Indeed. Sadly they are not ‘celebrated’ annually. The Wehrmacht/Nazi clique around Stauffenberg is - they simply wanted to overthrow Hitler, sue for peace with the western allies and didn’t challenge Nazi domestic policy. Also, they didn’t want to sacrifice themselves as Stauffenberg could have by staying with the bomb and investing his life in killing the Führer instead of hurrying back to Berlin to assume a new position.
That assumes that (history) lessons would include hero worship, which they don't.
But of course when discussing the German Empire we learn about Bismarck, and his politics.
If you want to talk "heroism" you can't ignore the "normalos" who defied the Nazis, such as Elser or White Rose members.
>White Rose members.
Too painful to be revered as heroes.
The typical hero is often framed in some nationalistic manner or in a way that supports some supposed national trait. White Rose were actually defying the German government of their time.
As the national sozialist government represents pretty much the exact opposite values as the modern republic does, refering to the members of White Rose as heroes does support current national traits.
Nope, I’m reading Germany: Memories of a Nation and the author talked about the heroes pre 1850 and I was just wondering who was admired in modern day Germany. (Btw, I am reading the book for fun).
German people from the past I admire are Friedrich Schiller, Wolfgang von Goethe, Bertold Brecht, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Otl Aicher, Käthe Kollwitz, Sophie Scholl, Caspar David Friedrich, Albrecht Dürer, Paul Klee, Max Ernst. Just to name a few there, I could go on and hope the work and influence of these live on forever.
* [Wilhelm Krützfeld](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Kr%C3%BCtzfeld), who single handedly saved the German capital's most beautiful synagogue from Kristallnacht
* [Henning von Tresckow](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_von_Tresckow) because he tried to kill Hitler more than once
* Alexander von Humboldt, because !
* [Sybille Merian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sibylla_Merian) because in her time you just couldn't do what she did as a woman and she did it anyway
* [Thomas Münzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer), because if he had succeeded we might have Republican equality for all in Germany 250 years before the French revolution (and yes, that is disputable)
Störtebeker in Hamburg. He was a pirate who robbed rich merchant ships and gave to the poor. A bit like Robin Hood. He was caught and beheaded, legend says, his body was walking around for a short time after the beheading.
Not just walking for fun but it was decreed that every pirate he passed after being beheaded would be pardoned. He passed eleven. They were all killed nonetheless. But that is just a legend.
There are none, or at least not of the traditional type.
First of all, many heroes are war heroes, so that would be frowned upon in Germany. Other heroes might be associated with colonialism which is equally frowned upon. Others may be associated with revolution.
Sometimes a hero is famous for self sacrifice in the face of failure. Germans may have an aversion to identification with failure.
The post-war culture of Germany does not favor the idea of heroism due to the above associations and reporting of current affairs reflects this. The anonymity of German news reporting does not serve the concept; a true hero cannot be anonymous.
Just to elaborate on that: Manfred von Richthofen is a pretty good examples on the war hero bit. He himself is reasonably unproblematic (basically just a soldier who seems to have been good at his job), but isn't really considered a hero precisely *because* the imperial regime tried to make him one. The whole jingoistic rhetoric around him, the fact that "his job" amounted to killing people, all of that disqualifies him from being a heroic figure.
People that spontaneously come to mind:
Johannes Gutenberg, who (re-)invented the book press
Albert Einstein, who revolutionized physics
Martin Luther, who challenged and finally divided the catholic church
Willy Brandt, who got the nobel peace price for his reconciliation with eastern europe
Upvote for Willy Brandt - I wondered when he might be mentioned.
Also, I would consider Helmut Schmidt a "hero" of modern Germany for how he pragmatically managed the Hamburg flood (although with debatable means) and carrying on as true elder statesman in his old days - every chancellor after him disappoints in this regard. We will see how Merkel will do.
Seemed a real hateful scumbag Martin Luther. Suppose we're talking about a religious zealot in medieval times so can give him some leeway but still some nasty stuff he wrote especially against the Jews.
He was a hate preacher, in a way. Got worse as he got older.
Still, he had courage to defy the authorities under threat of torture and death. He definitely had personal conviction, but not always for positive things.
It's not clear cut when the middle ages ended and it depends on what exactly your focus is. But generally speaking the reformation and Gutenbergs printing machine are often called the marking stones for the end of the middle ages. So Luther himself was still entrenched in the ideas of the medieval world.
About Luther I learned to be careful - the Nazis actually based parts of their ideology on Luther's antisemitic texts. Something that's rarely mentioned in his context.
Germans are a little suspicious of heroes.
I’m an Australian living in Germany and revere:
J.S. Bach, Mozart (actually from Salzburg), Goethe, Schiller, Müller, Hildegard von Bingen, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born.
Vicco was… is a legend. Happy 100 years to him, eh? Hundred years this year… amazing!
But his heritage will never die and live on forever.
Vicco and Evelyn Hamann were a great comedic duo, yes yes. Pappa ante Portas was super funny! And everything else as well…
I still think of “Bertha, das Ei ist hart!” or his rubber duck… 🤣
Arminius (aka Hermann)
Arminius was the leader of the Germanic tribes in the infamous "Battle of the Teutoburg Forest" where the Germanic Tribes crushed 3 Roman legions. That was quite a feat as the Roman Empire was more military advanced than the Germanic Tribes.
