List of Baltic Germans

This is a list of notable Baltic Germans.

Art and literature

Architects

• Alfred Aschenkampff (1858-1914), architect (Latvia)
• Bernhard Bielenstein (1877-1959), architect (Latvia)
• Vilhelms Bokslafs (1858–1945), architect (Latvia)
• Mikhail Eisenstein (1867–1921), architect and civil engineer (Latvia)
• Johann Felsko (1813–1902), architect (Latvia)
• Karl Felsko, (1844–1918), architect (Latvia)
• Christoph Haberland (1750–1803), architect (Latvia)
• Otto Pius Hippius (1826–1883), architect (Estonia)
• Erich Jacoby (1885–1941), architect (Estonia)
• Paul Mandelstamm (1872-1941), architect (Latvia)
• Robert Natus (1890–1950), architect (Estonia)
• Jacques Rosenbaum (1878–1944), architect (Estonia)
• Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946), politician, Nazi ideologist and architect (Germany)

Artists

• Christian Ackermann (died 1710), wood carver and sculptor (Estonia)
• Johann Heinrich Baumann (1753–1832), painter (Latvia)
• Gregor von Bochmann (1850-1930), painter (Estonia)
• Bernhard Borchert (1863–1945), artist (Latvia)
• Mikhail Clodt (1832–1902), painter (Russia)
• Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg (1805–1867), sculptor (Russia)
• Franz Burchard Dörbeck (1799–1835), graphic artist and caricaturist
• Jacob Heinrich Elbfas (c. 1600 – 1664), painter (Sweden)
• Eduard von Gebhardt (1838–1925), painter
• Wilhelm August Golicke (1802–1848), painter
• Eduard Hau (1807–1888), painter
• Woldemar Hau (1816–1896), painter
• August Matthias Hagen (1794–1878), painter
• Julie Wilhelmine Hagen-Schwarz (1824–1902), painter, daughter of the above
• Vasily Helmersen (1873–1893), artist and book illustrator
• Carl von Hoffman (1889–1982), soldier, adventurer, author, and photographer (United States)
• Franz Hoppenstätt (died 1657 or 1658), wood carver (Estonia)
• George Hoyningen-Huene (1900–1968), fashion photographer
• Alexander Julius Klünder, (1802-1875), portrait painter
• Alexander Kotzebue (1815–1889), painter
• Gerhard von Kügelgen (1772–1820), portrait and history painter
• Karl von Kügelgen (1772–1832), landscape and history painter
• Konstantin von Kügelgen (1810–1880), landscape painter
• Otto Friedrich Theodor von Möller (1812–1874), painter
• Carl Timoleon von Neff (1804–1877), painter (Estonia)
• August Georg Wilhelm Pezold (1794-1859), painter and lithographer
• Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1786–1937), archaeologist, writer, art historian and painter
• Egon von Vietinghoff (1903–1994), painter and philosopher (Germany, Switzerland)
• Gottlieb Welté (1745/49–1792), etcher and landscape painter

Authors and writers

• Friedrich Amelung (1842–1909), chess player, endgame composer, and journalist
• Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964), novelist
• Lovisa von Burghausen (1698–1733), slave and memoirist (Russia)
• Anton Delvig (1798–1831), poet and journalist (Russia)
• Helene von Engelhardt (1850-1910)
• Nikolai Erdman (1900–1970), poet and playwright (Soviet Union)
• Julie Hausmann (1826–1901), poet
• Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), poet, novelist, and painter (Germany)
• Eduard von Keyserling (1855–1918), writer and playwright
• August von Kotzebue (1761–1819), playwright (Germany)
• Wilhelm Küchelbecker (1797–1846), poet and Decembrist (Russia)
• Anatol Lieven (born 1960), author, journalist, and policy analyst (United Kingdom)
• Garlieb Merkel (1769–1850), writer and public activist
• Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (1870–1922), politician, criminologist, journalist (Russia)
• Elisa von der Recke (1754–1833), writer and poet
• Gleb Struve (1898–1985), poet and literary historian (United States)
• Frank Thiess (1890–1977), writer (Germany)
• Jakob von Uexkull (born 1944), writer and politician (Germany)
• Peter Ernst Wilde (1732–1785), physician and journalist (Estonia)
• Gero von Wilpert (1933–2009), writer and literary scientist

Entertainment

Actors and actresses

• Heinz Erhardt (1909–1979), comedian, musician, entertainer, actor and poet
• Irene von Meyendorff (1916–2001), film actress (Germany)
• Marie Seebach (1830–1897), actress (Germany)

