100 Notable alumni of
University of Cologne
Updated:
The University of Cologne is 208th in the world, 74th in Europe, and 13th in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Cologne sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with the University of Cologne won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry.
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Lena Meyer-Landrut
- Occupations
- voice actorcomposermodelpianistactor
- Biography
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Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut, also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the event with the song "Satellite". Both "Satellite" and her debut album My Cassette Player (2010) debuted at number one in Germany and became platinum sellers. With her three entries from the German national final Unser Star für Oslo, Meyer-Landrut set an all-time chart record in her home country by debuting with three songs in the top five of the German Singles Chart. She represented Germany for the second consecutive time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with the song "Taken by a Stranger", finishing in tenth place.
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Stefan Raab
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied legal science
- Occupations
- comedianentrepreneurtelevision producermusicianentertainer
- Biography
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Stefan Konrad Raab is a German entertainer, television host, producer, and businessman. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy talk show TV total on ProSieben and also created a number of other television shows on the channel, most notably Schlag den Raab and Bundesvision Song Contest.
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Anke Engelke
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied English studies, Romance studies, and pedagogy
- Occupations
- program hostdirectoractorentertainerchildren's writer
- Biography
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Anke Christina Fischer is a German comedian, actress, voice-actress, and television presenter.
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Uwe Boll
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Uwe Boll is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his 2005 Alone in the Dark adaptation is considered one of the worst films ever made. Boll's subsequent projects, released during the 2010s, were mostly released direct-to-video. After retiring in 2016 to become a restaurateur, Boll returned to filmmaking in 2022. His films are financed through his production companies Boll KG and Event Film Productions.
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Heinrich Böll
- Occupations
- writertranslatornovelistpoetNobel Prize winner
- Biography
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Heinrich Theodor Böll was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post–World War II writers, Böll received the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
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Richard David Precht
- Occupations
- university teacherpublicistjournalistpresenterpundit
- Biography
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Richard David Precht is a German philosopher and author of successful popular science books about philosophical issues. He hosts the TV show "Precht" on ZDF.
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Mark Benecke
- Occupations
- actorwriterbiologistexpert witnessentomologist
- Biography
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Mark Benecke is a German forensic biologist.
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Jörg Meuthen
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Jörg Hubert Meuthen is a German economist, academic and politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Germany from 2017 until 2024.
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Marietta Slomka
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1988-1995 studied international relations and general economics
- Occupations
- news presenterjournalisttelevision presenternon-fiction writerpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Marietta Slomka is a German journalist who has been the anchor of TV news show heute-journal since 2001.
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Hans-Georg Maaßen
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied legal science
- Occupations
- juristuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hans-Georg Maaßen is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency and one of three agencies in the German Intelligence Community. He was removed from his Federal role in 2018 after controversial comments exonerating far right violence, and feeding unpublished intelligence reports to the AfD. He would subsequently claim he was the victim of a far left conspiracy, but admit in 2025 that characterizations of the AfD as a far-right extremist organization were accurate.
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Nicholas of Cusa
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied in 1426
- Occupations
- Catholic priestdiplomatastronomermathematiciantheologian
- Biography
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Nicholas of Cusa, also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus, was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renaissance humanism, he made spiritual and political contributions to European culture. A notable example of this is his mystical or spiritual writings on "learned ignorance", as well as his participation in power struggles between Rome and the German states of the Holy Roman Empire.
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Anne Will
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied in 1985-1990
- Occupations
- television presenterpresenterjournalist
- 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 2001 until 2007.
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Jan Hofer
- Occupations
- presenternews presenterjournalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Jan Hofer is a German broadcast newsreader and television presenter. He was a well-known and popular reader of the news programme Tagesschau on Das Erste. Hofer was the chief reader on Tagesschau from 2004 until December 2020, having been a newsreader on that programme since 1985. Since leaving Tagesschau, he has been lead anchorman for RTL Direkt.