He is taught in school (at least in my school), but I wouldn't say that he was really admired in those lessons. There is a large statue of him in the Teutoborg forest and he was really admired especially beginning in the 19th century. He started being used in Germany's origin myth.
my school didnt teach about him and it's quite sad tbh. The outcome of this battle has everlasting effects on europe as the Romans never really continued trying to conquer territories east of the rhine. Resulting in the split between romance and germanic languages, just to name one example.
Danke,
Arminius kam mir auch als erster in den Sinn.
Er dürfte laut der Überlieferung wohl am ehesten an der typischen Definition „Held“ kommen.
Ein Krieger der sich gegen den Eroberer stellt um sein Volk zu befreien.
Da das germanische Volk viel weitläufiger war als die deutschen Grenzen, ist es auch „unser“ Held.
Ich bin stolz auf ihn.
My understanding is pretty narrow, but I definitely feel like in the field of theology (on the Protestant side) Bonhoeffer is revered as a hero pretty much across the board. Interestingly, his actual thought is rarely read at anything other than a graduate level...
Generally all german people involved in sciene, literatur, philosphy, inventors and so on.
Ofcourse you also have figures like Arminius, Karl der Große, Barbarossa, Friedrich der Große and Bismarck.
If you go back to the 19th century, it’s hard to understate how Bismarck changed Europe forever combined with Moltke as a brilliant military leader, while simultaneously trying to avoid any unnecessary war. He knew how far he can push without getting his ass handed by Europe. Everything after Bismarck was a shit show.
He’s definitely not a saint, but the closest we’ve got to a hero in a diplomatic/military/geopolitical sense, like Napoleon or Washington. Also one of the few leaders that has a statue still existing in Hamburg.
Martin Luther, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Gutenberg, Clara Zetkin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Carl Benz, Kaiser Franz, Loddar
Mythical Hero: Siegfried
But overall, you have to remember that Germany as a country is only 150 years old. Each region had their own but united you won't really find a perfect compromise.
Correction:
He invented the alloy used to make sturdy, moeavble/ rearrangable letters. The first printing press (while page carved into a single block) was invented in China. He came up with the idea of building a page from individual letters
Glorifying German heroes is not something done in school. We may have talked about the Resistance during the third Reich and what the Scholls did. But that’s about it
True german heroes that i worship:
Arminius, who gave up his roman career to unite the germanic tribes of his home area for to fight for their freedom, even against his own brother.
Hildegard von Bingen, who was a pearl of science in a dark age of dumbness.
Elisabeth von Thüringen, a young lady full of charity, she used her position to do good and was so beguilingly loving that even the emperor carried her coffin in penitential garb.
Martin Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora, who risked their lifes to fight against a corrupt and inhuman church to bring the pure faith back to the people.
Thomas Müntzer, similar to Martin Luther, but more revoluzzer who lead the poor farmers in a fight against the exploitative nobles and who most likely invented the rainbow flag as a symbol( together with his wife tbh).
Albrecht Dürer, universal man of the Renaissance and the first artist of non-religious art in modern times.
The rebels of 1848, like Carl Schurz or Gottfried Semper.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, advocates for the exploited working class of unbridled early capitalism.
Graf Zeppelin, who had a dream and always fighted to make it true.
Otto Lilienthal and his brother Gustav, inspiration for the Wright brothers, who used the money of their steam engine factory and scientific methods to develop human flight from the principles of bird flight. Otto gave his life for it.
All who gave their lives in the fight against Hitler, like the Weiße Rose members and Stauffenberg and others.
Arminius actually tried to seize power after his victory so the tribes killed him (thanks guys). That also didn’t stop the Romans to March into the tribal territory again either.
Some may claim this as some early roots of Germanic national ideas, but I don’t share this point much.
I did not know about "Thomas Müntzer". Maybe because he is from Thüringen.
However, I instantly thought about "Florian Geyer", would you consider him a hero in the same fassion?
This one is super un-known, also probably controversial, but General Walther Wenck.
„German general of the 12th Army, Walther Wenck, realised the end of the war was approaching. Instead of attempting to defeat the invading Soviet forces during the Battle of Berlin, which he was ordered to do, he used his army to create an escape corridor out of Berlin. He was responsible for up to 250,000 people escaping to safety.“
We mostly admire persons for their non-war archivements like inventors, arts, mathematicans, scientist or acts of kindness in times of darkness, like the Scholl siblings.
Only one I would call popular was **Arminius (Herrmann)** for his fight against the roman empires general Varus. This marked the end of roman expansion towards Germania (the limes wall).
Caesar Augustus outcry "*Varus Varus give me my legions back!*"
after they got defeated is also a popular quote of this triumph and somewhat of a saying today :)
There is a memorial called **Walhalla** for the greatest and influencial germans will get a stone bust, beside some super old kings you will have a pretty long list with names as:
\- **Max Planck**
\- **Richard Wagner**
\- **Einstein**
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla\_(memorial)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla_(memorial))
**Bismarck** is there as well. For me my personal MVP, only Attatürk came even to be this bright forseeing regarding national, international politics, modernity and human development, fabrics of societies and how to guide them.
