List of German Canadians

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of notable German Canadians.

Academics

• Heribert Adam – political sociologist with a focus on ethnonationalism, born in Germany[1]
• Hans Heilbronn – mathematician born in Berlin[2]
• Fritz Heichelheim – German Jewish historian of ancient economics, born in Giessen, Hesse[3]

Scientists

Henry Taube

• Abraham Pineo Gesner – physician and geologist, inventor of Kerosene[4]
• Gerhard Herzberg – physicist and physical chemist born in Hamburg[5]
• David H. Hubel – Nobel Prize-winning neurophysiologist[6]
• Heinz Lehmann – psychiatrist, known for his use of chlorpromazine in treating schizophrenia[7]
• Walter Mandler – lens designer for ELCAN, pioneer in computer-aided design
• Georg Naumann – trapper, explorer, and self-taught scientist who studied the Athabasca oil sands, born in Radeberg, Saxony
• Bernhard Schlegel – computational and theoretical chemist born in Frankfurt am Main[8]
• Henry Taube – chemist, awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry[9]

Artists

See also: List of German artists and List of Canadian artists

• Eric Bergman – artist primarily known for his engraving work, born in Dresden[10]
• Emanuel Hahn – sculptor and coin designer, co-founder and first president of the Sculptors' Society of Canada, brother of Gustav Hahn, born in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg[11]
• Ulrich "Fred" Herzog – photographer notable for capturing Vancouver street scenes, born in Stuttgart[12]

Musicians

Deadmau5

• Andrea Ludwig – mezzo-soprano
• Justin Bieber – musician, paternal great grandfather was of German ancestry.
• Matt Brouwer – gospel singer
• Deadmau5 (Joel Thomas Zimmerman) – electronic music producer and DJ[13]
• Joe Hall (born Hans Joachim Boenke) – folk rock musician born in Wuppertal[14]
• John Kay – rock star, singer and composer
• Tate McRae – singer born to a German mother
• Lights – singer and rock artist
• K.D. Lang – singer, composer

Painters

See also: List of German painters and List of Canadian painters

• Gustav Hahn – painter, muralist, and interior decorator associated with the Art Nouveau movement, brother of Emanuel Hahn, born in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg
• Otto Reinhold Jacobi – painter, president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, born in Königsberg[15]

Businesspeople

• Philip Ludwig "Louis" Breithaupt – tanner and mayor of Berlin, Ontario, born in Allendorf, Hesse[16]
• Friedrich Gaukel – innkeeper, distiller, hotelier born in Württemberg[17]
• Thorsten Heins – businessman and former chief executive officer of BlackBerry, born in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony[18]
• Jacob Hespeler – founder of Hespeler, Ontario, born in Ehningen, Württemberg[19]
• William Hespeler - founder of Niverville, Manitoba
• Stephen A. Jarislowsky – business magnate and investor born in Berlin[20]
• John Adam Rittinger – proprietor and editor of Berliner Journal (1904–1915), Pennsylvania German humorist[21]
• Tobias Lütke – founder and CEO of Shopify, born in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate[22][23]

Politicians

John Diefenbaker

• Adam Beck – politician and hydroelectricity advocate
• John Diefenbaker – 13th Prime Minister of Canada[24]
• Hugo Kranz – member of parliament for Waterloo North, mayor of Berlin, Ontario, born at Lehrbach, Hesse[25]
• John Motz – mayor of Berlin, Ontario, 1880–1881. Co-founder of Berliner Journal newspaper.[26]
• Ralph Klein – 12th premier of Alberta

Sportspeople

• Sven Butenschön – ice hockey player and coach born in Itzehoe[27]
• Sven Habermann – soccer player, former member of the Canada men's national soccer team, born in West Berlin[28]
• Hermann Kerckhoff – slalom canoeist born in Berlin[29]
• Brock Lesnar - American born professional wrestler and former MMA fighter, obtained Canadian citizenship during the 2010s
• Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty – professional soccer player
• Heinz Poenn – slalom canoeist born in Fürth, Bavaria[30]
• Alfred Wurr – wrestler who competed for Canada in the 1972 Summer Olympics, member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, born in Hamburg[31]

