Famous People Born In Dessau

Max Müller was a German-born Orientalist and philologist. Müller is credited with co-founding the western academic disciplines of religious studies and Indian studies. In 1874, he was honored with the Pour le Mérite. He received the prestigious Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art in 1875. In India, the Goethe Institutes are named in his honor.

While he initially trained to be an Olympic swimmer, Thomas Kretschmann turned to acting at age 25. Surprisingly, he was typecast as a Nazi officer and ended up playing one in 11 films, including The Pianist. He first gained fame with his Max Ophüls Prize-winning role in Der Mitwisser.

Maximilian von Weichs was a German field marshal during World War II. Joining the military as a youngster, he fought in World War I. He was a senior army officer when World War II broke out and commanded the army during the invasions of France, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. He was implicated in war crimes but was never sentenced.  

John William Friso, the Prince of Orange, succeeded William III of Orange as the stadtholder of the provinces of Friesland and Groningen in the Dutch Republic and remained so until his death. Friso along with his wife, Marie Louise, is noted as the most recent common ancestors of all the currently reigning European monarchs.

Initially an apothecary, Heinrich Schwabe later gained fame as an astronomer and studied sunspots. He was also the first to draw Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. He was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and also won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.