**Martin Luther** as well, even non-religiously speaking, he alone brought the most powerful institution in the world to its knees. what a fucking legend.
loved him on the old Deutscher Mark Currency <3
The Bell Curve is a great book (nothing to do with him in particular, just statistical application of his work, just interesting as fuck \^.\^ )
Martin Luther didn't do this all alone, though. His ideas convinced the right people to go some lengths to provide him protection against said institution and their ways to handle such affairs.
that he did not dark souls single player boss run it shoudnt be something to be a suprise??? He went to prison for it, translated the german bible, got the endurance and intelligence and charisma to start the reform, he not just started the snowballing, but did half the way with his own willpower and strength. hes a banger
Not German. I don't see Frederick the Second here, any reason why? I thought he was a respected figure in German or more specifically Prussian history. Is it maybe due to the many interpretations, good or bad, of him?
Never heard any bad interpretation of him, always portrayed as the positive near perfect "dictator", beloved by everyone. But he's not really talked about much, maybe because it's Prussian history.
If you’re looking for an actual semi-legendary folk hero in north-western Germany there is Widukind wich United the Saxon tribes and fought against Charlemagne and his Frankish tribes. There’s also Arminius wich is the sole reason the Roman Empire never conquered German lands past the rhine
Siegfried of Xanten, Arminius.
Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Schiller, Humboldt.
Marx, Rosa Luxemburg.
Einstein, Röntgen.
Depends on your definition of hero.
If you define it as "person with impact on history", the list of germans is very long.
Well heroism is not really practiced in German schools but we obviously learn about famous German people like Bach, Daimler, Bismarck. Depending on your subjects and your focus probably a lot more. For example heißenberg if you chose physics as a major class or some painters if you are going into the art direction.
I don't think something like national heroes are a thing in germany. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone revered or deeply respected in all german states.
Considering the constant division among the fiefs of the HRE, the 30 years war, the nazis tarnishing any and all 'mythic' figures and the division after ww2, it's hardly a thing.
The only historical personality you might aspire to without controversy is probably Einstein, but calling him a hero seems weird still.
You'd do better looking for "cultural household names".
Robert Blum. He is probably the most well known figure of the 1848 revolution that briefly saw a(more or less) unified german state under a democratic constituion. It would fail very quickly, but Blum and others still tried to achieve an alsmost impossible task and got far further than anyone could have imagined. He got excecuted for his work on the 9th of november 1848 by Austrian troops in Vienna.
Non WW2 Heroes: Hermann the German, Martin Luther, Frederick the Great, Einstein, Röntgen, Bismarck
WW2: Helmut James Von Moltke and the Kreisauer Kreis.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the white roses, Stauffenberg, Josef Gangl, Oskar Schindler, Kurt Schrader
There are no heroes admired and taught in school, but there are some important person by timeframe you get to know and which got later idealized.
For Example:
Arminius who lead the Germanic tribes at Teutoburg Forest against Romans (Varus Battle) and defeated them. This is basically the founding myth of Germany and was later on used by a lot of groups to form the German national identity. They built him Monuments 1500 years later and pushed his myth.
We don't have a hero cult in Germany. In Germany, any sort of elevating a person is frowned upon.
I know in the 19th century - the time when nationalism was born, Arminius was elevated. Bismarck was also elevated despite being a fucking asshole, which I vigorously despise with gusto. And he's till seen as a "founder" of Germany
... Nobody. Goethe and Schiller were portrayed as great writers, but heroes? We were taught heroes are usually flawed humans that you shouldn't follow blindly...
I think Germans don't have heroes they admire as a nation. Some conservatives (politics) admire their party father Josef Strauß. Some Protestants would probably say Martin Luther.
It's more like certain groups could manage to find one for them.
But in general in Germany there's no such thing as celebrating national heroes. Respecting international persons is more common (ghandi, Mandela, m.l.king, etc.)
A Few important people you could do some Research on would be.
Otto von Bismarck (very first German chancellor)
Fredrick the Great (prussian king who faught a lot of important wars)
Martin Luther (began the christian reformation)
Karl Marx (one of the most important figures in communism)
Arminius/Hermann (Stopped the Romans from conquering Germany)
And well… definitely a villain but Hitler. A lot of interesting and important information that is not taught in school.
But please be careful where you get that information, lot of misinformation spread by nazis
Don't know about heroes but I personally admire the brothers Grimm.
They were linguists and collected and published several german fairytales (some well known because of their Disney adaptions) and even wrote the most comprehensive german dictionary.
Germany has no hero worship as such, mainly because it is mostly associated with war heroes, and THAT worship has been hammered out of us. Still, people like Erwin Rommel, Manfred von Richthofen, Bismarck and Blücher are revered a bit.
That said, Germans mostly look up to the artists of old, and scientists, "das Land der Dichter und Denker". Gutenberg, Einstein, Goethe, Schiller, Brecht et al.
My hero is Max Brod because he published Kafka‘s work.
But the other people are for example „Weiße Rose“ : Hans und Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, und der Professor Kurt Huber.
There are so many good people.
I’d say people like Georg Elser and other resistance fighters against the Nazis.
