The first Jewish population in the region to be later known as Germany came with the Romans to the city now known as Cologne. A "Golden Age" in the first millennium saw the emergence of the Ashkenazi Jews, while the persecution and expulsion that followed the Crusades led to the creation of Yiddish and an overall shift eastwards. A change of status in the late Renaissance Era, combined with the Jewish Enlightenment, the Haskalah, meant that by the 1920s Germany had one of the most integrated Jewish populations in Europe, contributing prominently to German culture and society. During The Holocaust many Jews fled Germany to other countries for refuge, and the majority of the remaining population were killed.
The following is a list of some famous Jews (by religion or descent) from Germany proper.
Historical figures Politicians Ludwig Bamberger, politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit, member of European Parliament, student leader in 1968 Kurt Eisner, Bavarian prime minister , Mayor of Berlin from 1931 to 1933, (converted to Christianity) Heinrich von Friedberg, jurist, statesman (converted to Christianity) Karl Rudolf Friedenthal, Prussian politician (converted to Christianity) Clement Freud, German-born British MP Rudolf Hilferding, Finance Minister in 1923 and from 1928 to 1929Malcolm Charles Sawyer, Philip Arestis, A Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists. Alex Himelfarb, ambassador Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany (1974–1982) Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State, Nobel Prize (1973) Ludwig Landmann, mayor of Frankfurt/Main Eduard Lasker, co-founder of the National Liberal PartyEduard Lasker: Ein Leben für den Rechtsstaat by Adolf Laufs, German Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 3. (Oct., 1986), pp. 651–652 Eugen Leviné, Bavarian prime minister Jutta Oesterle-Schwerin, Member of parliament, Green party, Feminist partyGermany's Greens and Israel: "The Theme is too Much" by Diana Johnstone, MERIP Middle East Report, No. 149, Human Rights in the Middle East. (Nov-Dec 1987), pp. 44–45 Eduard von Simson, President of the Reichstag, President of the Reichsgericht Walther Rathenau, Foreign Minister of the Weimar RepublicWalther Rathenau: Industrialist, Banker, Intellectual, and Politician; Notes and Diaries 1907–1922 by Von Strandmann Herbert Weichmann, Mayor of Hamburg 1965–1971, president of the German Bundesrat (Federal upper house) Marina Weisband, Ukrainian-born former Pirate Party Germany politician Walter Wolfgang, German-born politician
Activists Hedwig Dohm-Schleh, feminist, author Nahum Goldmann, president of World Jewish Congress Charlotte Knobloch (born 1932), community leader. Amalie Nacken (1855–1940), Munich-based philanthropist Josel of Rosheim, court Jew and Jewish advocateJewish Encyclopedia Paul Spiegel, leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Sidonie Werner (1860–1932), women's rights activist
Religious figures Rabbis Aaron ben Benjamin Wolf, Chief Rabbi of Berlin (1709) Isaac Bernays, Chief Rabbi of Hamburg (1830s), teacher of S. R. Hirsch Aaron Moses ben Mordecai of East Prussia Abraham Auerbach (mid 1700s – 3 November 1846), Alsatian-born rabbi and liturgical poet. Fled France for Germany after imprisonment during the Reign of Terror. Ahron Daum, Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt am Main Jacob Ettlinger, Major Torah scholar, author of Aruch LaNer Abraham Geiger, founding father of Reform Judaism Samson Raphael Hirsch, intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism Immanuel Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain Elijah Loans, rabbi of Fulda, Hanau, Friedberg, and Worms , rabbi of Regensburg Leopold Zunz (10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886), founder of academic Jewish studies
Reform Levi Herzfeld, 19th-century proponent of moderate reform
Other Ridley Haim Herschell, missionaryConcise Dictionary of National Biography: "born in Prussian Poland of Jewish parents" Joseph Wolff, missionaryConcise Dictionary of National Biography: "born of Jewish parents"
