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Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?

Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?

  • Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg

    Votes: 13 37.1%
  • Konrad Adenauer

    Votes: 14 40.0%
  • Willy Brandt

    Votes: 20 57.1%
  • Helmut Kohl

    Votes: 24 68.6%
  • Angela Merkel

    Votes: 34 97.1%
  • Olaf Scholz

    Votes: 16 45.7%
  • Erich Honecker

    Votes: 15 42.9%
  • Hans-Dietrich Genscher

    Votes: 5 14.3%
  • Annalena Baerbock

    Votes: 7 20.0%
  • others

    Votes: 8 22.9%

  • Total voters
    35

Rumpel

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Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?
 
I left out the option of "none". :)
But I included "others".
 
I know all of these:
  • Willy Brandt
  • Helmut Kohl
  • Angela Merkel
  • Olaf Scholz
  • Erich Honecker
I only know Willy Brandt from playing Twilight Struggle. And his scandal about appointing a communist spy. I couldn't tell you anything else about him.
 
I only know Willy Brandt from playing Twilight Struggle. And his scandal about appointing a communist spy. I couldn't tell you anything else about him.
You are talking of Günter Guillaume. But I am not sure whether Brandt really "appointed" him.

Günter Guillaume (1 February 1927 – 10 April 1995) was a German spy who gathered intelligence as an agent for East Germany's secret service, the Stasi, in West Germany. Guillaume became West German chancellor Willy Brandt's secretary, and his discovery as a spy in 1973 led to Brandt's downfall in the Guillaume affair.

 
about Stauffenberg:

Claus, Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, (born November 15, 1907, Jettingen, Germany—died July 21, 1944, Berlin), German army officer who, as the chief conspirator of the July Plot, carried out an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

 
I left out the option of "none". :)
But I included "others".



I checked every box of yours. Does Stauffenberg count as a politician? And Jesko von Puttkamer didn't make the list!
 
Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?
Klemens Von Metternich isn’t on the list
 
Annalena Baerbock may be one of the lesser known names:

Annalena Baerbock has been Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs since 8 December 2021.

More about her:

 
I know the names of many Nazi leaders and of course Rommel. post WWII not so many.
 
Does Stauffenberg count as a politician?
I count him as one.
Had he succeeded, he would have formed a post-Hitler government in Germany in 1944.
 
Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?


After Bismarck, Frederick the Great is also top on Germans I find fascinating
 
Last edited:
Klemens Von Metternich isn’t on the list
Many are not on the list.
My list starts in the year 1944 - more or less.
And good old Metternich was an Austrian.

Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich
 
How could I forget Kaiser Willy? :)
 
I checked every box of yours. Does Stauffenberg count as a politician? And Jesko von Puttkamer didn't make the list!



He seemed to me like more a reluctant politician, not unlike Rommel, people who if left up to themselves would never have dabbled in politics but were forced by circumstances to play a role
 
Apart from Bismarck and Hitler, which names of German politicians do you know?

All of them. You forgot to include the Putin-lover Gerhard Schröder
 
Many are not on the list.
My list starts in the year 1944 - more or less.
And good old Metternich was an Austrian.

Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich
So was the failed mustachioed Painter
 
Many are not on the list.
My list starts in the year 1944 - more or less.
And good old Metternich was an Austrian.

Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich



I thought so too. Metternich was Austrian.
 
I thought so too. Metternich was Austrian.
Given “Germany” not existing at the time and the fact Austrians and Germans are ethnically identical this is at best a quibbling point.

Ethnic Germans in the Dakotas named a city after Bismarck, Even though a great number of Germans who ended up in the Dakotas, actually came from the Ukraine and were citizens of the Russian empire and not Germany or Austria.
 
After Bismarck Frederick the Great is also top on Germans I find fascinating
And what do you think of that other Frederick? :)

Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen and his political perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced the papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy.

Due to his popularity and notoriety, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he was instrumentalized as a political symbol by many movements and regimes: the Risorgimento, the Wilhelmine government in Germany (especially under Emperor Wilhelm I) and the National Socialist movement, resulting in both golden and dark legends.[3][4][5] Modern researchers, while exploring the legacy of Frederick, attempt to uncover the legends and reconstruct the true historical figure—these efforts result in new perspectives on both the emperor as a person and social developments associated with him.

Frederick died in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade.

 
about Stauffenberg:




Interestingly enough, Stauffenberg was actually kinda of a nasty guy himself. He vehemently opposed democracy and wanted to keep Germany’s “lebensraum” in Eastern Europe, including vocally supporting the “colonization” of Poland .

But, since he was the “triggerman”, he’s kinda gotten whitewashed.
 
Given “Germany” not existing at the time and the fact Austrians and Germans are ethnically identical this is at best a quibbling point.


Correct. And it can be argued that Austria was much more representative of the German peoples than any of the other smaller entities
 
I recognized six of the names.

I think that one of them tried to permanently neutralize Hitler.

I think that one of them ruled East Germany.

*****

By the way, some people accused Bismarck of creating conditions that made it possible for Hitler. Scholars have denied such an easy explanation, but they seem to agree that maybe (maybe!) there is a quality in the German character that enabled people like Bismarck and Hitler to reign.
 
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