References

Citations

1. "Heribert Adam". Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
2. Cassels & Fröhlich 1976.
3. Chambers, Mortimer. "HEICHELHEIM, Fritz Moritz". Database of Classical Scholars. Rutgers University. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
4. "Abraham Gesner - Conventional Oil - Alberta's Energy Heritage". www.history.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2024-05-25. He was born in Cornwallis Township, Nova Scotia, to a family of Germanic origin.
5. "Gerhard Herzberg: The Person". GCS Research Society. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
6. Wurtz, Robert H. (2014). "David H. Hubel 1926–2013" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved January 20, 2024. His paternal grandfather had emigrated from Germany to Detroit, where he had invented the first process for the mass production of gelatin pill capsules.
7. Blackwell, Barry (November 5, 2015). "Heinz Edgar Lehmann by Barry Blackwell". inhn.org. International Network for the History of Neuropsychopharmacology. Retrieved January 22, 2024. a refugee from Nazi Germany
8. "H. Bernhard Schlegel". International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
9. Peter C. Ford; Thomas J. Meyer (2020). "Henry Taube. 30 November 1915—16 November 2005". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 70. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2020.0042. His parents were ethnic German farmers who escaped from Russian-controlled Ukraine in 1911 for Canada.
10. Goldsborough, Gordon (17 January 2021). "Memorable Manitobans: Henry Eric Bergman (1893-1958)". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
11. Baker, Victoria (15 December 2013). "Emanuel Otto Hahn". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
12. Mackie, John (22 June 2017). "Canada 150: Fred Herzog, colourful street photographer". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
13. Bassler, Gerhard P. (July 30, 2013). "German Canadians". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
14. "Joe Hall: Obituary", National Post, March 29, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019
15. Weissenborn 1994.
16. "Philip Ludwig "Louis" Breithaupt". Waterloo Region Generations. Region of Waterloo. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
17. Wust 1985.
18. Sacco, Al (23 January 2012). "10 Things to Know About RIM's New CEO, Thorsten Heins". CIO. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
19. Quantrell 1998, pp. 89–90.
20. McMann, Roberts & Tunnell 1987, p. 690.
21. Tötösy de Zepetnek 1998.
22. Cole, Trevor (2014-11-27). "Our Canadian CEO of the year you've probably never heard of". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
23. "Shopify: Koblenzer revolutioniert Onlineshops". www.rhein-zeitung.de (in German). 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
24. "The Canadian Bill of Rights". Diefenbaker Canada Centre. The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Centre for the Study of Canada. 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2024. His mother was Scottish and his father, a German immigrant, experienced discrimination during the First World War.
25. Rose 1886, pp. 546–547.
26. Richardson 1998.
27. Stolpe, Daniel (20 October 2004). "Ein Fremder in der Heimat, oder: Willkommen in der Fremde". Welt Online (in German). Retrieved 26 April 2021.
28. "Canadian Olympic Committee". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
29. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hermann Kerckhoff". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22.
30. "Heinz Poenn". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
31. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "List of German Canadians". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2012.

Sources

• Cassels, John William Scott; Fröhlich, Albrecht (1976). "Hans Arnold Heilbronn 8 October 1908 -- 28 April 1975". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 22: 119–135. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0005.
• McMann, Evelyn de Rostaing; Roberts, Charles G. D.; Tunnell, Arthur L. (1987). The Canadian Who's Who. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802046390.
• Quantrell, Jim (1998). Cambridge Mosaic: An Inquiry into Who's Who in the History of Cambridge. Cambridge, Ontario: City of Cambridge. ISBN 0-9693153-1-7.
• Richardson, Lynn Elizabeth (1998). "Motz, John". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 14. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
• Rose, George Maclean (1886). A Cyclopæedia of Canadian biography. Rose Publishing Company.
• Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven (1998). "Rittinger, John Adam". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 14. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
• Weissenborn, Georg K. (1994). "Jacobi, Otto Reinhold". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XIII (1901–1910) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• Wust, Klaus (1985). "Gaukel, Friedrich". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VIII (1851–1860) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.