Musicians

• John Christian Bechler (1784–1857), Moravian bishop and composer (United States, Russia)
• Eduard Erdmann (1896–1958), pianist, composer, professor (Germany)
• Heinz Erhardt (1909–1979), comedian, musician, entertainer, actor and poet
• Roman Matsov (1917–2001), violinist, pianist, and conductor (Estonia)
• Eduard Mertke (1833-1895), composer and music teacher
• Lena Meyer-Landrut (born 1991), singer (Germany)
• Carl David Stegmann (1751–1826), tenor and composer
• Raimund von zur-Mühlen (1854–1931), tenor and music educator

Entrepreneurs

• James Martin Eder (1838–1921), pioneer of sugar industry in Colombia
• Karl Otto Georg von Meck (1821–1876), businessman
• Baron Nils Taube, (1928 - 2008), Britain's longest serving fund manager, colleague of George Soros and advisor to Lord Rothschild.

Explorers

• Reinhold von Anrep-Elmpt (1834-1888), explorer
• Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, founder of embryology
• Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1778–1852), explorer (Russia)
• Alexander Bunge (1803–1890), botanist and expeditionist (Russia)
• Karl von Ditmar (1822–1892), geologist and explorer (Russia)
• Karl Eichwald (1795–1876), geologist and physician (Russia)
• Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831), biologist, physician and explorer (Russia)
• Johann Anton Güldenstädt (1745–1781), naturalist and explorer
• Ludwig von Hagemeister (1780–1833), seafarer and explorer (Russia)
• Carl von Hoffman (1889–1982), soldier, adventurer, author, and photographer (United States)
• Alexander Kaulbars (1844–1925) military commander and explorer (Russia)
• Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846), explorer (Russia)
• Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770–1846), explorer (Russia)
• Fyodor Litke (Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke, 1797–1898), navigator and geographer (Russia)
• Richard Maack (1825–1886), biologist, geographer and explorer (Russia)
• Alexander von Middendorff (1815–1894), zoologist and explorer
• Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist (Soviet Union)
• Alexander von Schrenk (1816–1876), mineralogist, botanist and expeditionist (Russia)
• Leopold von Schrenck (1826–1894), zoologist, geographer and ethnographer (Russia)
• Georg August Schweinfurth (1836–1925), botanist and explorer
• Eduard Toll (1858–1902), geologist and explorer (Russia)
• Ferdinand von Wrangel (1797–1870), explorer (Russia)

Military

• Alexander of Courland (1658–1686), prince and military commander (Prussia)
• Władysław Anders (1892–1970), military commander and politician (Poland)
• Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (1761–1818), military commander (Russia)
• Alexander von Benckendorff (1783–1844), military commander (Russia)
• Konstantin von Benckendorff (1785–1828), military commander and diplomat (Russia)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg (1793–1874), military commander (Russia)
• Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden (1750–1811), military commander (Russia)
• Ivan Essen (1759–1813), military commander (Russia)
• Nikolai Essen (1860–1915), admiral (Russia)
• Peter Kirillovich Essen (1772–1844), military commander (Russia)
• Jürgen von Farensbach (1551–1602), military commander (Livonia)
• William Fermor (1702–1771), military commander (Russia)
• Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (1899–1944), colonel and member of the Widerstand (Nazi Germany)
• Adrian von Fölkersam (1914–1945), military commander (Nazi Germany)
• Dmitry von Fölkersam (1846–1905), admiral (Russia)
• Maksimas Katche (1879–1933), military commander (Russia, Lithuania)
• Alexander Kaulbars (1844–1925) military commander and explorer (Russia)
• Paul Demetrius Kotzebue (1801–1884), military officer (Russia)
• Ernst Gideon von Laudon (1717–1790), military commander
• Christopher Lieven (1774–1839), military commander, politician and diplomat (Russia)
• Yevgeny Miller (1867–1939), military commander (Russia)
• Burkhard Christoph von Münnich (1683–1767), military commander (Russia)
• Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken (1752–1837), field marshal (Russia)
• Johann Patkul (1660–1707), politician and military commander (Sweden, Poland, Russia)
• Wolter von Plettenberg (1450–1535), Master of Livonian Order
• Paul von Rennenkampf (1854–1918), military commander (Russia)
• Ernest Stackelberg (1813–1870), diplomat and military figure
• Georgii Stackelberg (1851–1913), cavalry general (Russia)
• Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1885–1921), military commander (Russia)
• Victor von Wahl (1840–1915), military commander and politician
• Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613–1676), military commander and statesman (Sweden)
• Carl Henrik Wrangel (1681–1755), military commander (Sweden)
• Herman Wrangel (1587–1643), military commander and statesman (Sweden)
• Peter von Wrangel (1878–1928), military commander (Russia)

