List of personalities of the city of Solingen

The list of personalities of the city of Solingen initially contains important personalities who were born in Solingen . They are listed chronologically according to the year of birth.

This is followed by a list of people who have a significant connection to Solingen, but were born elsewhere. This list is also structured chronologically.

Born in Solingen

To 1900

• Frederick Kerseboom (1632–1690), painter, in England also Frederick Casaubon
• Johann Wilhelm Meigen (1764–1845), entomologist, specialist in two-winged animals
• Vinzenz Joseph Deycks (1768–1850), judiciary and notary, 1811–1815 mayor of Opladen
• Peter Knecht (1798–1852), arms dealer and manufacturer, born on Gut Schlicken near Solingen
• Gottlieb Kyllmann (1803–1878), landowner, district deputy and district administrator
• Karl Mager (1810–1858), school teacher and school politician
• Ludwig Neuhaus (1810–1861), member of the Prussian National Assembly
• Carl Adams (1811–1849), mathematician and teacher
• Friedrich Albert Lange (1828 in Wald (today Solingen) - 1875), philosopher, theologian, economist
• Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), American landscape painter
• Walter Kyllmann (1837–1913), architect
• Jacob Hilgers (1834–1880), founder of Stahlbau Hilgers in Rheinbrohl
• Carl Russ (1838–1925), owner of the Swiss chocolate factory Suchard and honorary citizen of the city of Wald
• Georg Keßler (1851–1910), Prussian administrative officer
• Louis Sabin (1851–1914), partner in Bonsa-Werke, member of the Reichstag
• Ernst Otto Beckmann (1853–1923), chemist
• Rudolf Cronau (1855–1939), painter, writer, art and cultural historian
• Richard Gertenbach (1857–1929), local politician, long-time mayor of Lüttringhausen
• Walther Schulte vom Brühl (1858–1921), writer
• Wilhelm Hartkopf (1862–1918), genre and portrait painter from the Düsseldorf School
• Emil Kronenberg (1864–1954), doctor, politician, founder of the Solingen adult education center, city library and Bethesda clinic
• Robert Engels (1866–1926), painter, graphic artist, lithographer, craftsman and art professor
• Julius Bolthausen (1868–1947), teacher and travel company
• Ernst Everts (1868–1952), composer and singer
• Ludwig Woltmann (1871–1907), anthropologist, zoologist and neo-Kantian
• Arthur Moeller van den Bruck (1876–1925), völkisch-nationalist publicist
• Peter Witte (1876–1949), entrepreneur and local poet
• Josef Weiser (1881–1964), politician (center), member of the Reichstag and textile merchant
• Rudolf Klophaus (1885–1957), architect of various buildings in Hamburg's Kontorhaus district
• Hermann Meyer (1887–1943), ministerial official and politician
• Albert Müller (1891–1951), communist and politician
• Rudolf Picard (1891–1976), teacher and dialect researcher
• Rudolf Brückmann (1891–1964), Lord Mayor of Solingen
• Paul Claasen (1891 – ≈1986), communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism
• Karl Theodor Haanen (1892–1965), Solingen manufacturer, photographer and author
• Karl Busemann (1894–1966), journalist and editor of the Frankfurter Neue Presse
• Paul Voss (1894–1976), designer
• Paul Franken (1894–1944), socialist politician, victim of Stalinism
• Erich Orthmann (1894–1945), conductor
• Karl Allmenröder (1896–1917), fighter pilot in the Richthofen Jagdgeschwader and holder of the order Pour le Mérite
• Karl Julius Joest (1896–1975), painter
• Ernst Busse (1897–1952), politician, member of the Reichstag and Thuringian interior minister
• Carl Clauberg (1898–1957), gynecologist who, as an SS doctor, carried out mass forced sterilizations of concentration camp prisoners
• Heinrich Fassbender (1899–1971), politician
• Hans Erich Hollmann (1899–1960), physicist and radar pioneer
• Werner Bickenbach (1900–1974), German obstetrician and gynecologist
• Hermann Friedrich Gränke (1900–1986), engineer and managerial staff; saved several hundred Jews from the Nazi murder between 1942 and 1944
• Franz Albert Kramer (1900–1950), journalist and publicist, founder of the weekly newspaper Rheinischer Merkur
• Werner Saam (1900–1960), pianist, choir director and conductor