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Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
- Occupations
- philosophermercenaryastronomerlawyeroccultist
- Biography
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Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German Renaissance polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, knight, theologian, and occult writer.
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Mesut Yılmaz
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two prime-ministerial terms lasted just months (in 1991 and 1996), while the third ran from June 1997 to January 1999. The first was brought to an end by defeat in the 1991 elections, the latter two by the breakdown of Yılmaz' coalition governments.
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Dagmar Rosenfeld
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Dagmar Rosenfeld is a German journalist.
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Melika Foroutan
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1995-1998 studied study of history and English studies
- Occupations
- actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Melika Foroutan is a German-Iranian actress.
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Henryk Broder
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied statistics, sociology, general economics, and legal science
- Occupations
- film screenwriterfilm producerfilm directorjournalisttelevision actor
- Biography
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Henryk Marcin Broder, self-designation Henryk Modest Broder, is a Polish-born German journalist, author, and television personality. He was born into a Jewish family in Katowice, Poland.
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Gabriele Renate Homey
- Occupations
- juristphilanthropist
- Biography
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Inaara Aga Khan is a German philanthropist. She was the second wife of Karim al-Husseini (Aga Khan IV), who served as the 49th Imam of the Nizari branch of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims; from May 1998 to March 2014, she held the title Begum Aga Khan.
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Gerhart Baum
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied law
- Occupations
- authorjuristlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Gerhart Rudolf Baum was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and a lawyer. From 1978 to 1982, he served as Federal Minister of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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Guido Cantz
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1991-1994 studied business administration
- Occupations
- oratorcomediantelevision presenter
- Biography
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Guido Cantz is a German television presenter.
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Anna Seghers
- Occupations
- novelistresistance fighterwriter
- Biography
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Anna Reiling, known by the pen name Anna Seghers, was a German writer. She was notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian Communist, Seghers escaped Nazi-controlled territory through wartime France. She was granted a visa and gained ship's passage to Mexico, where she lived in Mexico City (1941–47).
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Sandra Navidi
- Occupations
- authorjuristlawyerchief executive officer
- Biography
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Sandra Navidi is a German attorney, author, consultant, media contributor and public speaker.
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Max Otte
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied in 1983-1989
- Occupations
- authoreconomistentrepreneuruniversity teacheropinion journalist
- Biography
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Matthias "Max" Otte is an economist, publicist and right-wing political activist who holds German and U.S. citizenship. Otte, who has held professorships in Worms, Graz and Erfurt, is currently a fund manager. He has written several books, mainly on financial policy topics.
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Karl Carstens
- Occupations
- juristdiplomatlaw clerkpolitician
- Biography
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Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984.
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Marco Buschmann
- Occupations
- juristlawyerjustice ministerpolitician
- Biography
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Marco Buschmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Federal Minister of Justice in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet from 2021 to November 2024. He served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2013 and again since 2017 to 2025.
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Henriette Reker
- Occupations
- local politicianjuristlawyer
- Biography
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Henriette Reker is a German lawyer and independent politician. She is known for her pro-immigration stance and for being the victim of an assassination attempt in 2015. A day after the attack, Reker was elected mayor of Cologne after gaining 52.66% of the votes, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Reker was re-elected in 2020. Her term as mayor ended on 31 October 2025.
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Herbert Reul
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1972-1979 studied social science and pedagogy
- Occupations
- politicianStudienrat
- Biography
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Herbert Reul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and Hendrik Wüst (since 2021). He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
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Katharina Dröge
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 2004-2010 graduated with Diplom in general economics
- Occupations
- politicianpolitical economist
- Biography
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Katharina Dröge is a German economist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Britta Haßelmann. She previously served as one of the group’s managers (Parlamentarische Geschäftsführerin) from 2018 to 2021. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013.
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Norbert Walter-Borjans
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Norbert Walter-Borjans, also known by the nickname NoWaBo, is a German economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as co-leader of the SPD (alongside Saskia Esken) from 2019 to 2021. He served as State Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017.
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Tina Hassel
- Occupations
- television presenterradio personalityjournalist
- Biography
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Tina Hassel is a German broadcast journalist. Since July 2015 she has been director of the capital studio of ARD, the German public broadcasting association.
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Klaus Kinkel
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Klaus Kinkel was a German statesman, civil servant, diplomat and lawyer who served as the minister of Foreign affairs (1992–1998) and the vice chancellor of Germany (1993–1998) in the government of Helmut Kohl.
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Ulla Kock am Brink
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1981-1984 studied social science and German studies
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Ursula Eva Maria Kock am Brink is a German television presenter.
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Otto Graf Lambsdorff
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was the German Federal Minister of Economics from 1977 to 1984, when he resigned due to corruption allegations.
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Sevim Dağdelen
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- In 2002 studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- politiciantranslatorjournalist
- Biography
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Sevim Dağdelen is a German politician and was from 2005 to 2025 a member of the German parliament, the Bundestag. She was elected for Left Party (die Linke) and switched in October 2023 to Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht.
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Carlo Masala
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Carlo Masala is a German political scientist, lecturer and researcher. He is currently professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich, lecturer at the University of Munich, and lecturer as well as member of the senate of the Munich School of Political Science. He has become known to a wider audience through frequent appearances on German television as an expert on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, publishing predictions and hypotheticals on future military operations, like the Narva scenario, which has also been suggested by other analysts.
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Michael Mronz
- Occupations
- sporting director
- Biography
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Michael Mronz is a German sports and events manager.
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Karolos Papoulias
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Graduated with doctorate in jurisprudence
- Occupations
- legal counselorjuristdiplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Karolos Papoulias was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015.
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Bijan Djir-Sarai
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Graduated with Diploma of Business Administration in business administration
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Bijan Djir-Sarai is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from 2009 until 2013 and since 2017 until March 2025.
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Ronald Pofalla
- Occupations
- juristlawyerpedagoguepolitician
- Biography
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Ronald Pofalla is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013, in the second coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. From 2017 to 2022, he was the CEO of the infrastructure department of Deutsche Bahn.
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Rainer Barzel
- Occupations
- juristmilitary personnelministerpolitician
- Biography
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Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the eighth president of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984.
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Peter Canisius
- Occupations
- university teachertheologianCatholic priest
- Biography
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Peter Canisius SJ was a Dutch Jesuit priest known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and the British Isles. The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany is largely attributed to the work there of the Jesuits, which Canisius led. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as a Doctor of the Church.
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Stefan Homburg
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
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Stefan Homburg is a retired German professor of economics. He was the director of the Institute of Public Finance at the University of Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany until his early retirement in 2021. Outside academia he is best known for his controversial statements regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Prince Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen
- Occupations
- ruler
- Biography
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Albert Leopold Friedrich Christian Sylvester Anno Macarius, Prince of Saxony, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen was the second son of Frederick Augustus III, the last reigning king of Saxony before the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. Upon his father's death in 1932, he became the head of the Royal House of Saxony. He was Captain à la suite in the Royal Bulgarian Infantry, and Grand Master of the Order of the Rue Crown, and also a Knight in the Order of the Black Eagle and Knight Grand Cross in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. As head of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin after 1932, he styled himself as Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen.
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Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut is a German diplomat currently serving as the German ambassador to the Netherlands (Aug. 2024). He was the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey. He was previously German Ambassador to France from 2015 to 2020. Before that, he served as the chief adviser for European affairs to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
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Hermann Gröhe
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1980-1987 studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- juristlawyerpoliticianGerman Minister of State
- Biography
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Gottfried Hermann Gröhe is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.
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Sarah-Lee Heinrich
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- In 2020 studied social science
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sarah-Lee Heinrich is a German non-party politician after leaving the German Green Party in September 2024. She was a federal speaker for the Grüne Jugend from October 2021 to October 2023.