Philosophers

• Johann Eduard Erdmann (1805–1892), pastor, historian of philosophy (Latvia)
• Nicolai Hartmann (1882–1950), philosopher (Germany)
• Hermann Graf Keyserling (1880–1946), philosopher
• Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946), politician, Nazi ideologist and architect (Germany)
• Egon von Vietinghoff (1903–1994), painter and philosopher (Germany, Switzerland)

Politicians and diplomats

• Ernst Johann von Biron (1690–1772), Duke of Courland
• Peter von Biron (1724–1800), Duke of Courland
• Otto Braun (1872–1955), Prime Minister of Prussia
• Andrey Yakovlevich Budberg (1750–1812), diplomat and politician (Russia)
• Andrey Fedorovich Budberg (1817–1881), diplomat (Russia)
• Sophie Buxhoeveden (1883–1956), lady in waiting to Tsarina Alexandra of Russia
• Balthasar von Campenhausen (1772–1823), politician (Russia)
• Stanisław Ernest Denhoff (1673–1728), noble and statesman (Poland)
• Kasper Doenhoff (1587–1645), courtier and diplomat (Poland)
• Ernst Magnus Dönhoff (1581–1642), noble and diplomat
• Princess Dorothea of Courland (1793–1862), noblewoman
• Hans Reinhold von Fersen (1683–1786), military commander and politician (Sweden)
• Reinhold Johan von Fersen (1646–1716), county governor (Sweden)
• Ferdinand Kettler (1655–1737), Duke of Courland
• Friedrich Kettler (1569–1642), Duke of Courland
• Frederick William Kettler (1692–1711), Duke of Courland
• Frederick Casimir Kettler (1650–1698), Duke of Courland
• Gotthard Kettler (1517–1587), the last Master of the Livonian Order and the first Duke of Courland
• Jacob Kettler (1610–1682), Duke of Courland
• Wilhelm Kettler (1574–1640), Duke of Courland
• Andreas Meyer-Landrut (born 1929), diplomat (Germany)
• Christopher Lieven (1774–1839), military commander, politician and diplomat (Russia)
• Dorothea Lieven (1785–1857), noblwoman and diplomat (Russia)
• Christoph Johann von Medem (1763–1838), courtier (Russia)
• Dorothea von Medem (1761–1821), last Duchess of Courland
• Karl Nesselrode (1780–1862), diplomat (Russia)
• Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (1870–1922), politician, criminologist, journalist (Russia)
• Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, (1745 – 1826), military Governor of St. Petersburg from 1798 to 1801, played pivotal role in the assassination of Emperor Paul.
• Johann Patkul (1660–1707), politician and military commander (Sweden, Poland, Russia)
• Adolf Pilar von Pilchau (1851–1925), politician, regent of the United Baltic Duchy
• Wolter von Plettenberg (1450–1535), Master of Livonian Order
• Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946), politician, Nazi ideologist and architect (Germany)
• Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter (1884–1923), politician (Nazi Germany)
• Jacob Sievers (1731–1808), politician (Russia)
• Ernest Stackelberg (1813–1870), diplomat and military figure
• Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg (1766–1850), diplomat (Russia)
• Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1736–1800), diplomat (Russia)
• Karl von Struve (1835–1907), politician and diplomat (Russia)
• Jakob von Uexkull (born 1944), writer and politician (Germany)
• Victor von Wahl (1840–1915), military commander and politician
• Princess Wilhelmine (1781–1839), noble and the Duchess of Sagan
• Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613–1676), military commander and statesman (Sweden)
• Herman Wrangel (1587–1643), military commander and statesman (Sweden)

Religion

• Albert of Riga (Albert von Buxthoeven, 1165–1229), Bishop of Riga
• Alexy II of Moscow (Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger, 1929–2008), Patriarch of Moscow
• John Christian Bechler (1784–1857), Moravian bishop and composer (United States, Russia)
• Anna Hedvig Büll (1887–1981), Christian missionary
• Reinhold von Buxhoeveden (died 1557), Bishop of Ösel-Wiek
• Hermann of Dorpat (1163–1248), first Bishop of Dorpat
• Oscar von Gebhardt (1844–1906), Lutheran theologian
• Barbara von Krüdener (1764–1824), mystic
• Hermann Wesel (died 1563), ecclesiastic and the last Bishop of Dorpat

