1882 - 1962

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0448 OFFICER

Karl-Friedrich Schweickhard

1883 - 1968

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0450 OPERA

Karl Ziegler (tenor)

1886 - 1944

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0480 LAWYER

Wilhelm Engler (Jurist)

1880 - 1958

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0514 HISTORIAN

Raphael Straus

1887 - 1947

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0551 ECONOMIST

Rudolf Meerwarth

1883 - 1946

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0601 COMPOSER

Margarete Schweikert

1887 - 1957

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0639 JOURNALIST

Rudolf Kircher

1885 - 1954

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0673 WRITER

Karl Willy Straub

1880 - 1971

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0734 OFFICER

Gustav Stoffleth

1881 - 1954

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0805 PAINTER

Hans Brasch (Maler)

1882 - 1973

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0822 LAWYER

Otto zu Rantzau

1888 - 1946

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0823 PALAEONTOLOGIST

Karl Hummel (Geologe)

1889 - 1945

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0837 POLITICIAN

Alfred Schmidt (Bürgermeister)

1880 - 1956

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0841 PSYCHIATRIST

Max Bräuner

1882 - 1966

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0866 ACADEMIC

Siegfried Gräff

1887 - 1966

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0879 PAINTER

Paul Dahlen

1881 - 1954

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0910 ACADEMIC

Gisbert von Teuffel

1881 - 1970

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0913 ACADEMIC

Otto Homburger

1885 - 1964

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0921 PHARMACIST

Magdalena Neff

1881 - 1966

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0951 POLITICIAN

Leopold Rückert

1881 - 1942

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0963 POLITICIAN

Alfred Schühly

1889 - 1977

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1019 SCULPTOR

Willi Münch-Khe

1885 - 1960

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1025 ACTOR

Fritz Blankenhorn (Sänger)

1889 - 1954

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1053 HISTORIAN

Hermann Franz (Ministerialdirektor)

1885 - 1957

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1071 PSYCHIATRIST

Erich Straub

1885 - 1945

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1098 ACADEMIC

Walter Seiz

1885 - 1966

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1105 POLITICIAN

Heinrich Berggötz

1889 - 1973

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1110 POLITICIAN

Rudolf Binz

1887 - 1945

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1133 POLITICIAN

Ernst Kundt (Diplomat)

1883 - 1974

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1159 ACTOR

Mary Zimmermann

1889 - 1945

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1166 PAINTER

Julius Kaspar (Maler)

1888 - 1922

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1205 DESIGNER

Dora Willgerodt-Brünner

1887 - 1983

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1268 POLITICIAN

Walther Koransky

1889 - 1963

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1277 PIANIST

Oskar Ulmer

1883 - 1966

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1288 BÜRGERMEISTER

August Kratt

1882 - 1969

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1333 FOOTBALL

Arthur Beier

1880 - 1917

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1353 MANAGER

Ferdinand Bausback

1884 - 1948

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1384 JUDGE

Karl Schörlin

1882 - 1955

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1419 POLITICIAN

Mine Härdle

1888 - 1967

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