This is a list of notable

German Canadians German Canadians (german: Deutsch-Kanadier or , ) are Canadian citizens of German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians with full or partial German ancestry. Some ...

Academics

Heribert Adam Heribert Adam (born 1936) is a German-Canadian university professor and author. Adam is professor emeritus of political sociology at Simon Fraser University, specializing in human rights, comparative racisms, peace studies, Southern Africa, and ...

–

political sociologist Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...

with a focus on

ethnonationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...

, born in Germany *

Hans Heilbronn Hans Arnold Heilbronn (8 October 1908 – 28 April 1975) was a mathematician. Education He was born into a German-Jewish family. He was a student at the universities of Berlin, Freiburg and Göttingen, where he met Edmund Landau, who supervised ...

– mathematician born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

* Fritz Heichelheim –

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

historian of ancient economics, born in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

, Hesse

Scientists

Gerhard Herzberg Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg, (; December 25, 1904 – March 3, 1999) was a German-Canadian pioneering physicist and physical chemist, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1971, "for his contributions to the knowledge o ...

– physicist and physical chemist born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Georg Naumann Kurt Georg Naumann (1901–1978) was a German scientist, trapper and pioneer of the early local exploration and use of oil wells and natural gas deposits in the northern catchment area of Athabasca River in Canada. Biography Georg Naumann wa ...

– trapper, explorer, and self-taught scientist who studied the Athabasca oil sands, born in

Radeberg Radeberg is a small town in the district of Bautzen, Saxony, Germany. It is located approximately 20 kilometres north-east of Dresden. The town has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, and an old castle. History Radeberg was mentioned ...

, Saxony *

Bernhard Schlegel Hans Bernhard "Berny" Schlegel (born September 24, 1951) is German-born computational and theoretical chemist, and distinguished professor at Wayne State University. He is a highly cited chemist, with a Thomson Reuters H-Index of 116 and citati ...

– computational and theoretical chemist born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Artists

Eric Bergman Henry Eric Bergman (1893–1958), born Heinrich Erich Bergmann, was a Canadian artist born in Dresden, Germany. Bergman’s training was as a commercial wood engraver illustrating catalogs and business prospectuses. He later took up fine art workin ...

– artist primarily known for his engraving work, born in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Emanuel Hahn Emanuel Otto Hahn (30 May 1881 – 14 February 1957) was a German-born Canadian sculptor and coin designer. He taught and later married Elizabeth Wyn Wood. He co-founded and was the first president of the Sculptors' Society of Canada. Biograph ...

–

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and coin designer, co-founder and first president of the

Sculptors' Society of Canada The Sculptors Society of Canada (SSC) promotes and exhibits contemporary Canadian sculpture. Founded by Canadian sculptors Frances Loring, Florence Wyle, Elizabeth Wyn Wood, Wood's teacher and husband Emanuel Hahn, Henri Hébert and Alfred Lalibe ...

, brother of

Gustav Hahn Gustav Hahn (27 July 1866 – 1 December 1962) was a German Canadian painter, muralist and interior decorator who pioneered the Art Nouveau style in Canada. Hahn was also an amateur astronomer, and his father, Otto Hahn, owned a collection of ...

, born in

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

, Baden-Württemberg * Ulrich "Fred" Herzog – photographer notable for capturing

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

street scenes, born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Musicians

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

musician, paternal great grandfather was of German ancestry. *

Joe Hall Joseph Hall may refer to: Sports * Joe Hall (American football) (born 1979), American football player * Joe Hall (baseball) (born 1966), American baseball player * Joe Hall (ice hockey) (1881–1919), Canadian ice hockey player * Joe B. Hall (192 ...

(born Hans Joachim Boenke) –

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

musician born in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

Tate McRae Tate Rosner McRae (; born July 1, 2003) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. At the age of thirteen, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality TV show '' So You Think You Can Dance''. McRae ca ...

singer born to a German mother

Painters

– painter,

muralist A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

, and

interior decorator Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

associated with the Art Nouveau movement, brother of

, born in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg *

Otto Reinhold Jacobi Otto Reinhold Jacobi (27 February 1812 8 February 1901) was a German-Canadian artist. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Life and work Born in 1830 Königsberg, Jacobi studied in Berlin at the Royal Academy of Arts. He ...