Scientists

Astronomers and cosmologists

• Wilhelm Anderson (1880–1940), astrophysicist
• Magnus Georg Paucker (1787–1855), astronomer and mathematician
• Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist (Soviet Union)
• Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793–1864), astronomer (Russia)
• Georg Hermann Struve (1886–1933), astronomer (Germany)
• Hermann Struve (1854–1920), astronomer (Russia)
• Ludwig Struve (1858–1920), astronomer (Russia)
• Otto Struve (1897–1963), astronomer (Russia, United States)
• Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905), astronomer (Russia)
• Wilfried Struve (1914–1992), astronomer (Germany)
• Gustav Andreas Tammann (born 1932), astronomer (Germany, Switzerland)

Biologists and paleontologists

• Hermann Martin Asmuss (1812–1859), paleozoologist (Estonia)
• Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, founder of embryology
• Theodor Friedrich Julius Basiner (1816-1842), botanist
• Friedrich Bidder (1810–1894), physiologist and anatomist (Russia)
• Theophil Joachim Heinrich Bienert (1833-1873), botanist
• Alexander Bunge (1803–1890), botanist (Russia)
• Karl Ernst Claus (1796–1864), chemist and naturalist
• Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831), biologist, physician and explorer (Russia)
• Gustav Flor (1829–1883), zoologist
• Peter von Glehn (1835–1876), botanist
• Alexander Keyserling (1815–1891), geologist and paleontologist
• Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer (1829–1902), anatomist
• Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (1785–1851), botanist (Russia)
• Harald von Loudon (1876-1959), ornithologist
• Johann Marcusen (1817-1894), ichthyologist
• Alexander von Middendorff (1815–1894), zoologist and explorer
• Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932), chemist, winner of the Nobel prize in Chemistry
• Wolfgang Ostwald (1883–1943), chemist and biologist (Germany)
• Heinz Christian Pander (1794–1865), biologist, embryologist and paleontologist
• Friedrich Parrot (1791–1841), biologist and medical scientist
• Christian Nikolai Richard Pohle (1869-1926), botanist
• Alexander von Schrenk (1816–1876), mineralogist, botanist and expeditionist (Russia)
• Leopold von Schrenck (1826–1894), zoologist, geographer and ethnographer (Russia)
• Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944), biologist and semiotician (Germany)

Chemists and material scientists

• Andreas von Antropoff (1878-1956), chemist, postulated neutronium
• Karl Ernst Claus (1796–1864), chemist and naturalist
• Germain Henri Hess (1802–1850), chemist
• Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932), chemist and Nobel laureate (Germany)
• Wolfgang Ostwald (1883–1943), chemist and biologist (Germany)
• Genrikh Struve (1822–1908), chemist (Russia)
• Gustav Tammann (1861–1938), chemist
• Peter P. von Weymarn (1879–1935), chemist (Russia)
• Margarete von Wrangell (1877–1932), agricultural chemist and the first female full professor at a German university

Earth scientists

• Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, founder of embryology
• Karl von Ditmar (1822–1892), geologist and explorer (Russia)
• Karl Eichwald (1795–1876), geologist and physician (Russia)
• Gregor von Helmersen (1803–1885), geologist
• Carl Hiekisch (1840-1901), geographer
• Alexander Keyserling (1815–1891), geologist and paleontologist
• Fyodor Litke (Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke, 1797–1898), navigator and geographer (Russia)
• Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist (Soviet Union)
• Alexander von Schrenk (1816–1876), mineralogist, botanist and expeditionist (Russia)
• Leopold von Schrenck (1826–1894), zoologist, geographer and ethnographer (Russia)
• Georg August Schweinfurth (1836–1925), botanist and explorer
• Eduard Toll (1858–1902), geologist and explorer (Russia)

Economists and sociologists

• August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein (1826–1907), linguist, folklorist, ethnographer and theologian
• Dominic Lieven (1952-), political scientist (London School of Economics, United Kingdom)
• Paul von Lilienfeld (1829–1903), social scientist
• Heinrich Freiherr von Stackelberg (1905–1946), economist (Germany)

Historians and archeologists

• Georg Dehio (1850–1932), art historian
• Paul Einhorn (died 1655), historian (Latvia)
• Gustav von Ewers (1779–1830), legal historian and scholar (Russia)
• Jean Baptiste Holzmayer (1839–1890), teacher, archeologist and folklorist (Estonia)
• Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1786–1937), archaeologist, writer, art historian and painter
• Kurt Zoege von Manteuffel (1881-1941), art historian
• Richard Otto Zöpffel (1843–1891), theologist and church historian
• Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg (1940-), Roman republic (Professor at University of Basel, Switzerland)

