# List of people from Erfurt

This list contains people both born in Erfurt and notable residents of the city, ordered chronologically.

## Born in Erfurt, Germany

The following persons were born in Erfurt respectively within the current city borders.

### 14th century

* Alexander Suslin (died before 1349), rabbi

### 15th century

* Erhard Etzlaub (1460–1532), astronomer
* de:Johannes Lang (c. 1487–1548), theologian; the "Reformer of Erfurt"
* Henricus Grammateus (1495–1526), mathematician

### 16th century

* Michael Altenburg (1584–1640), theologian, born in Alach
* Johannes Thesselius (1590–1643), composer

### 17th century

* Johannes Bach (1604–1673), composer
* Hiob Ludolf (1624–1704), orientalist
* Johann Michael Vansleb (1635–1679), theologian
* Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt (1644–1694), mother of Johann Sebastian Bach
* Johann Aegidius Bach (1645–1716), organist
* Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645–1695), musician
* Johann Christoph Bach (1645–1693), musician
* Johann Heinrich Buttstett (1666–1727), composer, born in Bindersleben
* Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721), composer
* Johann Bernhard Bach (1676–1749), composer
* Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748), music theorist
* Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel (1685–1764), composer
* Elias David Häusser (1687–1745), architect
* Amalia Pachelbel (1688–1723), painter
* Jakob Adlung (1699–1762), organist, born in Bindersleben

### 18th century

* Johann Rudolf Engau (1708–1755), jurist
* Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann (1711–1740), poet
* Johann Christian Kittel (1732–1809), composer
* Johann Hieronymus Schröter (1745–1816), astronomer
* Johann Wilhelm Hässler (1747–1822), composer
* Samuel Gottlieb Vogel (1750–1837), physician
* Rudolph Zacharias Becker (1752–1822), educator
* Johann Joachim Bellermann (1754–1842), theologist
* Wilhelm Gottlieb Tennemann (1761–1819), historian
* Johann Trommsdorff (1770–1837), chemist
* Johann Jakob Bernhardi (1774–1850), botanist
* Justus Hecker (1795–1850), physician

### 19th century

* August Soller (1805–1853), architect and Schinkel student
* Christian Eduard Langethal (1806–1878), botanist
* Hugo Rothstein (1810–1865), officer
* August Gottfried Ritter (1811–1885), composer and organist
* Anton Dominik Fernkorn (1813–1878), sculptor
* Eduard Gerhardt (1813–1888), painter, draftsman, printmaker, lithographer and architect
* Ferdinand Bellermann (1814–1889), landscape painter
* Fritz Müller (1821–1897), biologist, born in Windischholzhausen
* Carl Reinthaler (1822–1896), composer, conductor and director of the cathedral choir in Bremen
* Oskar Schade (1826–1906), philologist
* Otto Ribbeck (1827–1898), classical scholar
* Julius Grosse (1828–1902), writer and theater critic
* Alfred Kirchhoff (1838–1907), geographer
* Carl von Thieme (1844–1924), co-founder of two large German insurance companies Munich reinsurance company and Allianz AG
* Bernhard Ziehn (1845–1912), music theorist
* Paul von Kleist (1846–1926), Prussian lieutenant general
* Johann Heinrich Hübschmann (1848–1908), philologist
* Günther von Kirchbach (1850–1925), general
* Oskar von Hutier (1857–1934), General in World War I
* Max Weber (1864–1920), sociologist, lawyer, economist and social economist
* Johannes Franz Hartmann (1865–1936), astronomer
* Hermann Kiese (1865–1923), rosarian, born in Vieselbach
* Alfred Weber (1868–1958), economist, sociologist and cultural philosopher
* Paul Lipke (1870–1955), chess master
* Max E. Binner (born 1883), politician
* Hubert Weise (1884–1950), general
* Erich Zeigner (1886–1949) politician (SPD/SED), prime minister of Saxony 21 March to 29 October 1923
* Willi Münzenberg (1889–1940), communist, publisher and film producer
* Erika Glässner (1890–1959), actress
* Erich Köhler (1892–1958), politician (CDU), president of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1950
* Walter Zander (1898–1993), lawyer