Scientific figures Natural scientists Adolf von Baeyer, industrial chemist, Nobel Prize (1905) (Jewish mother) Norbert Berkowitz, physicisthttp://www.edukits.ca/multiculturalism/student/immigration_jewish.html Hans Bethe, nuclear physics, Nobel Prize (1967)David Brand (March 10, 2005) Hans Bethe, titan of physics and conscience of science, dies at 98 news.cornell.edu (Jewish mother) Sir Walter Bodmer, medical researcherRadio National Australia interview with Sir Walter : "I'm half Ashkenazy Jewish myself" Accessed 21 Feb 2007 Max Born, quantum mechanics, Nobel Prize (1954) (converted to Christianity) Heinrich Caro, industrial chemist Nikodem Caro, industrial chemistThe Evonik History Portal – The History of Evonik Industries Albert Einstein, theoretical physics, Nobel Prize (1921)Shlichim (Israeli Emissaries) | The Jewish Agency for Israel Erwin Finlay-Freundlich, astronomer James Franck, quantum physics, Nobel Prize (1925) Adolph Frank, industrial chemist Herbert Fröhlich, physicist Eugen Glueckauf, chemist, expert on atomic energy Hans Goldschmidt, industrial chemist Fritz Haber, developed the Haber process, Nobel Prize (1918) Walter Heitler, chemist Arthur Korn, physicist Ernst Ising, statistical mechanics Albert Ladenburg, chemistDr. Leopold Ladenburg: "Stammtafel der Familie Ladenburg", Verlag J. Ph. Walther, Mannheim 1882 Fritz London, quantum mechanicsFritz London: A Scientific Biography by Kostas Gavroglu Leonard Mandel, quantum optics Kurt Mendelssohn, German-born British medical physicistEncyclopaedia Judaica 13:492 Viktor Meyer, organic chemist (converted to Christianity) Leonor Michaelis, biochemist Albert A. Michelson, measured speed of light, Nobel Prize (1907) (Jewish father)The master of light;: A biography of Albert A. Michelson by Dorothy Michelson Livingston, 1973 Ludwig Mond, chemist and industrialist Sir Rudolf Peierls, solid state theory Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of CMB, Nobel Prize (1978) Alfred Philippson, geologist John Charles Polanyi, chemist, Nobel Prize (born Berlin) Ernst Pringsheim, spectrometry, black-body radiation Michael Rossmann, physicist and microbiologist (Jewish mother) Rudolf Schoenheimer, biochemist Arthur Schuster, spectroscopist Karl Schwarzschild, physicist and astronomer (converted to Christianity) Franz Simon, physicist, separation of Uranium 235(Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:1578) Jack Steinberger, particle physics, Nobel Prize (1988) Otto Stern, experimental physicist, Nobel Prize (1943) Moritz Traube, biochemist Wilhelm Traube, chemist, caffeine/purine synthesis Otto Wallach, chemist, Nobel Prize (1910) (converted to Christianity)British Jewish Year Book 2005 p. 215 (list of Jewish Nobel Prize winners); Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. "Wallach, Otto"; ; however, Otto Wallach 1847–1931. Chemiker und Nobelpreisträger by Gunther Beer, Pg 11 disagrees Richard Willstätter, chemist, Nobel Prize (1915)
Physicians and medical researchers Alfred Bielschowsky, ophthalmologist Max Bielschowsky, neuropathologist Konrad Bloch, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1964) Marcus Elieser Bloch, physician Gustav Born, professor of pharmacology Edith Bulbring, professor of pharmacy (Jewish mother)http://hardy.amnesty.org.uk/images/ul/f/famous_refugees_2.pdf Sir Ernst Chain, developed penicillin, Nobel Prize (1945) Ferdinand Cohn, pioneer in microbiology Julius Friedrich Cohnheim, pathologist Paul Ehrlich, developed magic bullet concept, Nobel Prize (1908)The Israel Chemical Society Arthur Eichengrün, possible inventor of aspirin Wilhelm Feldberg, biologist Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, biochemist Hermann Friedberg, physician Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch, geneticist Ernst Gräfenberg, obstetrician, the intrauterine device, the G-spot Martin Gumpert, physician, writer Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, physician (converted to Christianity) Sir Bernard Katz, biophysicist, Nobel Prize (1970) Hans Kornberg, biochemist researcher Hans