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Timotheus Höttges
- Occupations
- chairman of the executive boardmanagerentrepreneurchief executive officer
- Biography
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Timotheus Höttges is a German businessman who has been serving as chief executive officer of Deutsche Telekom AG, the majority shareholder of T-Mobile US, since 2014.
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Dorothee Sölle
- Occupations
- Protestant theologianliterary scholaruniversity teachertheologianwriter
- Biography
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Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle, known as Dorothee Sölle, was a German Lutheran liberation theologian who coined the term "Christofascism".
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Manuel Andrack
- Occupations
- authordramaturgejournalist
- Biography
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Manuel Claus Achim Andrack is a German journalist, television presenter, and author. He is best known as the sidekick of the Harald Schmidt Show.
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Ulrich Walter
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1974-1980 studied physics
- Occupations
- non-fiction writeruniversity teacherengineerastronautphysicist
- Biography
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Ulrich Hans Walter is a German physicist, engineer and former DFVLR astronaut.
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Lev Kopelev
- Occupations
- literary historianmilitary personnelopinion journalistuniversity teacherbiographer
- Biography
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Lev Zalmanovich Kopelev (Russian: Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912 – 18 June 1997) was a Soviet author and dissident.
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Jürgen Rüttgers
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Jürgen Rüttgers is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010.
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Britta Heidemann
- Occupations
- fencer
- Biography
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Britta Heidemann is a German épée fencer. In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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Günter Verheugen
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianjournalist
- Biography
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Günter Verheugen is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission (Barroso I). After his retirement, he is now honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
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Oliver Bäte
- Occupations
- chief executive officerbusiness executivemanager
- Biography
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Oliver Bäte is a German business executive who has been the CEO of Allianz since October 2014.
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Peter Grünberg
- Occupations
- researcherphysicistteacheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Peter Andreas Grünberg was a German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives.
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Johann Eck
- Occupations
- translatoruniversity teacherpundittheologian
- Biography
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Johann Eck, also known as Johann Maier von Eck and often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Roman Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and opponent of Martin Luther.
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Hans Albert
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- In 1952 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in political science
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosophersociologist
- Biography
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Hans Albert was a German philosopher. He was professor of social sciences at the University of Mannheim from 1963, and remained at the university until 1989. His fields of research were social sciences and general studies of methods. He was a critical rationalist, paying special attention to rational heuristics. Albert was a strong critic of the continental hermeneutic tradition coming from Heidegger and Gadamer.
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Robert Hübner
- Occupations
- athletewriterhistorianpapyrologistchess player
- Biography
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Robert Hübner was a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.
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Julian Barbour
- Occupations
- translatortheoretical physicistphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Julian Barbour is a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science.
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Naika Foroutan
- Occupations
- university teachersociologist
- Biography
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Naika Foroutan is an Iranian-German social scientist.
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Hans-Ulrich Wehler
- Occupations
- opinion journalisthistorianuniversity teacherjournalistsocial historian
- Biography
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Hans-Ulrich Wehler was a German left-liberal historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th-century Germany.
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Freya von Moltke
- Occupations
- writerpeace activistjournalistjuristresistance fighter
- Biography
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Freya von Moltke was a German American lawyer and participant in the anti-Nazi opposition group, the Kreisau Circle, with her husband, Helmuth James von Moltke. During World War II, her husband acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany and became a founding member of the Kreisau Circle, whose members opposed the government of Adolf Hitler.
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Clemens Fuest
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
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Clemens Fuest is a German economist who has been President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich (LMU) since 2016.
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Carmen Thomas
- Occupations
- television presenterradio personalityjournalist
- Biography
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Carmen Thomas is a German journalist, radio and television presenter, author and lecturer. On television, she was the first woman to present the ZDF's das aktuelle Sportstudio. She worked for public radio, running Hallo Ü-Wagen, a weekly travelling talk radio show for two decades. In 1990 Forbes named her one of the 100 most influential women in Germany.
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Ralf Höcker
- Occupations
- opinion journalisttelevision presenterlawyernon-fiction writerjurist
- Biography
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Ralf Höcker is a German lawyer und author. He is involved in several factions within the CDU. In public perception, he is noted for numerous high-profile legal mandates related to the press and recurring media presence.
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Erich Mende
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Erich Mende was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the leader of FDP from 1960 to 1968 and the vice chancellor of Germany from 1963 to 1966.
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Claudia Stamm
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Claudia Stamm is a German politician.
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Jesús Padilla Gálvez
- Occupations
- university teachereditorwriterphilosophertranslator
- Biography
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Jesús Padilla Gálvez is a Spanish philosopher who has worked primarily in philosophy of language, logic, and the history of sciences.
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Kurt Alder
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
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Kurt Alder was a German chemist and Nobel laureate.
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Thomas Rabe
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
-
Thomas Rabe is a German business executive. He is currently the chairman of the German sportswear brand Adidas. In 2006, he was appointed to the Bertelsmann executive board, of which he has been chairman and chief executive officer since 2012. Under his leadership, the group has become more international, more digital and more diversified. In particular, he has advanced the business with music rights and the educational division. Additionally, Rabe was appointed chief executive officer of RTL Group in 2019.
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Turgut Özakman
- Occupations
- screenwriterplaywrightlawyerdramaturge
- Biography
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Turgut Özakman was a Turkish lawyer, a civil servant, a dramaturge and a writer.
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Magnus Manske
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 2003-2006 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry
- Occupations
- Wikimedianbiologistbiochemistsoftware developerbioinformatician
- Biography
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Heinrich Magnus Manske is a German biochemist who is a researcher on malaria. He is a senior staff scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK and a software developer of one of the first versions of the MediaWiki software, which powers Wikipedia and a number of other wiki-based websites.
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Emily Haber
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Emily Margarethe Haber is a German diplomat. She served as State Secretary from 2011 to 2018: from 2011 to 2013, at the Federal Foreign Office and from 2014 to 2018, at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
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Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 1926-1928 studied philosophy
- Occupations
- ministernationalistspolitician
- Biography
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Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs, DMS served as the third state president of South Africa from 1975 to 1978.
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Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald
- Occupations
- anthropologistprehistorianuniversity teacherpaleoanthropologistpaleontologist
- Biography
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Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (13 November 1902 – 10 July 1982) was a German-Dutch paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominins, including Homo erectus. His discoveries and studies of hominid fossils in Java and his studies of other important fossils of south-eastern Asia firmly established his reputation as one of the leading figures of 20th-century paleo-anthropology.
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Ursula Krechel
- Occupations
- translatorplaywrightpoetwriter
- Biography
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Ursula Krechel is a German writer and poet.
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Johann von Staupitz
- Occupations
- university teachertheologian
- Biography
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Johann von Staupitz OSA was a German Catholic priest and theologian, university preacher, and Vicar General of the Augustinian friars in Germany, who supervised Martin Luther during a critical period in his spiritual life. Martin Luther himself remarked, "If it had not been for Dr. Staupitz, I should have sunk in hell." Although he remained Catholic, died as a Benedictine monk and had repudiated the Reformation, he is commemorated on 8 November as a priest in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
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Andreas Kaplan
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistmathematician
- Biography
-
Andreas Marcus Kaplan is president of Kühne Logistics University. He is specialized in the areas of social media, viral marketing, and the digital world in general.
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Heino Falcke
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomerphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Heino Falcke is a German professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands). His main field of study is black holes, and he is the originator of the concept of the 'black hole shadow'. In 2019, Falcke announced the first Event Horizon Telescope results at the EHT Press Conference in Brussels.
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Jerónimo Saavedra
- Occupations
- academiclawyerpoliticiantrade unionist
- Biography
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Jerónimo Saavedra Acevedo was a Spanish politician and academic. He served as President of the Canary Islands twice, from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1991 to 1993.