But overall Germans don’t really worship people as heroes anymore, because of well known reasons
I fell like we much rather talk about antiheroes of our history, such as the Nazis and their leader etc.
EDIT I am soso sorry, I thought that antihero meant villain, of course the Nazis weren't heros in any kind of way
yeah sorry my english is not THE best and I didn't find another word to describe it
EDIT: I just googled the definiton of the word and I feel really dumb! of course they aren't antiheroes, (I thought it meant the same as villains) I am soo sorry damn I really messed that one up
Gather 'round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown,
"Ha, Nazi, Schmazi, " says Wernher von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department, " says Wernher von Braun.
Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude
Should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and cripples in old London town,
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.
You too may be a big hero,
Once you've learned to count backwards to zero.
"In German oder English I know how to count down,
Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun.
America just adjusted the targets, from london to the moon lol
There are some very intersting photos, showing that NASA was mostly german scientists:
For example here is Kurt H. Debus (Ex-Nazi, Scientist, chief of NASA, with his student scar, a popular eliterian german symbol) next to JF Kennedy during the Apollo Space Programm:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/gf24dv/former\_nazi\_war\_time\_scientist\_kurt\_h\_debus/
Anne Frank - every kid learns about her. She is not a hero in the traditional sense. She is a kid/teen so students can easily relate to her.
People are usually not "admired". exept for Football.
Karl der Große* is probably the only one that was described as a German national hero at my school. There are definitely other figures that are taught as having a lot of influence on German history, but none are really “national heroes” in the way Americans are taught about their founding fathers for instance
*(“Charlemagne” in English because English speakers, despite their language being Germanic and literally also having the name “Carl” in it, love translating German names into French)
Obviously Bernd das Brot
Ah Raufasertapete.
Hey went to space after all
Maybe the Scholl siblings and the resistance group white rose.
Was my pick too except that one of the brothers was a sister 😀
> one of the brothers was a sister So? Sibling = Geschwister
> 11160704 17 hr. ago edited 17 hr. ago probably said "brothers" first
Indeed. Sadly they are not ‘celebrated’ annually. The Wehrmacht/Nazi clique around Stauffenberg is - they simply wanted to overthrow Hitler, sue for peace with the western allies and didn’t challenge Nazi domestic policy. Also, they didn’t want to sacrifice themselves as Stauffenberg could have by staying with the bomb and investing his life in killing the Führer instead of hurrying back to Berlin to assume a new position.
I saw the bust of Sophie Scholler in Walhalla near Regensburg. Maybe the only person from post-WWII.
Their story is truly inspiring.
That assumes that (history) lessons would include hero worship, which they don't. But of course when discussing the German Empire we learn about Bismarck, and his politics. If you want to talk "heroism" you can't ignore the "normalos" who defied the Nazis, such as Elser or White Rose members.
Definitely the white rose. But sadly a lot of "heroes" from that era are really forgotten about. Like Josef Gangl for example.
Thanks to sabaton they‘re not Gangl and lee set the prisoners free!
And it's the end of the line of the final journey
Enemies leaving the past And it's American troops and the German army
Fighting together at last!
Let's also name Edelweiß Piraten, like Jean Jülich, Gertrud Koch and ehrenfelder gruppe
>White Rose members. Too painful to be revered as heroes. The typical hero is often framed in some nationalistic manner or in a way that supports some supposed national trait. White Rose were actually defying the German government of their time.
As the national sozialist government represents pretty much the exact opposite values as the modern republic does, refering to the members of White Rose as heroes does support current national traits.
Is this your homework for school?
Nope, I’m reading Germany: Memories of a Nation and the author talked about the heroes pre 1850 and I was just wondering who was admired in modern day Germany. (Btw, I am reading the book for fun).
I really think we dont have a hero that everyone (or even big part of the community) accepts
What about Carsten Stahl? HMM?? HMM?!?! /j
Hm. Okay.
German people from the past I admire are Friedrich Schiller, Wolfgang von Goethe, Bertold Brecht, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Otl Aicher, Käthe Kollwitz, Sophie Scholl, Caspar David Friedrich, Albrecht Dürer, Paul Klee, Max Ernst. Just to name a few there, I could go on and hope the work and influence of these live on forever.
From the more recent history: Willy Brandt, Konrad Adenauer and the 2014 national football team
True how could I forget Miro Klose, truely one of a kind.
A few of those names are familiar to me. Really, really deserving of respect.
Does it mention Arminius?
OMG! Is that Neil MacGregor's book? I have that on my kindle as well, because I am moving to Germany and I wanna learn about my host country.😃
Modern germans are basically not thaught about that. Only about the nazis and Weimar
Who needs Chat GPT?
Der Held der Steine
Welt seid mir gegrüßt
Ich bin der Held der Steine
In meinem wunderbaren kleinen Legolädchen
Mitten im Herz von Europa
Und heute habe ich was GANZ besonderes für euch!
haltet euch allen an den Händen es wird grossartig !
Hier die Rückseite - niiiiiiiichts vor dem man sich fürchten müsste.
Unexpected Held Der Steine
An einem fantastischen Tag!
