Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist, and one of the most cited social scientists in the world during his lifetime. His work focused on questions of uncontrollability, ignorance and uncertainty in the modern age, and he coined the terms "risk society" and "second modernity" or "reflexive modernization". He also tried to overturn national perspectives that predominated in sociological investigations with a cosmopolitanism that acknowledges the interconnectedness of the modern world. He was a professor at the University of Munich and also held appointments at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) in Paris, and at the London School of Economics.
The concept of reflexive modernization or reflexive modernity was launched by a joint effort of three of the leading European sociologists: Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Scott Lash. The introduction of this concept served a double purpose: to reassess sociology as a science of the present, and to provide a counterbalance to the postmodernist paradigm offering a re-constructive view alongside deconstruction.
Mascha Kaléko was a German-language poet.
Arnold Stadler is a German writer, essayist and translator.
Esther Schapira is a German journalist and filmmaker, currently politics and society editor at the German public television network, the Hessischer Rundfunk.
Luise Rinser was a German writer, best known for her novels and short stories.
Heribert Prantl is a German author, journalist and jurist. At the Süddeutsche Zeitung he was head of the department of domestic policy from 1995 to 2017, head of the department "opinion" from 2018 to 2019, member of the chief editors from 2011 to 2019 and is now columnist and author. Since 2002 he has been a lecturer at the faculty of law at Bielefeld University, where he was appointed honorary professor in 2010. He wrote various political books.
Margret Antonie Boveri was one of the best-known German journalists and writers of the post-World War II period. She was a recipient of the German Critics' Prize and the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
Maria von Welser is a German TV journalist and the President of UNICEF Germany.
Hermann Karl Lenz was a German writer of poetry, stories, and novels. A major part of his work is a series of nine semi-autobiographical novels centring on his alter ego "Eugen Rapp", a cycle that is also known as the Schwäbische Chronik.
Franz Manfred Wuketits was an Austrian biologist, university teacher and epistemologist. He wrote extensively on epistemology, the history and theory of biology, evolution theory, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary epistemology and sociobiology.
Eva Lang is a German economist. Before her retirement, she was full professor at Bundeswehr University Munich for economic policy in special consideration of political economy.
Lothar Zenetti was a German Catholic theologian, priest, and author of books and poetry. In Frankfurt, he was both a minister for young people and a parish priest. He was also active on radio and television. His songs, for example the popular "Das Weizenkorn muss sterben" and "Segne dieses Kind", appear in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals.
Fatima Grimm was a German translator, author and speaker on the subject of Islam. She gained prominence as a Muslim convert in Germany and as a functionary in the German Muslim League in Hamburg.
Peter Janssens was a German musician and composer who wrote and performed incidental music for several theatres, and songs and musicals of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied, a pioneer of Sacropop. He worked at a German theatre in Buenos Aires, set several works by Ernesto Cardenal to music and composed in 1992 a passion music, in memory of 500 years after the European invasion in Latin America.
Georg Thurmair was a German poet who wrote around 300 hymns, a writer, journalist and author of documentary films.
Norbert Frei is a German historian. He holds the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Jena, Germany, and leads the Jena Center of 20th Century History. Frei's research work investigates how German society came to terms with Nazism and the Third Reich in the aftermath of World War II.
Marie Bernays was a German politician, educator, writer and women's rights activist. She co-founded the Mannheim Women's Social School and served in the Landtag of the Republic of Baden from 1921 until 1925 as a member of the Deutsche Volkspartei.
Klaus Mainzer is a German philosopher and scientist. Mainzer is the president of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is the author of the widely translated, cited, and reviewed book Thinking in Complexity.
Hans-Jürgen Hufeisen is a German recorder player and composer.