1901-1950

• Curt Beckmann (1901–1970), sculptor
• Josef Dahmen (1903–1985), theater and film actor
• Joseph Pütz (1903–1982), politician (CDU), state minister
• Karl Adolphs (1904–1989), politician (KPD / SED) and functionary
• Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962), SS-Obersturmbannführer and as head of the emigration and evacuation department, a central figure in the deportation of more than four million Jews
• Walter Henkels (1906–1987), journalist and book author
• Carl Pott (1906–1985), cutlery manufacturer and industrial designer
• Ludwig Hoelscher (1907–1996), cellist; made his debut in 1936 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Furtwängler
• Anneliese Everts (1908–1967), painter and graphic artist
• Friedrich Eugen Engels (1909–1994), singer
• Ernst Walsken (1909–1993), painter, whose pictures are among the few surviving artistic documents from concentration camps during the Nazi era
• Kurt Henkels (1910–1986), orchestra conductor, composer
• Samuel Rothenberg (1910–1997), pastor, poet and composer
• Georg Meistermann (1911–1990), painter of numerous sacred and secular glass windows
• Werner Stamm (1912–1993), composer; wrote the song If the water in the Rhine were golden wine and the operetta Zeltinger Himmelreich
• Otto Voos (1912–1987), politician (CDU), two-time honorary mayor of Solingen
• Ulrich Goerdeler (1913–2000), politician (CDU), member of the state parliament in Lower Saxony
• Richard Balken (1914–1995), diplomat
• Ernst Buschmann (1914–1996), communist
• Jürgen Thorwald (1915–2006; pseudonym for: Heinz Bongartz), author of popular science presentations
• Günther Kissel (1917–2011), building contractor
• Emmi Hagen (1918–1968), doctor
• Christel Rupke (1919–1998), swimmer
• Walter Scheel (1919–2016), politician (FDP), Federal President (1974–1979)
• Ilse Hollweg (1922–1990), soprano
• Wilhelm Jung (1922–2008), art historian and curator
• Herbert Schade (1922–1994), athlete (track and field athlete), bronze medalist at the 1952 Olympics over 5000 meters
• Georg Schlößer (1922–2000), politician (CDU), Lord Mayor
• Aenne Franz (* 1923), dialect writer
• Alfons Holte (1923–2013), singer
• Gertrud Kortenbach (1924–1960), sculptor
• Paul Süß (1924–1999), racing cyclist
• Robert Bach (1926–2010), Protestant theologian and university professor
• Edwin Wolfram Dahl (1928–2015), writer
• Klaus Oehler (* 1928), philosopher
• Heinz Kimmerle (1930–2016), philosopher
• Ulrich Bach (1931–2009), Protestant theologian
• Theo Meyer (1932–2007), Germanist and writer
• Manfred Böhmer (1936–2016), sports official and entrepreneur
• Egon Evertz (* 1936), entrepreneur, racing car driver, musician and chess player
• Peter Haanen (* 1936), theologian and publicist
• Werner Hollweg (1936–2007), opera tenor
• Horst Görtz (* 1937), IT entrepreneur
• Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937–2020), painter
• Klaus Lehnertz (* 1938), athlete
• Adolf Weil (1938–2011), most successful motocross rider in the Federal Republic of Germany
• Lilli Engel (1939–2018), painter and installation artist
• Pina Bausch (1940–2009), dancer, choreographer and director of the dance theater of the same name in Wuppertal
• Christoph Wolff (* 1940), musicologist (Bach researcher and director of the Leipzig Bach Archive), author and professor of musicology at Harvard University
• August Dahl (* 1942), Protestant pastor and peace activist
• Walter Gontermann (* 1942), actor
• Michael Wolff (* 1942), philosopher, brother of Christoph Wolff
• Ulay (1943–2020), actually Frank Uwe Laysiepen, performance artist
• Manfred Melzer (1944–2018), Roman Catholic clergyman and auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Cologne
• Hermann-Josef Frisch (* 1947), writer and Roman Catholic priest
• Ernst Martin Walsken (* 1947), SPD politician and manager
• Gertrud Schilling (* 1949), politician of the Greens

From 1951

• Hans-Joachim Freund (* 1951), chemist, director at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
• Eva Herlitz (* 1952), author, initiator of the activities around the Buddy Bears
• Michael Schade (* 1952), spokesman for the management of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH
• Wolfgang Dehen (* 1954), manager
• Renate Franz (* 1954), journalist and author
• Martin Maria Krüger (* 1954), musician
• Ulrich Uibel (1954–2020), politician (SPD) and retired mayor. D.
• Hans-Peter Reichl (* 1955), German sailor
• Charlotte Schubert (* 1955), historical and medical historian
• Wolfgang Schwerk (* 1955), ultra marathon runner
• Ansgar Krause (* 1956), concert guitarist, arranger, professor of guitar
• Michael Lesch (* 1956), actor
• Christian Rannenberg (* 1956), blues and boogie pianist
• Lutz Becker (* 1957), professor in Cologne and business journalist
• Jochen Hülder (1957–2015), manager of the Toten Hosen and managing director of JKP
• Iris Preuß-Buchholz (* 1957), politician (SPD)
• Andreas Schäfer (* 1957), director and author
• Harry Rag (* 1959), filmmaker and musician
• Bodo Uebber (* 1959), manager
• Jörg Föste (* 1960), entrepreneur and managing director of the first division handball club Bergischer HC
• Diana Millies (* 1961), author
• Timotheus Höttges (* 1962), manager and board member of Deutsche Telekom
• Peter Kohl (* 1962), journalist, sports presenter
• Marc Pitzke (* 1963), journalist
• Stefan Brangs (* 1964), politician (SPD), trade unionist and State Secretary in the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport
• Clemens Breuer (* 1964), Catholic theologian
• Richard David Precht (* 1964), philosopher, writer and publicist
• Jörg Schönenborn (* 1964), journalist and editor-in-chief of WDR television
• Veronica Ferres (born 1965), actress
• Peter Issig (* 1965), jazz bassist and video artist
• Holger Mertens (* 1965), monument conservator, state curator of Westphalia-Lippe
• Bernd Schneider (* 1965), German chess champion
• Ansgar Zerfaß (* 1965), professor of communication and media studies
• Sebastian Thrun (* 1967), former professor at Stanford University, founder of the online university Udacity
• Jens Weidmann (* 1968), President of the Deutsche Bundesbank
• René Hamann (* 1971), writer
• Ulrike Demmer (* 1973), journalist and deputy government spokeswoman
• Michael van den Bogaard (* 1974), photographer
• Jan Buchwald (1974-2019), opera singer (baritone)
• Marco Matias (* 1975), German-Portuguese singer
• Nadine Schemmann (* 1977), illustrator and designer
• Panagiota Petridou (* 1979), TV presenter
• Daniel Etter (* 1980), photojournalist and author
• Gerrit Jansen (* 1981), actor, winner of the Nestroy Theater Prize
• Fahriye Evcen (* 1986), actress
• Kristian Nippes (* 1988), handball player
• Kevin Kampl (* 1990), Slovenian soccer player
• Marco Königs (* 1990), soccer player
• Christoph Kramer (* 1991), soccer player
• Liont (* 1992), YouTube activist and singer
• Adrian Stanilewicz (* 2000), football player

Connected to Solingen

• Wilhelm von Voss (1784–1818), Prussian administrative officer and district administrator of Solingen
• Georg Schumacher (1844–1917), social democratic member of the Reichstag (1884–1898) and city councilor in Solingen
• Friedrich Haumann (1857–1924), local politician, first Lord Mayor of Solingen
• August Dicke (1859–1929), local politician and second mayor of Solingen
• Adolf Boge (born February 14, 1874 in Bielefeld; † June 25, 1952 in Eitorf), co-founder of the Rheinische Tür closerfabrik Boge & Kasten GmbH
• Hermann Schmidhüßler (1875–1963), technical assistant and from 1928 to 1930 acting Lord Mayor of Solingen
• Gerhard Hebborn (1878–1967), Lord Mayor of Solingen (1946–48)
• Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (1884–1945), alderman from 1912 to 1914, resistance fighter against National Socialism
• Eugen Maurer (1884–1959), Lord Mayor of Solingen (1948–55)
• Matthias Rudolf Vollmar (1893–1969), alderman of Solingen
• Hanns Heinen (1895–1961), author, journalist and poet
• Jenny Gusyk (1897–1944), Jewish, Turkish and first student at the University of Cologne
• Erwin Bowien (1899–1972), author and painter
• Gerhard Berting (1900–1963), lawyer and administrative officer, City Director of Solingen
• Lies Ketterer (1905–1976), sculptor
• Wolfgang Pasquay (1931–2006), pianist, composer and music teacher
• Amud Uwe Millies (1932-2006), painter
• Jochen Pützenbacher (1939–2019), Radio Luxembourg presenter
• Jörg Becker (* 1946), political scientist and trade unionist
• Klaus Fiehe (* 1957), musician and radio presenter (1 Live)
• Sylvia Löhrmann (* 1957), politician; former Minister for Schools and Continuing Education and Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Boris Pfaffenbach (* 1962), doctor, university lecturer
• Marcus Kretzer (* 1965), pianist
• Marina Welsch (* 1966), actress, speaker and painter, from Solingen
• Mola Adebisi (* 1973), moderator