List of Famous people born in Thuringia, Germany

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He was also important as a race theorist. Nicolaas Rupke, Gerhard Lauer (Pub.): Johann Friedrich Blumenbach: Race and Natural History, 1750–1850. London/New York: Routledge, 2019; here particularly the essays by Thomas Junker: Blumenbach’s theory of human races and the natural unity of humankind and Nicolaas Adrianus Rupke.

Werner Konrad Graf von Moltke was a German decathlete who won a European title in 1966 and finished second in 1962. He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics, but failed to finish.

Lothar-Günther Buchheim was a German author and painter. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for his 1973 novel The Boat, which became an international bestseller and was adapted in 1981 as an Oscar-nominated film.

Peter Sendel is a former German biathlete. At the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Sendel was a part of the German team that won the gold medal. Later he earned a relay silver medal from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Sendel retired as a biathlete in 2004.

Dajana Eitberger is a German luger. She currently represents Germany in the women's singles event in the Luge World Cup. During the 2014–15 Luge World Cup season she was victorious in one event which was the final race of the season in Sochi. During that season she came in second twice and third four time and finished second in the overall standing behind her teammate, Natalie Geisenberger. The event in Sochi and doubled as the European championship and as such she is the current European champion.

Ariane Friedrich is a German high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the German outdoor record holder in the event with a best of 2.06 m, although this is 1 cm less than the indoor record held by Heike Henkel.

Wilhelm "Willi" Münzenberg was a German Communist political activist and publisher. Münzenberg was the first head of the Young Communist International in 1919–20 and established the famine-relief and propaganda organization Workers International Relief in 1921. He was a leading propagandist for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the Weimar Era, but later grew disenchanted with the USSR due to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s. Condemned by Stalin to be purged and arrested for treason, Münzenberg left the KPD and in Paris became a leader of the German émigré anti-fascism and anti-Stalinist community until forced to flee the Nazi advance into France in 1940. Arrested and imprisoned by the Daladier government in France, he escaped prison camp only to be found dead a few months later in a forest near the commune of Saint-Marcellin, France.

Bernd Schneider is a German former footballer. He was mainly a midfielder but could play anywhere on the left and right flanks. After retiring in June 2009, he took up an advisory role at his first club, Carl Zeiss Jena, and a scouting position at Bayer Leverkusen.

Silke Kraushaar-Pielach is a German luger who competed from 1995 to 2008. In June 2008, she was named sports manager for the luge section of Bob- und Schlittenverband für Deutschland.

Sabine Bergmann-Pohl is a German doctor and politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), she was president of the People's Chamber of East Germany from April to October 1990. As such, she served as head of state of East Germany until its merger into West Germany in October. After the reunification of Germany, she served in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl.