100 Notable alumni of
Free University of Berlin
Updated:
The Free University of Berlin is 173rd in the world, 57th in Europe, and 9th in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the Free University of Berlin sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Annalena Baerbock
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied international law
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party serving as Germany's minister for foreign affairs since 2021.
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Kevin Kühnert
- Years
- 1989-.. (age 36)
- Occupations
- studentwhite-collar workerlocal politicianpolitician
- Biography
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Kevin Kühnert is a German politician (SPD) and member of the Bundestag since the 2021 elections, representing Berlin-Tempelhof-Schöneberg. He was General Secretary of the SPD from December 2021 to October 2024. From November 2017 to January 2021, Kühnert was the federal chairman of the Jusos (the youth organization of the SPD), previously serving as deputy chairman.
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Lisa Eckhart
- Occupations
- slam poetGermanistpoetwriternovelist
- Biography
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Lisa Eckhart is an Austrian poetry slammer and cabaret artist.
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Jonathan Franzen
- Occupations
- opinion journalistwriternovelistessayist
- Biography
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Jonathan Earl Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel The Corrections drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His novel Freedom (2010) garnered similar praise and led to an appearance on the cover of Time magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". Franzen's latest novel Crossroads was published in 2021, and is the first in a projected trilogy.
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Attila Hildmann
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied physics
- Occupations
- conspiracy theoristcooking researcheranti-vaccine activist
- Biography
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Attila Klaus-Peter Hildmann is a German vegan cookbook author and far-right conspiracy theorist. He wrote his first cookbook in 2009, and his book Vegan for Fun was named cookbook of the year by the Vegetarierbund Deutschland in 2012. He subsequently featured in numerous television programs and talk shows.
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Rudi Dutschke
- Occupations
- sociologistindustrial management assistantpoliticianwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Alfred Willi Rudolf "Rudi" Dutschke was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in West Germany, and that country's broader "extra-parliamentary opposition" (APO).
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Franziska Giffey
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied in 2005-2009
- Occupations
- politiciannon-fiction writersocial scientist
- Biography
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Franziska Giffey is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who is serving as Berlin State Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise since 2023. She served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from December 2021 to April 2023. As of 2024, she is the youngest living (sitting or former) head of a german state government. She previously served as Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021. From 2015 to 2018, she was the mayor of the borough of Neukölln in Berlin.
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Anne Will
- Occupations
- presenterjournalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Anne Will is a German television journalist and host of the eponymous political talk show. She was anchorwoman of the daily Tagesthemen news broadcast on ARD from 14 April 2001 until 24 June 2007.
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Farin Urlaub
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 62)
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- 1981-1981 studied archaeology
- Occupations
- actorphotographersingerguitaristsongwriter
- Biography
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Jan Vetter, better known as Farin Urlaub (from the German Fahr in Urlaub!, "Go on vacation!"), is a German singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for punk rock band Die Ärzte. He has also been a solo artist since 2001, touring with his band, the Farin Urlaub Racing Team. His releases starting in 2006 are credited to the band.
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Eckart von Hirschhausen
- Occupations
- stage magicianphysiciantelevision presenteractor
- Biography
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Eckart Axel von Hirschhausen is a German doctor, talk show host and comedian.
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Bernd Lucke
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianeconomistphilosopher
- Biography
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Bernd Lucke is a German economist, professor, author and former politician. He co-founded the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in 2013 and served as the party's federal chairman until July 2015, when he was displaced and left the party soon after. He had been elected a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the AfD in 2014 and served the five-year full term as a member of various other new parties, similar to some other former AfD MEPs.
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Hendrik Streeck
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied business administration and musicology
- Occupations
- crime fiction writerpoliticianphysiciannon-fiction writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hendrik Streeck is a German researcher of human immunodeficiency virus, epidemiologist and clinical trialist. He is professor of virology and the director of the Institute of Virology and HIV Research at the University Bonn.
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Tim Bendzko
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersinger
- Biography
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Tim Bendzko is a German singer-songwriter. He achieved nationwide recognition with his song "Nur noch kurz die Welt retten" and becoming the winner on the Bundesvision Song Contest.
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Dieter Wedel
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied theatre studies
- Occupations
- theatrical directorscreenwriterliterary editorTheaterintendantfilm director
- Biography
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Dieter Karl Cäsar Wedel known as Dieter Wedel was a German director.
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Bernhard Schlink
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- judgepoet lawyerjuristscreenwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Bernhard Schlink is a German lawyer, academic, and novelist. He is best known for his novel The Reader, which was first published in 1995 and became an international bestseller. He won the 2014 Park Kyong-ni Prize.
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Marc-Uwe Kling
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied philosophy and theatre studies
- Occupations
- writercomedianfilm directorcomics writercabaret performer
- Biography
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Marc-Uwe Kling is a German songwriter, author, and Kabarett (political stand-up comedy) artist. He studied philosophy and drama at Freie Universität Berlin.
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Elke Heidenreich
- Occupations
- screenwritervoice actorwritertelevision presenterradio personality
- Biography
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Elke Heidenreich is a German author, TV presenter, literary critic and journalist. She has written audio plays, a magazine column, scripts for television plays and books. Heidenreich is known as the Kabarettist who created a character, Else Stratmann. She is a literary critic in the television Literaturclub of the Schweizer Fernsehen.
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Jakob Augstein
- Occupations
- journalistpublisher
- Biography
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Jakob Augstein is a German journalist, publisher and heir. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Der Freitag and also one of the main owners of Der Spiegel and the Spiegel publishing company, that were founded by his father Rudolf Augstein.
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Klaus Wowereit
- Years
- 1953-.. (age 72)
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- LGBTQ rights activistpoliticianlawyerautobiographernon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Klaus Wowereit is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat (the fourth highest office in Germany) in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections; after the 2011 elections the SPD's coalition partner changed from the Left to the Christian Democratic Union. He was also sometimes mentioned as a possible SPD candidate for the Chancellorship of Germany (Kanzlerkandidatur), but that never materialized.
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Otto Schily
- Occupations
- environmentalistpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Otto Georg Schily is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
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Christopher Clark
- Occupations
- university teacherbiographerhistorianhistorian of Modern Age
- Biography
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Sir Christopher Munro Clark FBA is an Australian historian living in the United Kingdom and Germany. He is the twenty-second Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge. In the 2015 Birthday Honours, he was knighted for his services to Anglo-German relations.
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Sascha Lobo
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- In 1995 studied science of journalism
- Occupations
- writerbloggercopywriterjournalist
- Biography
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Sascha Lobo is a German blogger, writer, journalist, Audiobook-narrator and copywriter. Lobo's work is primarily concerned with the Internet and with the social effects of new technology.
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Hans-Christian Ströbele
- Occupations
- politicianjuristlawyer
- Biography
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Hans-Christian Ströbele was a German politician and lawyer. He was a member of Alliance 90/The Greens, the German green party.
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Ska Keller
- Occupations
- politicianenvironmentalist
- Biography
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Franziska Maria "Ska" Keller is a German politician and was member of the European Parliament for the Germany constituency from 2009 to 2024. She is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party.
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Lisa Paus
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- 1988-1999 graduated with economist in general economics
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Elisabeth "Lisa" Paus is a German politician who has been serving as the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth since 25 April 2022. A member of Alliance 90/The Greens and an economist by training, she has served as a Member of the German Bundestag for the state of Berlin since 2009.
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Alexander S. Kekulé
- Occupations
- university teachervirologistfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Alexander S. Kekulé is a German physician and biochemist. Since 1999 he has held the chair for Medical Microbiology and Virology of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology of the Universitätsklinikum Halle (University Hospital Halle).
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Anja Knauer
- Occupations
- actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Anja Knauer is a German actress who has played the leading female role in some German films.
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Inga Humpe
- Occupations
- composerfilm actorsinger
- Biography
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Inga Humpe is a German singer, songwriter and producer. She performed with Neue Deutsche Welle bands such as Neonbabies, DÖF and Humpe & Humpe. Her sister is the singer and producer Annette Humpe, with whom she performed regularly during her career. The song "Riding into Blue (Cowboy Song)" produced by Trevor Horn became a minor hit in 1990. Later that year she released a solo studio album Planet Oz. She currently is in the band 2raumwohnung and lives in Berlin.
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Kohei Saito
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- 2010-2012 graduated with Master of Philosophy in philosophy
- Occupations
- economistphilosopher
- Biography
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Kohei Saito is a Japanese philosopher. He is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. Saito works on ecology and political economy from a Marxist perspective. His 2020 book Capital in the Anthropocene has been credited for inspiring a resurgence of interest in Marxist thought in Japan.
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Lothar H. Wieler
- Occupations
- university teacherinfectious disease physicianveterinarianmicrobiologist
- Biography
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Lothar Heinz Wieler is a German veterinarian and microbiologist who served as president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) from 2015 to 2023. In this capacity, he advised the German Federal and State Governments on topics of public health, especially infection hazards, and on the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Frederik Pleitgen
- Occupations
- film directorjournalistactor
- Biography
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Frederik Pleitgen is a German journalist and correspondent for CNN International.
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Joachim Fest
- Occupations
- historian of Modern Agescreenwriterwriterhistorianfilm director
- Biography
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Joachim Clemens Fest was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor who was best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including a biography of Adolf Hitler and books about Albert Speer and German resistance to Nazism. He was a leading figure in the debate among German historians about the Nazi era. In recent years his writings have earned both praise and strong criticism.
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Shoucheng Zhang
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- In 1983 graduated with diploma in physics
- Occupations
- professorphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Shoucheng Zhang was a Chinese-American physicist who was the JG Jackson and CJ Wood professor of physics at Stanford University. He was a condensed matter theorist known for his work on topological insulators, the quantum Hall effect, the quantum spin Hall effect, spintronics, and high-temperature superconductivity. According to the National Academy of Sciences:
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Emma Smetana
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied international relations and political science
- Occupations
- singeractornews presenter
- Biography
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Emma Smetana is a Czech actress, singer, television presenter, journalist and political scientist.
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Ariadne von Schirach
- Occupations
- writerjournalistphilosopher
- Biography
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Ariadne von Schirach is a German philosopher, writer, journalist and critic. She is known as a literary critic for Deutschlandradio Kultur, and as an essayist and columnist for newspapers such as Die Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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Adam Tooze
- Occupations
- university teacherhistorianeconomic historian
- Biography
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John Adam Tooze is an English historian who is a professor at Columbia University, Director of the European Institute and nonresident scholar at Carnegie Europe. Previously, he was Reader in Twentieth-Century History at the University of Cambridge and Gurnee Hart Fellow in History at Jesus College, Cambridge.
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Michael Lüders
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied science of journalism, Islamic studies, and political science
- Occupations
- Islamicistjournalistpolitical adviserauthorpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Michael Andreas Lüders is a German political scientist and Islamic scholar who works as a publicist and political and economic consultant. He is also known as a journalist and a writer of many novels.
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Götz Aly
- Occupations
- political scientistuniversity teacherhistorian of Modern Agehistorianjournalist
- Biography
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Götz Haydar Aly is a German journalist, historian and political scientist.
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Martin Schirdewan
- Years
- 1975-.. (age 50)
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Martin Schirdewan is a German journalist and politician who has been serving as co-chairman of The Left since June 2022. He has sat as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2017, and was elected co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) parliamentary group in 2019.
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Gesine Schwan
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Gesine Schwan is a German political science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party has nominated her twice as a candidate for the federal presidential elections. On 23 May 2004, she was defeated by the Christian Democrat Horst Köhler. On 23 May 2009, Köhler beat her again to win his second term.
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Terry Reintke
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Theresa Reintke is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Germany since 2014. She is co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens, part of The Greens–European Free Alliance. From 2011 to 2013 she was the spokesperson of the Federation of Young European Greens.
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Bettina Jarasch
- Occupations
- editing staffpolitician
- Biography
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Bettina Jarasch is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served as Deputy Mayor and Senator for Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Climate Protection in the Berlin state government from December 2021 to April 2023. She has been a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin from 2016 to 2021 and again since 2023, as well as leader of the Berlin branch of the Greens from 2011 to 2016. She was the Greens' lead candidate for the 2021 Berlin state election and again for the 2023 Berlin repeat state election.
