By era
Up to 1800
- Peter III of Russia (1728–1762), emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. [1]
- Johannes Nikolaus Tetens (1736–1807), German-Danish philosopher and statistician
- Karl Leonhard Reinhold (1757–1823), an Austrian philosopher [2]
- Johan Ludwig Lund (1777–1867), Danish painter
- Carl Loewe (1796–1869), composer, tenor singer and conductor [3]
- Gustav Adolf Michaelis (1798–1848), obstetrician and physician
1800 to 1850
- August Howaldt (1809–1889), founder of Howaldtswerke
- Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann Delffs (1812–1894), chemist
- Otto Jahn (1813–1869) an archaeologist, philologist and writer on art and music. [4]
- Henri Lehmann (1814–1882), born French historical painter and portraitist
- Adolf Michaelis (1835–1910), classical scholar, a professor of art history
- Robert Michaelis von Olshausen (1835–1915), obstetrician [5] and gynecologist
- August Mau (1840–1909), art historian and archaeologist
- August Leskien (1840–1916), linguist, [6] active in comparative linguistics
- Detlev von Liliencron (1844–1909), lyric poet [7] and novelist
- Hermann Graedener (1844–1929), composer, conductor and teacher
1850 to 1900
- Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936), sociologist, philosopher
- Kuno Francke (1855–1930), American educator and historian at Harvard University
- Friedrich Ferdinand of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1855–1934), the fourth Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, became Duke of Schleswig-Holstein in 1931
- Eduard Schwartz (1858–1940), classical philologist, wrote about the second Catilinarian conspiracy
- Max Planck (1858–1947), theoretical physicist whose work on quantum mechanics won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918
- Johannes Weiss (1863–1914), Protestant theologian and Biblical exegete
- Ernst Steinitz (1871–1928), mathematician, wrote on projective configuration
- Anton Schifferer (1871–1943), business executive and politician (NLP; DVP)
- Hans Geiger (1882–1945), physicist, co-invented the Geiger–Müller Counter in 1928
- Hans Anton Aschenborn (1888–1931), animal painter of African wildlife
- Paul Werner Wenneker (1890–1979), admiral and diplomat
- Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977), writer and playwright
- Bruno Diekmann (1897–1982), politician (SPD), Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein 1949–1950
- Karl Ristenpart (1900–1967), conductor
- Ernst Busch (1900–1980), actor, singer, writer and collector of songs
1900 to 1910
- Rudolf Hell (1901–2002), inventor, invented the Hellschreiber
- Kurt Otto Friedrichs (1901–1982), American mathematician, worked on partial differential equations
- Ernst von Salomon (1902–1972), national-revolutionary writer and right-wing Freikorps member
- Eduard Wald (1905–1978), Communist politician, trade unionist and member of the German Resistance against Nazism
- Walther Müller (1905–1979), physicist, co-invented the Geiger–Müller Counter 1928
- Heinrich Heesch (1906–1995), mathematician, worked on Group theory
- Helmut Lemke (1907–1990), Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein 1963-1971
- Harro Schulze-Boysen (1909–1942), Resistance fighter
- Herbert Schultze (1909–1987), U-boat commander
- Klaus Wittkugel (1910–1985), commercial and poster artist in the East Germany
- Lauritz Lauritzen (1910–1980), politician (SPD)
1910 to 1920
- Erna Flegel (1911–2006), nurse in the Führerbunker
- Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski (1912–2012), graphic artist known for her postage stamps designs
- Karl Hass (1912–2004), German Lieutenant-Colonel in the SS
- Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912–2007), physicist, philosopher
- Hermann Michel (1912–1984?), SS officer
- Otto Kretschmer (1912–1998), U-boat commander
- Joachim Hamann (1913–1945), Baltic-German Nazi SS officer
- Heinrich Wöhlk (1913–1991), optometrist, invented the plastic contact lens
- Sigrid Hunke (1913–1999), author, made claims of Muslim influence over Western values
- Heinrich Springer (1914–2007), Waffen-SS knights cross winner
- Kunigunde Bachl (1919–1994), member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
- Eberhard Blum (1919–2003), fourth head of the German Federal Intelligence Bureau
1920 to 1950
- Shimon Wincelberg (1924–2004), American television writer and Broadway playwright
- Judith Malina (1926–2015), American actress
- Elyakim Haetzni (1926–2022), Israeli lawyer and member of the Knesset
- Ulric Gustav Neisser (1928–2012), American psychologist and member of the US National Academy of Sciences
- Oswalt Kolle (1928–2010), sex educator
- Gerhard Stoltenberg (1928–2001), politician (CDU), minister and minister-president
- Heiner Zieschang (1936–2004), mathematician, was a topologist
- Heiko Braak (born 1937), anatomist, contributed to the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease
- Ilse Gramatzki (born 1939), operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto
- Eric Braeden (born 1941), German-American actor
- Dieter Laser (1942–2020), actor
- Marina Lewycka (born 1946), British novelist of Ukrainian origin
Since 1950
- Manfred Stahnke (born 1951), composer and musicologist
- Ewald Schnug (born 1954), agricultural researcher, professor, Honorary-President of the International Scientific Center for Fertilizers [8]
- Duchess Donata of Mecklenburg (born 1956), senior remaining member of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- Axel Milberg (born 1956), actor
- Anke Ehlers (born 1957), psychologist, expert in post traumatic stress disorder
- Andreas Brandstätter (1959–2006), diplomat
- Ilme Schlichting (born 1960), biophysicist studied biomolecules using protein crystallography
- Thilo Martinho (born 1960), musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter
- Michael F. Feldkamp (born 1962), historian and journalist
- Feridun Zaimoğlu (born 1964), German author and playwright
- Detlev Bork (born 1967), classical and flamenco guitarist
- Tomma Abts (born 1967), painter and Turner Prize winner
- Fritz Felgentreu (born 1968), politician (SPD)
- Cora E. (born 1968), hip-hop artist
- Daniel Günther (born 1973), politician (CDU)
- Gesche Joost (born 1974), design researcher, e.g. on human-computer interaction
- Kim Dotcom (born 1974), German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist
- Alexander Bommes (born 1976), handball player and journalist
- Ulrich Schnauss (born 1977), electronic musician and producer
- Daniel Ansorge (born 1978), electronic musician, producer and DJ
- Lasse Rempe-Gillen (born 1978), mathematician
- Caspar Frantz (born 1980), classical pianist
- Erich Raeder (1876 – 1960), Former Grand Admiral Lived in Kiel After his Release From Spandau Prison in 1955 Until his Death in 1960.
