Otto Gerhard Waalkes, also known as simply Otto, is a German comedian, actor, musician, writer and comic book artist. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and films. His best known trademark are the 'Ottifanten' ('Ottiphants'), elephant-like comic characters of his own design. They featured on the cover of his first album release.
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, shortened to WDR, is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD. As well as contributing to the output of the national television channel Das Erste, WDR produces the regional television service WDR Fernsehen and six regional radio networks.
Udo Lindenberg is a German singer, drummer, and composer.
Echo Music Prize was an accolade by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and was set up to honor musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1991, succeeding the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, which has been awarded since 1963. Each year's winner was determined by the previous year's sales. In April 2018, following controversy regarding that year's ceremony, the Bundesverband Musikindustrie announced the end of the award.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is an independent foundation under private law, based in Gütersloh, Germany. It was founded in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn as the result of social, corporate and fiscal considerations. As the Bertelsmann Stiftung itself has put it, the foundation promotes "reform processes" and "the principles of entrepreneurial activity" to build a "future-oriented society."
Paul Baskerville is an English radio disc jockey (DJ) on the German radio station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR).
Eva-Maria Hagen was a German actress and singer. She was known as the "Brigitte Bardot of the GDR" but was banned from performance for political reasons.
Gleis 8 is a German pop group from Berlin and Hamburg that was formed in 2012. Their debut album Bleibt das immer so (2013) reached No. 7 in the German albums chart.
Franz-Josef Selig is a German operatic bass.
Neue Stimmen is an international singing competition. It was established in 1987 on the initiative of Liz Mohn with the support of August Everding to promote operas young talent. It is considered an important forum for new talent, one that has marked the beginning of international careers for many participants. The singing competition was hosted every two years by the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh, most recently in June 2022.
Melanie Leonhard is a German historian and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as State Minister for Economic Affairs in the Government of Hamburg since 2022. She previously was the State Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Family and Integration under mayors Olaf Scholz and Peter Tschentscher from 2015 to 2022. Since March 2018 has been the chair of the SPD Hamburg.
Ole Wittmann is a German art historian, curator and publisher. He is specialized in the role of tattooing in art. His research on the German tattoo history of the late 19th and 20th century is considered pioneering. He has written the first German doctoral thesis on tattooing and art and his research has generated considerable media interest.
Jakob Blasel is a German climate activist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens.
Philipp Amthor is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 German federal election. From 2018 to 2020, he worked as a lobbyist for the now inactive IT-company Augustus Intelligence.
Sarah Lesch is a German singer-songwriter who performs with a guitar and ukulele.
Anwar Raslan is a Syrian former colonel who led a unit of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate. In January 2022, he was convicted of crimes against humanity in a German Higher Regional Court under universal jurisdiction. The specific charges against him were 4,000 counts of torture, 58 counts of murder, rape, and sexual coercion. His case was the first international war crimes case against a member of the Syrian government during the presidency of Bashar al-Assad.
Ruby Moonstone Camilla Willow Fee is a German-Costa Rican actress.
Dr Mannah's is a manufacturer of vegan cheeses in Cuxhaven, Germany. Founded by Mudar Mannah in 2012, its products are based mainly on fermented cashew nuts.
Margot Friedländer is a German survivor of the Holocaust and public speaker. She and her family were persecuted by the Nazis for being Jews. Born and raised in Berlin, she was forced to go into hiding when her mother and brother were arrested by the Gestapo in 1943. She was captured in April 1944 and deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, but survived. After emigrating to the United States with her husband in 1946, she eventually returned to live in Berlin in 2010 and began speaking to German youth about her experiences in Nazi Germany. She has received various honours and awards for promoting human rights and fighting against antisemitism, including the Federal Cross of Merit.