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Benjamin List
- Occupations
- university teacherchemistscientist
- Biography
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Benjamin List is a German chemist who is one of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cologne. He co-developed organocatalysis, a method of accelerating chemical reactions and making them more efficient. He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David MacMillan "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".
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Fritz Teufel
- Occupations
- political activist
- Biography
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Fritz Teufel was a prominent figure in the West German political left of the 1960s. One of the founders of Kommune 1, Teufel cultivated a theatrical, humorous public image—encapsulated in his idea of the "Spaßguerilla" ("fun guerrilla"). In the 1970s he rejected this image and became involved with the violent Movement 2 June. He was jailed several times in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Michael Wolffsohn
- Occupations
- university teacherhistorianopinion journalistnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Michael Wolffsohn is a German historian.
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Ernest Mandel
- Occupations
- resistance fighterpoliticianeconomistjournalistphilosopher
- Biography
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Ernest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter, was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He fought in the underground resistance against the Nazis during the occupation of Belgium.
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Rüdiger Safranski
- Occupations
- philosopherwriterliterary historiantelevision presenter
- Biography
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Rüdiger Safranski is a German philosopher and author.
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Edzard Reuter
- Occupations
- businesspersonphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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Edzard Hans Wilhelm Reuter was a German businessman. He was the CEO of Daimler-Benz from 1987 to 1995.
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Seyran Ateş
- Occupations
- women's rights activistwriterimamlawyer
- Biography
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Seyran Ateş is a German lawyer and a Muslim feminist. She founded the Ibn Ruschd-Goethe mosque in 2017, as Germany's first liberal place of worship for Muslims. Ateş is best known for challenging conventional ideas in Islamic teaching by opening a mosque in Berlin which breaks with traditionalist precepts of what being a Muslim means.
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Katharina Wagner
- Occupations
- composertheatrical director
- Biography
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Katharina Wagner is a German opera stage director and is the director of the Bayreuth Festival. She is the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and Gudrun Wagner (née Armann), great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, and great-great granddaughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.
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Robert Gernhardt
- Occupations
- film directorwriterillustratorfilm screenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Robert Gernhardt was a German writer, painter, graphic artist and poet.
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Manfred Stolpe
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied in 1959-1961
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Manfred Stolpe was a German canonist, theologian and politician who served as Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs of Germany from 2002 until 2005. Before, he was Ministerpräsident of the state Brandenburg from 1990 until 2002. Stolpe was, after the state elections following German reunification, the only Social Democratic Minister-President of a state of former East Germany. Stolpe is considered to be the architect of modern Brandenburg and left office with a 74% approval rating. He is credited with forging a new identity for the state, among other things, popularizing the Brandenburglied, though controversy surrounding several failed projects and his work for the Stasi came up during his tenure. To date, Brandenburg has only had Social Democratic Minister-Presidents.
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Walter Momper
- Occupations
- historianpolitician
- Biography
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Walter Momper is a German politician of the SPD (Social Democrats) and former Governing Mayor of Berlin (West Berlin 1989–1990, reunited Berlin 1990–1991). Whilst Governing Mayor, he served as President of the Bundesrat in 1989/90. He was at the opening of the Brandenburg Gate on 22 December 1989 and, on 3 October 1990, became the first mayor of a reunited Berlin.
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Delphine O
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied German studies
- Occupations
- entrepreneuradministratorpolitician
- Biography
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Delphine O is a French politician and a former member of the French National Assembly, who represented Paris. She is the Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum 2021.
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Gunnar Heinsohn
- Occupations
- sociologistuniversity teacherhistorianwriterlecturer
- Biography
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Gunnar Heinsohn was a German author, sociologist and economist and professor emeritus at the University of Bremen where he had a chair in social pedagogy from 1984.
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Heinrich August Winkler
- Years
- 1938-.. (age 87)
- Occupations
- university teacherhistorianhistorian of Modern Age
- Biography
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Heinrich August Winkler is a German historian.
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Erik Spiekermann
- Occupations
- graphic designertype designerpostage stamp designerdesigneruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Erik Spiekermann is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design.
