List of Famous people born in Opole Voivodeship, Poland
Bernhard Grzimek
Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek was a renowned German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and animal conservationist in postwar West Germany.
Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Josef Klose is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He currently is a first-team assistant coach for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. Klose is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and holds the record for the most goals scored in FIFA World Cup tournaments.
Judy Winter
Judy Winter is a German actress. She resides in Berlin.
Aleksei Guskov
Aleksei Gennadyevich Guskov is a Soviet and Russian actor and producer. He was awarded People's Artist of Russia in 2007.
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic. He left many recordings of classical music played by major orchestras. Masur is also remembered for his actions to support peaceful demonstrations in the 1989 anti-government demonstrations in Leipzig; the protests were part of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin wall.
Theodor Kaluza
Theodor Franz Eduard Kaluza was a German mathematician and physicist known for the Kaluza–Klein theory, involving field equations in five-dimensional space-time. His idea that fundamental forces can be unified by introducing additional dimensions re-emerged much later in string theory.
Dietrich von Choltitz
Dietrich Hugo Hermann von Choltitz was a German general. Popularly known as the Saviour of Paris, he served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II, as well as serving in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and the Royal Saxon Army during World War I.
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch was a German Oberscharführer (sergeant) in the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). He was badly wounded during the Polish campaign during the first month of World War II in Europe. After recovering, from 1940 to April 1945, he served in the Führerbegleitkommando as a bodyguard, courier, and telephone operator for German dictator Adolf Hitler. He was widely reported in the media as being the last surviving occupant of the Führerbunker when he died in September 2013.
Max Friedlaender
Max Friedlaender was a German bass singer, music editor, and musicologist. He specialized in German Lieder.
Peter Peschel
Peter Peschel is a German former professional football who played mainly as a midfielder. He was with his family resettled as Aussiedler from Poland to West Germany at the age of five. Peschel was married to a gymnast Magdalena Brzeska, with whom he had two children.