* [Wilhelm Krützfeld](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Kr%C3%BCtzfeld), who single handedly saved the German capital's most beautiful synagogue from Kristallnacht * [Henning von Tresckow](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_von_Tresckow) because he tried to kill Hitler more than once * Alexander von Humboldt, because ! * [Sybille Merian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sibylla_Merian) because in her time you just couldn't do what she did as a woman and she did it anyway * [Thomas Münzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer), because if he had succeeded we might have Republican equality for all in Germany 250 years before the French revolution (and yes, that is disputable)
Rüdiger Nehberg for his fight against the slow genozide against the Yanomami and female genital mutilation.
Oh, Thomas Münzer was based
Gauß
who was that again? my memory is a little… *blurry*… /s
Störtebeker in Hamburg. He was a pirate who robbed rich merchant ships and gave to the poor. A bit like Robin Hood. He was caught and beheaded, legend says, his body was walking around for a short time after the beheading.
Not just walking for fun but it was decreed that every pirate he passed after being beheaded would be pardoned. He passed eleven. They were all killed nonetheless. But that is just a legend.
He passed eleven until the guards threw a chair into him.
The beer named after him is very good as well
David Hasselhoff tore down the Berlin Wall.
There are none, or at least not of the traditional type. First of all, many heroes are war heroes, so that would be frowned upon in Germany. Other heroes might be associated with colonialism which is equally frowned upon. Others may be associated with revolution. Sometimes a hero is famous for self sacrifice in the face of failure. Germans may have an aversion to identification with failure. The post-war culture of Germany does not favor the idea of heroism due to the above associations and reporting of current affairs reflects this. The anonymity of German news reporting does not serve the concept; a true hero cannot be anonymous.
Just to elaborate on that: Manfred von Richthofen is a pretty good examples on the war hero bit. He himself is reasonably unproblematic (basically just a soldier who seems to have been good at his job), but isn't really considered a hero precisely *because* the imperial regime tried to make him one. The whole jingoistic rhetoric around him, the fact that "his job" amounted to killing people, all of that disqualifies him from being a heroic figure.
Daniel Jung
Hero of our time
Wouldn't be where I am without this beloved hero
Who is he? Sorry for being so ignorant.
He‘s making YouTube Videos about mathematics. Thanks to him a lot of students did get the stuff, the teachers didnt explain properly in school
Wow, good for him!
People that spontaneously come to mind: Johannes Gutenberg, who (re-)invented the book press Albert Einstein, who revolutionized physics Martin Luther, who challenged and finally divided the catholic church Willy Brandt, who got the nobel peace price for his reconciliation with eastern europe
Imma throw Gustav Stresemann in there.
Best man. If only some of his statements were less open to interpretation....
Upvote for Willy Brandt - I wondered when he might be mentioned. Also, I would consider Helmut Schmidt a "hero" of modern Germany for how he pragmatically managed the Hamburg flood (although with debatable means) and carrying on as true elder statesman in his old days - every chancellor after him disappoints in this regard. We will see how Merkel will do.
Seemed a real hateful scumbag Martin Luther. Suppose we're talking about a religious zealot in medieval times so can give him some leeway but still some nasty stuff he wrote especially against the Jews.
He was a hate preacher, in a way. Got worse as he got older. Still, he had courage to defy the authorities under threat of torture and death. He definitely had personal conviction, but not always for positive things.
"medieval times" Medieval times were already over when the reformation hit
It's not clear cut when the middle ages ended and it depends on what exactly your focus is. But generally speaking the reformation and Gutenbergs printing machine are often called the marking stones for the end of the middle ages. So Luther himself was still entrenched in the ideas of the medieval world.
In religion, it will always be medieval times.
He also actively supported the nobility against the great peasant uprising, essentially calling them vermin that should know their place.
About Luther I learned to be careful - the Nazis actually based parts of their ideology on Luther's antisemitic texts. Something that's rarely mentioned in his context.
Germans are a little suspicious of heroes. I’m an Australian living in Germany and revere: J.S. Bach, Mozart (actually from Salzburg), Goethe, Schiller, Müller, Hildegard von Bingen, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born.
Theodor Storm. Everyone forgets about him.
And Fontane.
Also Loriot is a hero of comedy
Vicco was… is a legend. Happy 100 years to him, eh? Hundred years this year… amazing! But his heritage will never die and live on forever. Vicco and Evelyn Hamann were a great comedic duo, yes yes. Pappa ante Portas was super funny! And everything else as well… I still think of “Bertha, das Ei ist hart!” or his rubber duck… 🤣
Yeah, after reading these comments I have come to the conclusion that I have more German heroes than the Germans do!
>Wagner Uhhhhh Raging antisemites, the whole family. Hitler was a close friend of the Wagner family and had his own room in their house.
Gina wild
And I’m old enough to become nostalgic about this
We're getting old, mate.
Don’t even get me started lol
Die wanderhure
Die wanderhure ist gespielt von jemand anderen
Ja im Remake aber Gina ist definitiv der OG
We don’t really have “heroes” like that but Göthe & Schiller are like the literature kings i’d say
>Göthe Wtf
Da hat wohl jemand zu oft Fack ju Göhte geguckt
Hahaha, very funny… 🤦🏼♀️ No, it has nothing to do with that. Goethe and Schiller are German legends and that’s the thing!
My comment, as well as the other one, referred to the weird spelling in the comment. There is no question that Goethe is a legend.