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Susan Neiman
- Occupations
- philosopherjournalisthistorianwriternon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Susan Neiman is an American moral philosopher, cultural commentator, essayist and public intellectual. She has written extensively on the juncture between Enlightenment moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics, both for scholarly audiences and the general public. She currently lives in Germany, where she is the Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam.
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Karl Schlögel
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied philosophy and history
- Occupations
- opinion journalistuniversity teacherhistorian of Eastern Europehistorianjournalist
- Biography
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Karl Schlögel is a noted German historian of Eastern Europe who specialises in modern Russia, the history of Stalinism, the Russian diaspora and dissident movements, Eastern European cultural history and theoretical problems of historical narration.
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Ramona Pop
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ramona Pop is a Romanian-born German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens party who has been serving as chairwoman of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) since 2022. She previously served as a deputy mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economy, Energy, and Enterprises (Senatorin für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe) from 2016 until 2021.
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Lea Rosh
- Occupations
- film screenwriteruniversity teachertelevision actorwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Lea Rosh is a German television journalist, publicist, entrepreneur and political activist. Rosh was the first female journalist to manage a public broadcasting service in Germany and in the 1970s the first anchorwoman of Kennzeichen D, a major political television program. She has been a member of the SPD since 1968.
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Julius Richard Petri
- Occupations
- surgeonbiologist
- Biography
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Julius Richard Petri was a German microbiologist who is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish, which is named after him, while working as assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch.
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Wolfgang Becker
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorcinematographerdirector
- Biography
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Wolfgang Becker was a German film director and screenwriter, best known to international audiences for his work Good Bye, Lenin! (2003). He was a co-founder of the production company X Filme Creative Pool, which produced his first successful feature film, Das Leben ist eine Baustelle, in 1997.
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Jutta Limbach
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jutta Limbach was a German jurist and politician. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and served as President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 1994 to 2002, the first woman in this office.
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Sibylle Lewitscharoff
- Occupations
- writernovelistplaywright
- Biography
-
Sibylle Lewitscharoff was a German author. She first wrote in her spare time as a bookkeeper, quitting after her first novel, Pong, appeared in 1998. Pong was successful with critics and the public, earning her the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. It was followed by Consummatus (2006), Apostoloff (2009) and Blumenberg (2011). She received several German literary awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 2013, for "[re-exploring] the boundaries of what we consider our daily reality with an inexhaustible energy of observation, narrative fantasy and linguistic inventiveness.".
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Herta Däubler-Gmelin
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherlawyer
- Biography
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Herta Däubler-Gmelin is a German lawyer, academic and politician of the Social Democratic Party. She served as Federal Minister of Justice from 1998 to 2002, and as a Member of the Bundestag from 1972 to 2009. She currently teaches as an honorary professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin, particularly on international relations and human rights, and was the Hemmerle Professor at RWTH Aachen University in 2011. She is married to the legal scholar Wolfgang Däubler.
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Arnulf Baring
- Occupations
- political scientistopinion journalisthistorianjuristuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Arnulf Martin Baring was a German lawyer, journalist, political scientist, contemporary historian and author. He was a member of the German-British Baring family of bankers.
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Parag Khanna
- Occupations
- opinion journalistauthorpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Parag Khanna is an Indian-born strategy advisor and author. He is Founder & CEO of AlphaGeo, an AI based geospatial predictive analytics platform.
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Reem Alabali-Radovan
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied in 2008-2013
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Reem Alabali-Radovan is a German politician who has been serving as a Member of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 2021. In addition to her parliamentary work, Alabali-Radovan also currently serves as Minister of State at the Chancellery and Federal Commissioner for Migration, Refugees, and Integration in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. She is the first person of Iraqi descent in the Bundestag.
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Maryam Palizban
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- In 2014 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy and humanities
- Occupations
- writerbloggerpoetactor
- Biography
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Maryam Palizban is an Iranian film and stage actress. She graduated in performing arts and theatre studies at Tehran University-Faculty of fine arts in 2004 and got her Ph.D. degree at the Free University Berlin, Germany in 2014.