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Conrad Celtes
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teachermathematicianlibrarianpoet
- Biography
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Conrad Celtes was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led the theatrical performances at the Viennese court and reformed the syllabi.
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Christoph Bernhard von Galen
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied in 1624-1625
- Occupations
- Catholic priestCatholic bishop
- Biography
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Christoph Bernhard Freiherr von Galen was Prince-bishop of Münster. He was born into a noble Westphalian family.
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Hans Mayer
- Occupations
- literary historianjournalistpoet lawyeruniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
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Hans Mayer was a German literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist.
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Otto Piene
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- Studied in 1953-1957
- Occupations
- sculptorpainterdraftsperson
- Biography
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Otto Piene was a German-American artist specializing in kinetic and technology-based art, often working collaboratively. He lived and worked in Düsseldorf, Germany; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Groton, Massachusetts.
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Gustav Trolle
- Occupations
- Catholic priestpolitician
- Biography
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Gustav Eriksson Trolle was the archbishop of Uppsala in Sweden, in two sessions, during the turbulent Reformation events.
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Johannes Althusius
- Occupations
- juristwriteruniversity teachertheologianphilosopher
- Biography
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Johannes Althusius was a German–Dutch jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.
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Jürgen Flimm
- Occupations
- theatrical directormusicianfilm directortelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Jürgen Flimm was a German theatre and opera director, theatre manager, and academic teacher. Flimm was first active in drama, and made the Thalia Theater in Hamburg one of the most successful German theatres when he managed it from 1985 to 2000. He was general manager of the Salzburg Festival and RuhrTriennale festivals, and intendant of the Berlin State Opera from 2010 to 2018. He directed internationally, including Beethoven's Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera, the 2000 Ring cycle production at the Bayreuth Festival, and the 2002 world premiere of Friedrich Cerha's Der Riese vom Steinfeld at the Vienna State Opera.
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Werner Hoyer
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Werner Hoyer is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) between 2012 and 2023.
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Reinhold Ewald
- Occupations
- astronautphysicist
- Biography
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Reinhold Ewald is a German physicist and ESA astronaut.
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Ole Bischof
- Occupations
- judoka
- Biography
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Ole Bischof is a German judoka. He is trained by 1984 Olympic gold medalist Frank Wieneke.
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Valentin Tomberg
- Occupations
- martinistjuristmystic
- Biography
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Valentin Tomberg was an Estonian-Russian Catholic mystic, polyglot scholar and esotericist.
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Manfred Lahnstein
- Occupations
- writereconomistuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Manfred Lahnstein is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In 1982 he was German Federal Minister of Finance as well as Federal Minister of Economics and until 2004 worked for the media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
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Josephine Ortleb
- Enrolled in the University of Cologne
- 2008-2009 studied social science
- Occupations
- Restaurant specialistpolitician
- Biography
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Josephine Ortleb is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saarland since 2017. She has been its Vice President as of March 2025.
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Kurt Bock
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Kurt Bock, is a German businessman who has been president of the German Chemical Industry Association since 2016, and was chief executive officer (CEO) of BASF, the world's largest chemical producer, from 2011 to 2018.
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Philippe Oddo
- Occupations
- banker
- Biography
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Philippe Oddo is a French financier and a managing partner of the ODDO BHF group.
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Stefan Andres
- Occupations
- novelistwriterautobiographerplaywrightpoet
- Biography
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Stefan Paul Andres was a German novelist.
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Hermann Simon
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistwriter
- Biography
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Hermann Simon is a German author and businessperson. He is chairman of Simon-Kucher, a strategy and marketing consultancy. He is a strategy, marketing and pricing consultant. An ongoing online German-language survey voted him the second-most influential management thinker. Simon has authored numerous books and writes articles for international newspapers and business magazines. He is also known for coining the term Servicewüste.
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Michaela Noll
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Michaela Marion Noll is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 until 2021.
