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German visual artist Gerhard Richter started out as a Social Realist painter and was later exposed to avant-garde art. He mastered the art of painting scenes collected from newspapers and magazines, including terrorists and serial killer victims. He later also worked on stained-glass design and abstract art.
Hans Oster was a German military officer who served as a general in Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany. Oster was one of the most important members involved in the German resistance to Nazism. One of the key participants of the Oster Conspiracy, Oster was also involved in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.
Russian statesman Georgy Lvov created history by becoming the first prime minister of the Russian provisional government formed during the 1917 February Revolution. A qualified lawyer, he worked in civil service for a few years, before joining the Kadet Party, or the Constitutional Democratic Party.
Four-time Nobel Prize-nominated German author Erich Kästne is best remembered for his children’s books such as Emil and the Detectives. Initially aspiring to be a teacher, he later had stints as a journalist and a freelance author. A leading satirist, he contributed to Die Weltbühne and also headed PEN.
German-born Russian conservative statesman Pyotr Stolypin had been the minister of interior and the third prime minister of Russia. His agrarian reform, also known as the Stolypin land reform, was highly significant. He also initiated multiple court-martials to execute rebels, causing people to call the hangman’s noose Stolypin’s necktie.
German composer and conductor Hans von Bülow was one of the greatest musical figures of the Romantic era. Known for his work with composers such as Richard Wagner, he eventually lost his wife, Cosima, to him. In his final years, his failing health made him retire to Cairo, where he eventually died.
Lyubov Dostoevskaya was a Russian memoirist and writer. The daughter of popular Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky and his wife Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina, Lyubov Dostoevskaya is best remembered for her work, Dostoyevsky as Portrayed by His Daughter. Many of her memoirs, which were written in French, were translated into other European languages.
Matthias Sammer is a German retired professional football player who played as a defensive midfielder for East Germany from 1986 to 1990 and for Germany from 1990 to 1997. In 1996, he helped Germany win the UEFA European Championship title, where he was adjudged the best player of the tournament. Subsequently, Matthias Sammer was honored with the prestigious Ballon d'Or.
Robert Siodmak was a German film director best remembered for a series of stylish Hollywood films noirs he made in the mid-20th century. He began making silent films in the late 1920s. He moved to Paris following the rise of Nazism in Germany and thrived there. He later shifted to USA and found great success in Hollywood.
Celebrated German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist, linguist, and astronomer Maria Reiche is remembered for her pioneering research on the Nazca lines. Nicknamed the Lady of the Lines, she was initially a governess and teacher in Peru. She later also became a founding-member of the non-profit organization South American Explorers.
Eva Justin was a German anthropologist who specialised in scientific racism. Justin, who was active during the Nazi era, contributed to the crimes of the Nazis against the Roma and Sinti peoples. Eva Justin was tasked with studying children, who were then sent to concentration camps. At least 35 children studied by Eva Justin were killed in the gas chamber.