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Heiner Flassbeck
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- In 1987 graduated with Doctor in general economics
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
-
Heiner Flassbeck is a German economist and public intellectual. From 1998 to 1999 he was a State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium der Finanzen) where he also advised former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine on a reform of the European Monetary System. He became the Chief of Macroeconomics and Development of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva in January 2003, a position that he held until resigning at the end of 2012 due to his age.
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Hajo Seppelt
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 62)
- Occupations
- film screenwriterauthortelevision directorfilm directorjournalist
- Biography
-
Hajo Seppelt is a German journalist and author.
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Michael Grätzel
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
-
Michael Grätzel is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where he directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their optoelectronic applications. He co-invented with Brian O'Regan the Grätzel cell in 1988.
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Frank Bsirske
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- 1971-1978 studied political science
- Occupations
- trade unionistpolitician
- Biography
-
Frank Bsirske is a German trade unionist and politician and of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2021. From 2001 to 2019, he was the chairman of the United Services Trade Union (ver.di).
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Reinhard Furrer
- Occupations
- astronautphysicistaircraft pilot
- Biography
-
Reinhard Alfred Furrer was a German physicist and astronaut.
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Rupert Scholz
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherjurist
- Biography
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Rupert Scholz is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union.
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Jens-Daniel Herzog
- Occupations
- theatrical director
- Biography
-
Jens-Daniel Herzog is a German stage director for play and opera, and a theater manager.
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Judith Schalansky
- Occupations
- editorwritergraphic designerdesigner
- Biography
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Judith Schalansky is a German writer, book designer and publisher.
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Muho Noelke
- Occupations
- monkauthortranslatorZen masterbhikkhu
- Biography
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Muhō Nölke is a German-born Zen monk who was the abbot of Antai-ji, a Japanese Sōtō Zen temple in Shin'onsen in the Mikata District of Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture from 2002 until 2020. He has translated works of Dōgen and Kōdō Sawaki, and has authored five books in German and sixteen books in Japanese.
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Alexander Arguelles
- Occupations
- linguistlexicographer
- Biography
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Alexander Sabino Argüelles is an American linguist notable for his work on the Korean language. An avid language learner, he was profiled in Michael Erard's Babel No More. He is one of the polyglots listed in Kenneth Hyltenstam's Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages, and has been described by The New Yorker as "a legendary figure in the community".
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Hans-Jürgen Papier
- Occupations
- university teacherjudge
- Biography
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Hans-Jürgen Papier is a German scholar of constitutional law who served as president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 2002 to 2010.
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Sten Nadolny
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Sten Nadolny is a German novelist. His parents, Burkhard and Isabella Nadolny, were also writers.
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Heike B. Görtemaker
- Occupations
- writerhistorian of Modern Age
- Biography
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Heike B. Görtemaker is a German historian known mostly for her biographies of Margret Boveri, German journalist and writer of the post-World War II period, and Eva Braun, the partner and wife of Adolf Hitler.
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Heinrich Lummer
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Heinrich Lummer was a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
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Olga Grjasnowa
- Occupations
- literary theoristwriterplaywrightnovelist
- Biography
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Olga Grjasnowa is a German writer currently living in Berlin, Germany.
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Anna Funder
- Occupations
- writernovelistlawyerjournalist
- Biography
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Anna Funder is an Australian author. She is the author of Stasiland, All That I Am, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life and the novella The Girl With the Dogs.
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Rahel Jaeggi
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Rahel Jaeggi is a Swiss professor of practical philosophy and social philosophy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research areas are in social philosophy, political philosophy, ethics, philosophical anthropology, social ontology, and critical theory. Since February 2018 she has been the head of the Berlin campus of the newly founded International Center for Humanities and Social Change.
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Hermann-Josef Tenhagen
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Hermann-Josef Tenhagen is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Finanztip since 2014, Finanztip is a non-for-profit financial information website for consumers, used c. 5 million times a month, running a weekly newsletter with a circulation of more than 1.000.000 and a popular YouTube channel. Finanztip is owned by the non-for-profit Finanztip foundation.
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Andrea Fischer
- Occupations
- economisttelevision presenterpoliticianenvironmentalistjournalist
- Biography
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Andrea Fischer is a former member of the German Bundestag for the German Green Party and from 1998 until 2001 was Federal Minister for Health. She dropped out of the Bundestag in 2002.
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Teresa Bücker
- Occupations
- presenterjournalistactorauthorblogger
- Biography
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Teresa Maria Bücker is a German journalist, author and blogger. She writes from a feminist perspective on contemporary socio-political issues. From 2017 to 2019, she was editor-in-chief of the online magazine Edition F.
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Hans Joas
- Occupations
- philosophersociologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hans Joas is a German sociologist and social theorist.
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Will McBride
- Occupations
- photographerjournalistpaintersculptorvisual artist
- Biography
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Will McBride was an American photographer in reportage, art photography and book illustration as well as a painter and sculptor.
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Prince Oskar of Prussia
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- Studied in 1995
- Occupations
- aristocrat
- Biography
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Oskar Michael Hans Karl Prinz von Preussen is a member of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling house of Germany. He is the thirty-seventh Herrenmeister ("Master of the Knights" or Grand Master) of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg).
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Andreas Umland
- Occupations
- political scientisttranslatorhistorianhistorian of Eastern Europe
- Biography
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Andreas Umland is a German political scientist studying contemporary Russian and Ukrainian history as well as regime transitions. He has published on the post-Soviet extreme right, municipal decentralization, European fascism, post-communist higher education, East European geopolitics, Ukrainian and Russian nationalism, the Donbas and Crimea conflicts, as well as the neighborhood and enlargement policies of the European Union. He is a Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv as well as a research fellow at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs in Stockholm. He lives in Kyiv, and teaches as an Associate Professor of Politics at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2005–2014, he was involved in the creation of a Master's program in German and European Studies administered jointly by the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Jena University.
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Hans Weingartner
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm producer
- Biography
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Hans Weingartner is an author, director and producer of films. Born in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, he attended the Austrian Association of Cinematography in Vienna and earned a diploma as a camera assistant. Later, he studied film at the Academy of Media Arts KHM in Cologne, Germany. He also has studied neuroscience at the University of Vienna and graduated from the neurosurgical department at the Free University of Berlin’s Steglitz Clinic.
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Frank Steffel
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- 1984-1990 studied economics
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Frank Steffel is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU).
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Peter Steudtner
- Occupations
- politicianpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Peter Steudtner is a German human rights activist and documentary filmer.
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F. W. Bernstein
- Occupations
- poetphotographeruniversity teacherwritercaricaturist
- Biography
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F. W. Bernstein was a German poet, cartoonist, satirist, and academic. He worked for the satirical biweekly pardon. After teaching at schools, he was professor of caricature and comics at the Berlin Academy of the Arts from 1984 to 1999. He was one of the founding members of the Neue Frankfurter Schule, which published the satirical magazine Titanic.
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Tania Singer
- Enrolled in the Free University of Berlin
- In 2000 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- neuroscientistpsychologist
- Biography
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Tania Singer is a German psychologist and social neuroscientist and the scientific director of the Max Planck Society's Social Neuroscience Lab in Berlin, Germany. Between 2007 and 2010, she became the inaugural chair of social neuroscience and neuroeconomics at the University of Zurich and was the co-director of the Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research in Zurich. Her research focuses on the developmental, neuronal, and hormonal mechanisms underlying human social behavior and social emotions such as compassion and empathy. She is founder and principal investigator of the ReSource project, one of the largest longitudinal studies on the effects of mental training on brain plasticity as well as mental and physical health, co-funded by the European Research Council. She also collaborates with the macro-economist Dennis Snower on research on caring economics. Singer's Caring Economics: Conversations on Altruism and Compassion, Between Scientists, Economists, and the Dalai Lama was published in 2015. She is the daughter of the neuroscientist Wolf Singer.
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Kateřina Jacques
- Occupations
- politicianactivist
- Biography
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Kateřina Jacques is a Czech Green Party politician. She was elected to the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in the June 2006 election, representing the Prague electoral district. Before the election she was director of the human rights section of the prime minister's office. She gained media attention when she was assaulted by a policeman while protesting against a neo-Nazi rally on 1 May 2006.