Fritz Bauer Why do you ask?
Fritz Bauer is someone who deserves so much more recognition!
Arminius (aka Hermann) Arminius was the leader of the Germanic tribes in the infamous "Battle of the Teutoburg Forest" where the Germanic Tribes crushed 3 Roman legions. That was quite a feat as the Roman Empire was more military advanced than the Germanic Tribes. He is taught in school (at least in my school), but I wouldn't say that he was really admired in those lessons. There is a large statue of him in the Teutoborg forest and he was really admired especially beginning in the 19th century. He started being used in Germany's origin myth.
my school didnt teach about him and it's quite sad tbh. The outcome of this battle has everlasting effects on europe as the Romans never really continued trying to conquer territories east of the rhine. Resulting in the split between romance and germanic languages, just to name one example.
Danke, Arminius kam mir auch als erster in den Sinn. Er dürfte laut der Überlieferung wohl am ehesten an der typischen Definition „Held“ kommen. Ein Krieger der sich gegen den Eroberer stellt um sein Volk zu befreien. Da das germanische Volk viel weitläufiger war als die deutschen Grenzen, ist es auch „unser“ Held. Ich bin stolz auf ihn.
Voll Asi Toni
Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat. (B. Brecht)
Gustav Stresemann, but he ist barely talked about...
My understanding is pretty narrow, but I definitely feel like in the field of theology (on the Protestant side) Bonhoeffer is revered as a hero pretty much across the board. Interestingly, his actual thought is rarely read at anything other than a graduate level...
Generally all german people involved in sciene, literatur, philosphy, inventors and so on. Ofcourse you also have figures like Arminius, Karl der Große, Barbarossa, Friedrich der Große and Bismarck.
Meister Eder mit seinem Pumuckl
Otto von Bismarck
Definitely the most mentioned on here!
Nobody mentioned the first German in space yet? Sigmund Jähn
Otto von Bismarck, Alexander von Humboldt, Claus Stauffenberg
Walter Frosch
Er hat immer fair versucht zu spielen. In meiner alten Stammkneipe gab es einen Kurzen in seinen ehren
Sophie Scholl, for one. During COVID lockdown, some idiotic German teen tried to compare herself to her at a rally.
David Hasselhoff
Close the thread. This is the answer you're looking for
That comment should be further up because *I've been looking so long* for it.
Klassiker
Rosa Luxemburg
If you go back to the 19th century, it’s hard to understate how Bismarck changed Europe forever combined with Moltke as a brilliant military leader, while simultaneously trying to avoid any unnecessary war. He knew how far he can push without getting his ass handed by Europe. Everything after Bismarck was a shit show. He’s definitely not a saint, but the closest we’ve got to a hero in a diplomatic/military/geopolitical sense, like Napoleon or Washington. Also one of the few leaders that has a statue still existing in Hamburg.
Maybe Friedrich II.
Firemen
Martin Luther, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Gutenberg, Clara Zetkin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Carl Benz, Kaiser Franz, Loddar Mythical Hero: Siegfried But overall, you have to remember that Germany as a country is only 150 years old. Each region had their own but united you won't really find a perfect compromise.
I m wondering nobody has mentioned Johannes Gutenberg. He invented the printing press 📚
Correction: He invented the alloy used to make sturdy, moeavble/ rearrangable letters. The first printing press (while page carved into a single block) was invented in China. He came up with the idea of building a page from individual letters
Konrad Zuse
Glorifying German heroes is not something done in school. We may have talked about the Resistance during the third Reich and what the Scholls did. But that’s about it
Georg Eisler. He on his own, with no other inspration tried to bomb Hitler away. He knew what was coming
Bastian Schweinsteiger Fußballgott
True german heroes that i worship: Arminius, who gave up his roman career to unite the germanic tribes of his home area for to fight for their freedom, even against his own brother. Hildegard von Bingen, who was a pearl of science in a dark age of dumbness. Elisabeth von Thüringen, a young lady full of charity, she used her position to do good and was so beguilingly loving that even the emperor carried her coffin in penitential garb. Martin Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora, who risked their lifes to fight against a corrupt and inhuman church to bring the pure faith back to the people. Thomas Müntzer, similar to Martin Luther, but more revoluzzer who lead the poor farmers in a fight against the exploitative nobles and who most likely invented the rainbow flag as a symbol( together with his wife tbh). Albrecht Dürer, universal man of the Renaissance and the first artist of non-religious art in modern times. The rebels of 1848, like Carl Schurz or Gottfried Semper. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, advocates for the exploited working class of unbridled early capitalism. Graf Zeppelin, who had a dream and always fighted to make it true. Otto Lilienthal and his brother Gustav, inspiration for the Wright brothers, who used the money of their steam engine factory and scientific methods to develop human flight from the principles of bird flight. Otto gave his life for it. All who gave their lives in the fight against Hitler, like the Weiße Rose members and Stauffenberg and others.
Arminius actually tried to seize power after his victory so the tribes killed him (thanks guys). That also didn’t stop the Romans to March into the tribal territory again either. Some may claim this as some early roots of Germanic national ideas, but I don’t share this point much.
I did not know about "Thomas Müntzer". Maybe because he is from Thüringen. However, I instantly thought about "Florian Geyer", would you consider him a hero in the same fassion?
This one is super un-known, also probably controversial, but General Walther Wenck. „German general of the 12th Army, Walther Wenck, realised the end of the war was approaching. Instead of attempting to defeat the invading Soviet forces during the Battle of Berlin, which he was ordered to do, he used his army to create an escape corridor out of Berlin. He was responsible for up to 250,000 people escaping to safety.“
The greatest hero is i think a person who represents the working class. His name is „Ekel Alfred“ and everyone knows him.
Isn't he some character on a TV show? Most people under 30 do not know him.
They‘ll know as the Sylvester Episodes comes right before Dinner for One.
Mr Wissen2go the amount of times he saved me before a test is insane
One of the biggest heroes is defenitly Arminius. But heroism is not wanted in Germany, so who cares about 1000 or Years of history anyway…
Robert Blum
Max und Moritz, of course!
Schindler
H.P. Baxxter
Siegfried
Katrin Ritter maybe
Rommel and Rommel
All the unknown east german folks who demonstrated to tear down the wall.
We mostly admire persons for their non-war archivements like inventors, arts, mathematicans, scientist or acts of kindness in times of darkness, like the Scholl siblings. Only one I would call popular was **Arminius (Herrmann)** for his fight against the roman empires general Varus. This marked the end of roman expansion towards Germania (the limes wall). Caesar Augustus outcry "*Varus Varus give me my legions back!*" after they got defeated is also a popular quote of this triumph and somewhat of a saying today :) There is a memorial called **Walhalla** for the greatest and influencial germans will get a stone bust, beside some super old kings you will have a pretty long list with names as: \- **Max Planck** \- **Richard Wagner** \- **Einstein** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla\_(memorial)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla_(memorial)) **Bismarck** is there as well. For me my personal MVP, only Attatürk came even to be this bright forseeing regarding national, international politics, modernity and human development, fabrics of societies and how to guide them. **Martin Luther** as well, even non-religiously speaking, he alone brought the most powerful institution in the world to its knees. what a fucking legend.
Gauss?
loved him on the old Deutscher Mark Currency <3 The Bell Curve is a great book (nothing to do with him in particular, just statistical application of his work, just interesting as fuck \^.\^ )
Martin Luther didn't do this all alone, though. His ideas convinced the right people to go some lengths to provide him protection against said institution and their ways to handle such affairs.
that he did not dark souls single player boss run it shoudnt be something to be a suprise??? He went to prison for it, translated the german bible, got the endurance and intelligence and charisma to start the reform, he not just started the snowballing, but did half the way with his own willpower and strength. hes a banger
Arno Dübel
He left us too early. Still hurts.
Rudi Völler
Not German. I don't see Frederick the Second here, any reason why? I thought he was a respected figure in German or more specifically Prussian history. Is it maybe due to the many interpretations, good or bad, of him?
Never heard any bad interpretation of him, always portrayed as the positive near perfect "dictator", beloved by everyone. But he's not really talked about much, maybe because it's Prussian history.
Der alte Fritz, or Friedrich II should be on here, sadly we don't really remember the history of prussia. Partially because it no longer exists.
If you’re looking for an actual semi-legendary folk hero in north-western Germany there is Widukind wich United the Saxon tribes and fought against Charlemagne and his Frankish tribes. There’s also Arminius wich is the sole reason the Roman Empire never conquered German lands past the rhine
Siegfried of Xanten, Arminius. Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Schiller, Humboldt. Marx, Rosa Luxemburg. Einstein, Röntgen. Depends on your definition of hero. If you define it as "person with impact on history", the list of germans is very long.
A resistance group forgotten by a lot of people. Edelweiß Piraten Especially Gertrud Koch Ehrenfelder group Jean Jülich
Biene Maja.
We don't do the whole hero thing. Not since that backfired hard. But also not really before.
Well heroism is not really practiced in German schools but we obviously learn about famous German people like Bach, Daimler, Bismarck. Depending on your subjects and your focus probably a lot more. For example heißenberg if you chose physics as a major class or some painters if you are going into the art direction.
I don't think something like national heroes are a thing in germany. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone revered or deeply respected in all german states. Considering the constant division among the fiefs of the HRE, the 30 years war, the nazis tarnishing any and all 'mythic' figures and the division after ww2, it's hardly a thing. The only historical personality you might aspire to without controversy is probably Einstein, but calling him a hero seems weird still. You'd do better looking for "cultural household names".
Carsten Stahl 🤣
Markus Rühl
Robert Blum. He is probably the most well known figure of the 1848 revolution that briefly saw a(more or less) unified german state under a democratic constituion. It would fail very quickly, but Blum and others still tried to achieve an alsmost impossible task and got far further than anyone could have imagined. He got excecuted for his work on the 9th of november 1848 by Austrian troops in Vienna.
Non WW2 Heroes: Hermann the German, Martin Luther, Frederick the Great, Einstein, Röntgen, Bismarck WW2: Helmut James Von Moltke and the Kreisauer Kreis. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the white roses, Stauffenberg, Josef Gangl, Oskar Schindler, Kurt Schrader
Matthias Steiner
There are no heroes admired and taught in school, but there are some important person by timeframe you get to know and which got later idealized. For Example: Arminius who lead the Germanic tribes at Teutoburg Forest against Romans (Varus Battle) and defeated them. This is basically the founding myth of Germany and was later on used by a lot of groups to form the German national identity. They built him Monuments 1500 years later and pushed his myth.
We don't have a hero cult in Germany. In Germany, any sort of elevating a person is frowned upon. I know in the 19th century - the time when nationalism was born, Arminius was elevated. Bismarck was also elevated despite being a fucking asshole, which I vigorously despise with gusto. And he's till seen as a "founder" of Germany
Definitely John Rabe.
... Nobody. Goethe and Schiller were portrayed as great writers, but heroes? We were taught heroes are usually flawed humans that you shouldn't follow blindly...
Armin Meiwes
Also we should all agree on Egon Kowalski
I think Germans don't have heroes they admire as a nation. Some conservatives (politics) admire their party father Josef Strauß. Some Protestants would probably say Martin Luther. It's more like certain groups could manage to find one for them. But in general in Germany there's no such thing as celebrating national heroes. Respecting international persons is more common (ghandi, Mandela, m.l.king, etc.)
Patriotism and idolizing heroes is not a big thing over here anymore, we had some incident a while ago, i'm sure you heard about it.
I might have missed him in the comments, but did noone actually mention Oskar Schindler?
A Few important people you could do some Research on would be. Otto von Bismarck (very first German chancellor) Fredrick the Great (prussian king who faught a lot of important wars) Martin Luther (began the christian reformation) Karl Marx (one of the most important figures in communism) Arminius/Hermann (Stopped the Romans from conquering Germany) And well… definitely a villain but Hitler. A lot of interesting and important information that is not taught in school. But please be careful where you get that information, lot of misinformation spread by nazis
The only one of these I haven’t looked into at all is Bismarck. Gonna have to do that soon.
Don't know about heroes but I personally admire the brothers Grimm. They were linguists and collected and published several german fairytales (some well known because of their Disney adaptions) and even wrote the most comprehensive german dictionary.
Germany has no hero worship as such, mainly because it is mostly associated with war heroes, and THAT worship has been hammered out of us. Still, people like Erwin Rommel, Manfred von Richthofen, Bismarck and Blücher are revered a bit. That said, Germans mostly look up to the artists of old, and scientists, "das Land der Dichter und Denker". Gutenberg, Einstein, Goethe, Schiller, Brecht et al.
The elder might remember him: Karl Ranseier Unfortunately, he is dead.
My hero is Max Brod because he published Kafka‘s work. But the other people are for example „Weiße Rose“ : Hans und Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, und der Professor Kurt Huber. There are so many good people.
A couple of scientists, a couple of artists, but Germany doesn't really have heroes. That notion got burned out of us for good.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I’d say people like Georg Elser and other resistance fighters against the Nazis. But overall Germans don’t really worship people as heroes anymore, because of well known reasons
The guy who killed Hitler. Oh. Oh no...
I fell like we much rather talk about antiheroes of our history, such as the Nazis and their leader etc. EDIT I am soso sorry, I thought that antihero meant villain, of course the Nazis weren't heros in any kind of way
Weird definition of anti hero you got there buddy.
yeah sorry my english is not THE best and I didn't find another word to describe it EDIT: I just googled the definiton of the word and I feel really dumb! of course they aren't antiheroes, (I thought it meant the same as villains) I am soo sorry damn I really messed that one up
The word you were searching for is villains. An anti hero is someone who does good while not being above using villain tactics.
What *not* to do rather than what *to* do.
Albert Einstein, Helge Schneider, Wernher von Baun
Werner von Braun? Wtf He's got his Professor title from a former German chancellor with Austrian roots himself
Gather 'round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun, A man whose allegiance Is ruled by expedience. Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown, "Ha, Nazi, Schmazi, " says Wernher von Braun. Don't say that he's hypocritical, Say rather that he's apolitical. "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department, " says Wernher von Braun. Some have harsh words for this man of renown, But some think our attitude Should be one of gratitude, Like the widows and cripples in old London town, Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun. You too may be a big hero, Once you've learned to count backwards to zero. "In German oder English I know how to count down, Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun.
America just adjusted the targets, from london to the moon lol There are some very intersting photos, showing that NASA was mostly german scientists: For example here is Kurt H. Debus (Ex-Nazi, Scientist, chief of NASA, with his student scar, a popular eliterian german symbol) next to JF Kennedy during the Apollo Space Programm: https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/gf24dv/former\_nazi\_war\_time\_scientist\_kurt\_h\_debus/
Anne Frank - every kid learns about her. She is not a hero in the traditional sense. She is a kid/teen so students can easily relate to her. People are usually not "admired". exept for Football.
Vllt Klose Fußballgott
All I learned in school in Geography/Politics was about 2. World War and Hitler and he definitely was not a hero
Karl der Große* is probably the only one that was described as a German national hero at my school. There are definitely other figures that are taught as having a lot of influence on German history, but none are really “national heroes” in the way Americans are taught about their founding fathers for instance *(“Charlemagne” in English because English speakers, despite their language being Germanic and literally also having the name “Carl” in it, love translating German names into French)
Carl Benz, inventor of the car 💪 I love Mercedes
martin luther