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| Neue Deutsche Biographie | |
|---|---|
| Title | Neue Deutsche Biographie |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Discipline | Biography, History |
| Publisher | Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy |
| Firstdate | 1953 |
Neue Deutsche Biographie is a multi-volume German biographical reference work covering notable figures connected with the German-speaking lands from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. Conceived in the post-World War II period, it succeeded earlier lexica and became a standard scholarly resource alongside projects such as the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, the Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas, and national biographical dictionaries in Europe.
The project was initiated under the auspices of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in the early 1950s with editorial plans influenced by the precedents of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie and the model of the Dictionary of National Biography. Early volumes appeared in the 1950s and 1960s during a period of reconstruction alongside institutions such as the German Historical Institute and the Max Planck Society. Editorial direction has responded to scholarly debates about figures like Martin Luther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Otto von Bismarck, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Adolf Hitler while engaging prosopographical methods developed at centers such as the University of Munich and the Humboldt University of Berlin.
The editorial board has historically included scholars affiliated with the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy, the German Historical Institute London, and German universities such as the University of Göttingen, the University of Heidelberg, the University of Cologne, and the Free University of Berlin. Contributors have ranged from historians and theologians to art historians and legal scholars, including specialists on figures like Albrecht Dürer, Johannes Gutenberg, Clara Schumann, Richard Wagner, Immanuel Kant, Heinrich Heine, Sophie Scholl, and Wilhelm II. Editorial standards reflect citation practices found in periodicals like Historische Zeitschrift and Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte.
The work treats individuals from medieval princes and churchmen such as Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Thomas Müntzer, and Hildegard of Bingen to early modern figures including Albrecht von Wallenstein, Johann Sebastian Bach, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Gottfried Herder, and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century entries cover statesmen, artists, scientists, and activists such as Heinrich von Kleist, Friedrich Engels, Clara Zetkin, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Siegfried Wagner, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Barlach, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Paul Ehrlich, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, Hannah Arendt, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Hermann Hesse, Theodor Heuss, Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl, and figures from colonial and transnational contexts such as Leopold II of Belgium and Friedrich Ratzel. Entries vary from concise notices on lesser-known humanists and jurists to comprehensive articles on composers, philosophers, jurists, pastors, physicians, journalists, and industrialists like Friedrich Engels, Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, Friedrich Froebel, and Otto von Bismarck.
Volumes have been published as part of a numbered series, each containing alphabetically arranged entries with bibliographies and cross-references, following the editorial model of major reference works such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the Dictionary of American Biography. Multiple print editions and supplements were released across decades, with contributions collected into fascicles and bound volumes. Special volumes and addenda address newly notable figures and correct earlier entries, similar in editorial practice to supplements issued for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie and thematic biographical compilations like the Neue Österreichische Biographie.
In response to digital humanities developments and institutional digitization initiatives at organizations such as the Bavarian State Library, the project moved toward electronic access, enabling search and hyperlinking of entries alongside other digital resources like the German National Library catalog and databases maintained by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Online platforms permit cross-referencing with resources such as the Getty Union List of Artist Names, authority files like the Gemeinsame Normdatei, and digitized primary sources from archives including the Bundesarchiv.
Scholars and institutions have used the work as a standard reference in fields represented by figures such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Immanuel Kant, Max Planck, Sigmund Freud, Richard Strauss, and Clara Schumann. Reviews in periodicals like the Historische Zeitschrift and citations in monographs on personalities such as Martin Luther, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Otto von Bismarck, Thomas Mann, and Bertolt Brecht attest to its scholarly authority. It has influenced national biographical projects in other countries and interdisciplinary research at centers including the Max Planck Institute for History of Science and the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space.
Contemporary and successor projects include the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, the Neue Österreichische Biographie, and national projects like the Dictionary of Irish Biography and the Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands. Linked digital initiatives and authority files incorporate data exchange with the Gemeinsame Normdatei, the Virtual International Authority File, and library networks such as the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Category:German biographical dictionaries Category:German encyclopedias