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Famous Germans

Based on the clues, name these famous Germans, past and present.
Quiz idea: Colesy
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 10, 2019
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2012
Times taken31,855
Average score54.5%
Rating4.44
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Clue
German
Discovered relativity
Albert Einstein
First female Chancellor
Angela Merkel
"Ride of the Valkyries"
Richard Wagner
Pope, 2005-2013
Pope Benedict XVI
"Great" King of Prussia
Frederick the Great
"Iron Chancellor"
who united Germany
Otto von Bismarck
"Das Kapital"
Karl Marx
Philisopher who said
"God is dead"
Friedrich Nietzsche
Printing press inventor
Johannes Gutenberg
Author of "Faust"
Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe
TV model who says
"Auf Wiedersehen"
Heidi Klum
Clue
German
Father of rocket science
Wernher von Braun
"Moonlight Sonata"
Ludwig van Beethoven
Winner of 22 tennis Grand Slams
Steffi Graf
Started the Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther
"Brandenburg Concertos"
Johann Sebastian Bach
History's most infamous German
(born in Austria)
Adolf Hitler
"Desert Fox" general of WWII
Erwin Rommel
7-time Formula One champion
Michael Schumacher
Chancellor who rebuilt
West Germany (1949-1963)
Konrad Adenauer
WWI Kaiser
Wilhelm II
"The Tin Drum" author
Günter Grass
+1
Level 20
Oct 7, 2012
Yeah all I got was Hitler and Einstein. Hitler pretty much wipes the rest out.
+2
Level 57
Feb 14, 2013
Literally.
+3
Level 74
Jun 27, 2016
Actually
+1
Level 75
Aug 9, 2022
Well he would probably have wiped out Einstein and Marx given the chance, and he did actually wipe out Rommel. And Goethe's house got destroyed in the war, so that's that (some background, shortly after WW2 German satiricists were being sarcastic about the fact that some people were more concerned about Goethe's burned-down house than about the atrocities committed by the nazis).
+2
Level 66
Oct 7, 2012
Um, Hitler was Austrian
+6
Level 41
Mar 14, 2015
That is debatable. He was born in Austria as an Austro-Hungarian subject, that is without dispute, but he would have considered himself a German. Indeed, his whole worldview was centred around the idea of one indivisible German nation, and he would probably have been one of those people who deny the existence of Austrians as a national entity. And irrespective of these abstract consideration, he spent most of his active life as a German politician usurping power in and imposing his dictatorial rule on the German state, into which he forcfully absorbed Austria, destroying its independent existence.
+3
Level 72
Jun 18, 2015
Yes, it does. Nationality is in your heart. In contrast to citizenship or ethnicity which do not depend on you.
+3
Level 89
Mar 6, 2020
Nationality is in your heart? I claim Visigoth nationality.
+1
Level 75
Aug 9, 2022
If that's what you truly believe, not only what you claim but what you actually feel in your heart, then I'd say it's true.
+2
Level 74
Feb 18, 2016
Hitler was indeed born an Austrian, but he became a German citizen (keeping his Austrian nationality). What's more, he is more closely associated with Germany, as he was chancellor during the Third Reich. That's why he is more widely considered a German. There's nothing wrong with making him a German. Why do so many people complain about it?
+1
Level 75
Aug 9, 2022
Mostly Germans and mostly to annoy the Austrians. Our relationship with them is a lot like USA-Canada etc.
+1
Level 27
Oct 7, 2012
Are you kidding me?!? Hitler was an Austrian. And by the way, I typed "Schuhmacher" (correct version), and it wasn't accepted, but the false one ("Shumacher) was so.
+1
Level 37
Oct 7, 2012
Austria is a germanic nation, and Austrians are ethnically german for the most part. Hitler became leader of Germany, and tried to unite all german lands and people in europe, and for a short time Austria *was* part of Germany.
+2
Level 27
Oct 7, 2012
With that argument you could also include other people who spoke german. And I thought this quiz follows the birthplace. And Hitler was born in Austria-Hungary.

Also note that he's the only Austrian here, other famous ones like Sigmund Freud are not included.