Kosterlitz, discovered endorphins Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953) Rudolph Lennhoff, developed the open air cure for tuberculosis Fritz Lipmann, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1953) Jacques Loeb, physiologist Otto Loewi, pharmacologist, Nobel Prize (1936) Elisabeth Mann, biologist (Jewish mother)http://www.picture-newsletter.com/thomas-mann/index.htm "he married Katia Pringsheim, daughter of a well-known Jewish family of intellectuals. They had six children: Klaus, Erika, Golo, Monika, Elisabeth and Michael" Otto Meyerhof, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1922) (Jewish father) Oskar Minkowski, physiologist Albert Neisser, physician, discovered the cause of gonorrhea (Jewish father) Emin Pasha, physician, naturalist, explorerhttp://www.ghil.ac.uk/Abstract_Zimmerer.pdf Ludwig Pick, pathologist. Pioneering research on pheochromocytoma. Nathanael Pringsheim, botanist Ottomar Rosenbach, physician Moritz Heinrich Romberg, physician, innovative author in neuroscience Karl Stern, Canadian neurologist, psychiatrist, author Rahel Straus (1880–1963), medical doctor and feminist Ludwig Traube (1818–1876), medical doctor, introduced regular tracking of vital signs (respiration, temperature, pulse) Moshe Wallach, founder and director, Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem Carl Warburg, doctor of medicine and clinical pharmacologist.Friedenwald, H. (1946), Jewish Luminaries in Medical History Otto Heinrich Warburg, physiologist, Nobel Prize (1931) (Jewish father) Karl Weigert, pathologist
Mathematicians Felix Bernstein, set theory (converted to Christianity) Maurice Block, statistician Richard Brauer, modular representation theory Paul Cohn, algebraistObituary in The Times "he was born in Hamburg in 1924 to Jewish parents" Accessed 9 July 2008. Richard Courant, mathematical analysis and applied mathematics Max Dehn, topology Paul Epstein, number theory Adolf Fraenkel, set theory Hans Freudenthal, algebraic topology Friedrich Hartogs, mathematician Felix Hausdorff, topology Heinz Hopf, topology (Jewish father) Adolf Hurwitz, mathematician Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, analysis Leopold Kronecker, number theory Edmund Landau, number theory Rudolf Lipschitz, mathematician Kurt Mahler, mathematician Hermann Minkowski, geometrical theory of numbersContemporary Authors V 162 By Rooney, Scot Peacock, p. 169 Claus Moser, statistician Leonard Nelson, mathematician, philosopher (converted to Christianity) Bernhard Neumann, mathematician Emmy Noether, algebra and theoretical physics Alfred Pringsheim, analysis, theory of functions Richard Rado, combinatorics Robert Remak, group theory Abraham Robinson, nonstandard analysis Arthur Moritz Schönflies, mathematician Issai Schur, mathematician Reinhold Strassmann, mathematician Otto Toeplitz, linear algebra and functional analysis
Technical scientists Ralph Baer, inventor of the games console Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone Emanuel Goldberg (1881–1970, from Russia, but published in German), pioneered Microdots and microfilm retrieval technology Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, electrical engineer Siegfried Marcus, automobile pioneer Michael O. Rabin, computer algorithms, Turing Award (1976) Reinhold Rudenberg, electrical engineer and inventor,Reinhold Rudenberg Adolf Schallamach, pioneered understanding of friction and wear phenomena in rubber Joseph Weizenbaum, AI critic, ELIZA
Psychologists Karl Abraham, psychoanalyst Rudolf Arnheim, perception theorist Erik Erikson, developmental psychologist (Jewish mother) Erich Fromm, psychologist and humanistic philosopher Erika Fromm, psychologist and co-founder of hypnoanalysis. Benedict Friedlaender, sexologist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, psychoanalyst Kurt Goldstein, Gestalt-influenced neurologist Max Hamilton, psychiatristOxford Dictionary of National Biography: "the son of Jewish parents" Magnus Hirschfeld, sexologist Kurt Koffka, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, social psychologist