Linguists and ethnographers

• Nikolai Anderson (1845–1905), philologist
• Walter Anderson (1885–1962), folklorist
• August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein (1826–1907), linguist, folklorist, ethnographer and theologian
• Peter A. Boodberg (1903–1972), sinologist (United States)
• Emil Bretschneider (1833–1901), sinologist
• Johann Christoph Brotze (1742–1823), pedagogue and ethnographer
• Elena Lieven, psycholinguist and cognitive scientist (United Kingdom)
• Leopold von Schrenck (1826–1894), zoologist, geographer and ethnographer (Russia)
• Alexander von Staël-Holstein (1877–1937), orientalist, sinologist, sanskritologist (Estonia)
• Vasily Vasilievich Struve (1889–1965), orientalist (Soviet Union)
• Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944), biologist and semiotician (Germany)
• Thure von Uexküll (1908–2004), semiotician (Germany)
• Alexander Vostokov (1781–1864), philologist (Russia)
• Edgar de Wahl (1867–1948), linguist (Estonia)
• Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann (1805–1887), linguist (Estonia)
• Gero von Wilpert (1933–2009), writer and literary scientist

Mathematicians

• Oskar Anderson (1887–1960), mathematician and statistician
• Georg Cantor (1845–1918), mathematician (Germany)
• Edgar Krahn (1894–1961), mathematician
• Theodor Molien (1861–1941), mathematician
• Magnus Georg Paucker (1787–1855), astronomer and mathematician
• Erhard Schmidt (1876–1959), mathematician
• Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist (Soviet Union)

Physicians and psychologists

• Ernst von Bergmann (1836–1907), surgeon (Germany)
• Eugen Bostroem (1850–1928), pathologist
• Arthur Böttcher (1831–1889), pathologist and anatomist
• Karl Gottfried Konstantin Dehio (1851–1927), internist and pathologist
• Karl Eichwald (1795–1876), geologist and physician (Russia)
• Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831), biologist, physician and explorer (Russia)
• Woldemar Kernig (1840–1917), physician
• Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer (1829–1902), anatomist
• Elena Lieven, psycholinguist and cognitive scientist (United Kingdom)
• Werner Zoege von Manteuffel (1857–1926), medical surgeon
• Georg von Oettingen (1824–1916), ophthalmologist
• Friedrich Parrot (1791–1841), biologist and medical scientist
• Thure von Uexküll (1908–2004), semiotician (Germany)
• Eduard Georg von Wahl (1833–1890), surgeon
• Justus Heinrich Wigand (1769–1817), obstetrician
• Peter Ernst Wilde (1732–1785), physician and journalist

Physicists

• Heinrich Lenz (1804–1865), physicist
• Arthur von Oettingen (1836–1920), physicist, meteorologist and music theorist
• Georg Wilhelm Richmann (1711–1753), physicist
• Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770–1831), physicist

Theologians

• August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein (1826–1907), linguist, folklorist, ethnographer and theologian
• Georg Caspari (1683–1743), theologian
• Alexander von Oettingen (1827–1905), theologian
• Richard Otto Zöpffel (1843–1891), theologist and historian

Other scientists and engineers

• Jean Alexander Heinrich Clapier de Colongue (1838–1901), marine engineer and naval architect (Russia)
• Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), optician, inventor (Estonia)
• Amand Struve (1835–1898), military engineer and bridge specialist (Russia)
• Friedrich Zander (1887–1933), rocket scientist (Russia, Soviet Union)
• Walter Zapp (1905–2003), inventor (Latvia, Estonia)

Sports

• Ursula Donath (born 1931), runner (East Germany)

Chess players

• Friedrich Amelung (1842–1909), cultural historian, businessman and endgame composer
• Andreas Ascharin (1843–1896), chess master
• Bernhard Gregory (1879–1939), chess master
• Lionel Kieseritzky (1806–1853), chess master
• R.K. Kieseritzky (1870–?), chess master
• Theodor Molien (1861–1941), mathematician and chess problemist
• Paul Felix Schmidt (1916–1984), chess master
• Wilhelm von Stamm (?–1905), chess master (Latvia)

Other

• Johann Burchart (1546–1616), pharmacist
• Nikolai von Glehn (1841–1823), landowner and public figure, founder of Nõmme
• Vasiliy Ulrikh (1889–1951), judge, Great Purge perpetrator (Soviet Union)
• Janis Lipke (1900–1987), rescuer of Jews during World War II (Latvia)