+1
Level 56
Apr 14, 2013
Indeed, according to that argument everyone born in the Soviet Union is Russian
+2
Level 74
Nov 4, 2013
And George Washington was British :o)
+4
Level 24
Jul 7, 2014
You know why the Austrians are the most clever people in history?

Because they made Hitler a German and Mozart an Austrian :-)

+9
Level ∞
Oct 7, 2012
Normally I just let these go, but first of all, the quiz is right. It's Schumacher:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schumacher

Are you thinking of this guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schuhmacher

Moving on, Adolf Hitler became a citizen of Germany in 1932. Who says this quiz follows the birthplace?

Finally, Germany was a cultural identity long before it was a unified country. It wasn't even a unified country until the 19th century.

Are you kidding me indeed.

+1
Level 27
Feb 23, 2013
Can you accept Friderick for Frederick?
+1
Level 82
Apr 20, 2017
Indeed. Like the Romanian president is German, despite being born in Romania ...
+1
Level 27
Oct 8, 2012
Sorry for Schumacher. I just saw that I made a mistake here.

To the other issue: Yes, Germany was unified in 1871. Hitler was born 1889 in Austria-Hungary. That's what I followed... okay, it's your quiz and you can say it's not about birthplaces. Just note that a lot of people see him as Austrian.

+4
Level 54
Oct 8, 2012
Q: "Hey... you remember Hitler?"...

A: "Yes... he's that Austrian, right?" (The answer of 0.000001% of the world's population.)

A: "He's that Nazi German madman that killed millions of people" (The answer of 99.999999% of the world's population.)

"A lot of people see him as Austrian" is just a tiny bit of an exaggeration.

+2
Level 27
Oct 8, 2012
Most of the people see him as a mass murderer, and a lot of these as an Austrian mass murderer (especially Europeans). Don't twist my words.
+1
Level 47
Nov 13, 2013
It's the biggest achievment of the austrian people: They made Hitler become German (and Beethoven become Austrian sometimes).
+2
Level 71
Feb 25, 2016
Hitler gets the blame (the buck stops here) but apart from his stint in WW1, I don't think he personally murdered anyone during WW2. It took an awful lot of murderers to do the damage done in the NAZI name. Not all the NAZI murderers were German either.
+1
Level 38
Oct 9, 2012
I thought that the Chinese had invented the printing press far before Gutenberg did.
+1
Level 35
Dec 17, 2012
14/22.
+2
Level 33
Dec 25, 2012
Blimin' Nietzsche was impossible to spell. For me anyway.
+1
Level 17
Mar 28, 2013
The current pope isn't up 2 date anymore
+1
Level 57
Apr 14, 2013
Benedict XVI is no longer the pope. Please change.
+1
Level ∞
Nov 30, 2015
Updated
+1
Level 37
May 29, 2013
The pope is now Argentinian Francis.
+3
Level 70
May 3, 2014
Some of them are Austrian, everyone in Germany says "Aus Wiedersehen" (or what it is like), it means "Good Bye", but otherwise quite a good quiz :)
+6
Level 69
Feb 25, 2016
Yeah, that was a bit silly. I mean, "TV model who says ...", uh, so you mean, like every single German, Austrian, Swiss German, Luxembourg German, Belgian German, etc. one ever?
+1
Level 67
May 4, 2014
Lol, it took me quite some time before finding a spelling of Nietzsche that worked :) (at least I knew it was the answer so I persevered). The pope question does need to be amended though, perhaps for something like "recent pope" (that way it won't have to be updated again in quite some time ;)) And I really should have remembered Heidi Klum was German.
+1
Level 23
May 13, 2014
Yaaaaaaaaay! My Great Great etc Grandfather is on here!!!! :)
+3
Level 71
Feb 25, 2016
Pope Benedict?
+2
Level 89
Feb 25, 2016
Einstein?
+6
Level 78
Feb 28, 2016
Heidi Klum?
+1
Level 90
May 23, 2014
Time to update the pope
+1
Level 76
Jun 21, 2014
Steffi Graf hasn't won 22 grand slams. A grand slam is winning all 4 of the US, French and Australian Opens plus Wimbledon in one year. Graf has won 22 individual tournaments from those four events.
+3
Level 84
Jul 15, 2014
Being a bit pedantic, I think. People talk about a player winning a "slam" or a "grand slam" all the time; winning a "grand slam tournament" is the accepted vernacular. No one is going to think Steffi Graf won all 4 tournaments 22 separate years.
+1
Level 83
Jun 21, 2014
The pope is still not German, a couple of years after this was first pointed out in the Comments.
+1
Level 34
Aug 18, 2014
The Pope is now Francis. That clue is obselete.
+1
Level 28
Nov 15, 2014
Pope
+1
Level 71
Feb 21, 2015
You should update the "current pope" clue
+1
Level 62
Mar 24, 2015
Hitler is not from Germany - he was born in Austria - so remove him!
+5
Level 89
Feb 25, 2016
You can be born outside of Germany and still become a German citizen.
+1
Level 73
Mar 25, 2015
Needs to be updated regarding the question about the pope...
+1
Level 58
Feb 25, 2016
Just 1 quiz about Germany that doesn't include Hitler or the Nazis... That's all I ask
+1
Level 75
Feb 27, 2024
Apart from Hitler and the Nazis, what have the Germans ever done for us? But I agree with you - I'm not suggesting that we gloss over them, but we can give them a miss every now and then.
+1
Level 50
Feb 25, 2016
I'm surprised that a spelling of two "t"s for Gutenburg wasn't accepted, especially since many of the other answers accepted even more incorrect spellings!
+1
Level 75
Feb 25, 2016
Since I am woefully ignorant about Germany chancellors, I would be happy with fewer questions about them, but thanks for the education.
+2
Level 82
Feb 25, 2016
I'm guessing that pretty much ALL German models, and German people of any profession for that matter, say "Auf Wiedersehen"
+5
Level 54
Feb 25, 2016
Does anyone actually read the comments before deciding to comment themselves? There are like 20 repeat comments in this thread.....
+5
Level 89
Feb 25, 2016
Those are the people that speak before they think. Very annoying people sometimes.
+5
Level 16
Feb 25, 2016
Spelling: philosopher
+2
Level 73
Jan 2, 2018
I can't help but think of the movie, "Dr. Strangelove," where one of the lead scientists claims, "Our Germans are better than their Germans," referring to the German rocket scientists working for the US and the USSR, respectively. I believe a similar line was stated in "The Right Stuff" by the scientist named in this quiz. Can't help but wonder if man ever would have stepped on the moon without the V2 program and the Cold War space race that followed in the 25 years after Germay's WW2 defeat. An amazing concentration of global scientific leadership, beginning with Einstein but not ending there.
+1
Level 69
Feb 14, 2018
Wasn't that quote from "The Right Stuff"? Well, I mean, I know it definitely was, so was it also in "Dr. Strangelove"? (I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen it !!)
+1
Level 61
Oct 25, 2018
I believe "inventor of communism" or "writer of the Communist Manifesto" would be a better clue than "Das Kapital." When I learned about communism history, I did not learn about Das Kapital. While it might be a better book, the Communist Manifesto is much more infamous.
+2
Level 78
Feb 9, 2020
"Das Kapital" is also quite famous though.
+1
Level 37
Nov 30, 2018
Hitler was born in Austria and became the German Chancellor (or whatever his full title was). Technically he was the Chancellor of Germany, not the German Chancellor; the Anschluss not withstanding. (Might be nitpicking, but serves to illustrate the difference).
+1
Level 78
Dec 30, 2018
Maybe you could add the year (1871) to the question about the "Iron Chancellor", because there was another (re-)unification of Germany and the chancellor of that time, Helmut Kohl, is also sometimes called "Iron Chancellor". I kept wondering why "Kohl" wasn't accepted, before I thought of the first unification.
+1
Level 37
May 30, 2019
Same here. I stopped at Kohl; didn't even remember Adenauer.
+1
Level 78
Dec 8, 2019
Are you sure about Kohl? I'm German and I've never heard him being called that. After Kohl's death, The Guardian wrote that he was "as much of an iron chancellor" as Bismarck which clearly hints that this byname is usually associated with the latter.
+1
Level 74
May 4, 2022
Philosopher is misspelled
+1
Level 57
Nov 6, 2022
I feel like William should be accepted for Wilhelm