– painter, president of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

, born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

Businesspeople

* Philip Ludwig "Louis" Breithaupt – tanner and mayor of Berlin, Ontario, born in Allendorf, Hesse * Friedrich Gaukel – innkeeper, distiller, hotelier born in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

Thorsten Heins Thorsten Heins (born 29 December 1957) is a German-Canadian businessman and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of BlackBerry. He stepped down as CEO of BlackBerry and was replaced by John Chen on November 4, 2013. Heins later served as the ...

– businessman and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

, born in

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially important cities nearby, ...

, Lower Saxony *

Jacob Hespeler Jacob Hespeler (1810 in Eningen unter Achalm, Württemberg – March 22, 1881 in Hespeler, Ontario, Canada) was a prominent businessman in Canada West and the founder of the town of Hespeler (since 1973 a part of Cambridge, Ontario). Early l ...

– founder of

Hespeler, Ontario Hespeler is a neighbourhood and former town within Cambridge, Ontario, located along the Speed River in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In 1973, Hespeler, Preston, Galt, and the hamlet of Blair were amalgamated to form t ...

, born in

Ehningen Ehningen is a town in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Ehningen is in Korngäu, on the northwestern edge of Schönbuch nature park. Historically, the city of Ehningen was located north of the Würm, but th ...

, Württemberg *

William Hespeler William Hespeler (December 29, 1830 – April 18, 1921), born ''Wilhelm'', was a German-Canadian businessman, immigration agent, and member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. He served as Speaker of the Legislature and as honorary co ...

- founder of

Niverville, Manitoba Niverville is a town in the Eastman Region, Manitoba, Canada. The town lies between the northwest corner of the Rural Municipality of Hanover and the southeastern portion of the Rural Municipality of Ritchot. Niverville's population as of the 2021 ...

Stephen A. Jarislowsky Stephen A. Jarislowsky, (born September 9, 1925) is a Canadian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Jarislowsky Fraser Limited, a Canadian investment management firm with over Can$40 billion in ...

– business magnate and investor born in Berlin * John Adam Rittinger – proprietor and editor of '' Berliner Journal'' (1904–1915), Pennsylvania German

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...

Tobias Lütke Tobias "Tobi" Lütke is the billionaire founder and CEO of Shopify, an e-commerce company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He has been part of the core team of the Ruby on Rails framework and has created open source libraries such as Active M ...

– founder and CEO of

Shopify Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Shopify is the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. The Shopify platform offers online ret ...

, born in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, Rhineland-Palatinate

Politicians

* Hugo Kranz – member of parliament for

Waterloo North Waterloo North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which entitled each of north an ...

, mayor of Berlin, Ontario, born at Lehrbach,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

John Motz John Motz (born Johannes Motz; 5 June 183029 October 1911) was a Canadian politician, German-language newspaper proprietor, sheriff and tailor. Born near Mühlhausen in the Province of Saxony, Prussia (today part of Thuringia, Germany), he i ...

– mayor of Berlin, Ontario, 1880–1881. Co-founder of '' Berliner Journal'' newspaper.

Sportspeople

* Sven Butenschön – ice hockey player and coach born in

Itzehoe Itzehoe (; nds, Itzhoe) is a town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 ...

Sven Habermann Sven Habermann (born November 3, 1961 in West Berlin, West Germany) is a former Canadian national soccer team goalkeeper, who was a member of the team that competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Two years later he was ...

– soccer player, former member of the

Canada men's national soccer team The Canada men's national soccer team (french: Équipe du Canada de soccer masculin) represents Canada in international soccer competitions since 1924. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Can ...

, born in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

* Hermann Kerckhoff – slalom canoeist born in Berlin *

Heinz Poenn Heinz Poenn (September 11, 1934 – October 23, 2016) was a Canadian slalom canoeing, slalom canoeist who competed in the early 1970s. He finished 35th in the Canoeing at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's slalom K-1, K-1 event at the 1972 Summer O ...

– slalom canoeist born in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...

, Bavaria *

Alfred Wurr Alfred Wurr (born 28 June 1943, in Hamburg) is a Canadian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. See also * List of German Canadians This is a list of notable ...

–

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

who competed for Canada in the 1972 Summer Olympics, member of the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

Academics

Scientists

Artists

Musicians

Painters

Businesspeople

Politicians

Sportspeople

References

Citations

Sources