### 20th century
#### 1900s

* Werner Danckert (1900–1970), musicologist
* Reinhard Gehlen (1902–1979), German general, first president of Federal Intelligence Service
* Hans Hess (1907–1975), museologist
* Margaretha Reichardt (1907–1984), textile designer and Bauhaus alumni
* Hans Günther (1910–1945), policeman, Sturmbannführer and head of the Central office for Jewish emigration in Prague

#### 1910s

* Max Lackmann (1910–2000), ecumenist
* Heinrich Schonder (1910–1943), U-boat commander
* Hans Fleischhacker (1912–1992), anthropologist, born in Töttleben
* Gerhard Schöpfel (1912–2003), flying ace
* Rolf Günther (1913–1945), major in SS

#### 1920s

* Annemarie Schimmel (1922–2003), orientalist
* Wolf Schneider (1925–2022), journalist, nonfiction author and language critic
* Peer Schmidt (1926–2010), actor
* Gert Schramm (1928–2016), survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp
* Winfried Herz (born 1929), footballer
* Reinhard Lettau (1929–1996), writer

#### 1930s

* Johannes Wallmann (born 1930), professor of church history at the University of Bochum, pietism researcher
* Georg Stoltze (1931–2007), cyclist
* Wilhelm Brückner (born 1932), luthier
* Jutta Langenau (1933–1982), swimmer
* Lothar Stäber (born 1936), cyclist
* Lothar Ahrendt (born 1936), politician (SED), from 1989 to 1990 Minister of the Interior of the GDR
* Joachim Wendler (1939–1975), aquanaut

#### 1940s

* Paul Friedrichs (1940-2012), motorcycle racer
* Alexander Lang (1941-2024), director and actor
* Gerd Nauhaus (born 1942), musicologist
* Wolfgang Scheidel (born 1943), luger
* Boris Gulko (born 1947), Grandmaster in chess
* Christine Westermann (born 1948), television host and author
* Christel Augenstein (born 1949), politician, 2001-2009 mayor of Pforzheim
* Ralf Schulenberg (born 1949), footballer

#### 1950s

* Klaus Wunder (born 1950), footballer
* Jochen Babock (born 1953), bobsledder
* Ulrich Holbein (born 1953), writer
* Ute Lubosch (born 1953), actress
* Joachim Werneburg (born 1953), writer
* Evelyn Stolze (born 1954), swimmer

#### 1960s

* Sabine Busch (born 1962), athlete
* Carsten Sänger (born 1962), football player
* Stefan Böger (born 1966), football player and coach
* Axel Kühn (born 1967), bobsledder
* Maik Landsmann (born 1967), cyclist and Olympic champion
* Sybille Gruner (born 1969), handball player
* Thomas Luther (born 1969), Grandmaster in chess
* Eyck Zimmer (born 1969), award-winning chef

#### 1970s

* Thomas Rudolph (born 1970), luger
* Christoph Genz (born 1971), tenor
* Andreas Müller (born 1971), paralympic athlete
* Marco Weißhaupt (born 1972), footballer
* Steffen Wöller (born 1972), luger
* Katrin Apel (born 1973), biathlete
* Andreas Bausewein (born 1973), politician (SPD) and mayor of Erfurt
* Alexander Beyer (born 1973), film actor (Good Bye Lenin, The Legend of Rita, Sonnenallee)
* André Korff (born 1973), cyclist
* Erik Niedling (born 1973), artist
* Sabine Völker (born 1973), speed skater
* Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (born 1974), speed skater and Olympic champion
* Franziska Schenk (born 1974), speed skater
* Marco Schreyl (born 1974), television host
* Matthias Höpfner (born 1975), bobsledder
* Carsten Schneider (born 1976), politician (SPD), Member of Bundestag since 1998
* Daniel Becke (born 1978), cyclist
* Anja Schneiderheinze-Stöckel (born 1978), bobsledder
* Stephan Schreck (born 1978), cyclist
* René Wolff (born 1978), cyclist
* Yvonne Catterfeld (born 1979), singer and actress
* Silvio Smalun (born 1979), figure skater

#### 1980s

* Clueso (born 1980) (a.k.a. Thomas Hübner), singer
* Clemens Fritz (born 1980), footballer
* Stefan Lindemann (born 1980), figure skater
* Andreas Pohle (born 1981), long jumper and triple jumper
* Janin Reinhardt (born 1981), television presenter and actress
* Judith Hesse (born 1982), speed skater
* Christian Müller (born 1982), cyclist
* Simon Schwartz (born 1982), illustrator and comic novel writer
* Robert Lehmann (born 1984), speed skater
* Elisabeth Pähtz (born 1985), Grandmaster in chess
* Martin Ullmann (born 1986), footballer
* Kristin Wieczorek (born 1986), figure skater
* Patrick Gretsch (born 1987), cyclist
* Stephanie Beckert (born 1988), speed skater
* Thomas Ströhl (born 1988), footballer
* Christian Beck (born 1988), football player

#### 1990s

* Patrick Beckert (born 1990), speed skater
* Denis Wieczorek (born 1991), figure skater
* Florian Wünsche (born 1991), actor
* Kevin Möhwald (born 1993), footballer
* Silvano Varnhagen (born 1993), footballer

## Notable residents of Erfurt

* Eoban (died 754), martyr, buried in Erfurt
* Eleazar of Worms (1176–1238), taldmudist, worked as hazzan in Erfurt
* Henry of Friemar the Elder (c. 1245–1340), an Augustinian friar, philosopher, theologian and aesthetic writer.
* Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327), theologian, lived in Erfurt
* Henry of Friemar the Younger (c. 1285–1354) Augustinian friar and theologian
* Johannes de Indagine (c.1415–1475), Carthusian monk and theologian
* Jacob Weil (died before 1456), rabbinate in Erfurt
* Martin Luther (1483–1546), lived as student and later as an Augustinan friar in Erfurt
* Adam Ries (1492–1559), mathematician, worked in Erfurt between 1518 and 1522/23
* Justus Jonas (1493–1555), Lutheran theologian and Rector of University of Erfurt.
* Johannes Loersfeld (fl. 1520s), printer, worked in Erfurt in the 1520s
* Basil Faber (1520–1576), schoolmaster, worked in Erfurt between 1571 and 1576
* Christoph Bach (1613–1661), worked in Erfurt between 1642 and 1652
* Heinrich Bach (1615–1692), organist, worked in Erfurt
* Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), composer and organist, worked in Erfurt between 1678 and 1690
* Andreas Armsdorff (1670–1699), composer, worked in Erfurt
* Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg (1744–1817), governor of Erfurt
* Paulus Stephanus Cassel (1821–1892), writer, lived in Erfurt
* Emil Büchner (1826–1908), conductor
* Moritz Callmann Wahl (1829–1887), writer, lived in Erfurt
* Ernst Dircksen (1831–1899), architect, lived in Erfurt since 1890
* Richard Wetz (1875–1935), composer, lived in Erfurt since 1906
* Joel Brand (1906–1964), zionist, grew up in Erfurt
* Walter Werneburg (1922–1999), artist, lived in Erfurt
* Hans-Joachim Göring (1923–2010), footballer, lived in Erfurt
* Joachim Meisner (born 1933), cardinal
* Paul Friedrichs (1940–2012), motocross racer, lived in Erfurt
* Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann (born 1966), speed skater
* Marcus Urban (born 1971), footballer with FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt