Profile Text
Birth Name: Karl Wolf Biermann
Place of Birth: Hamburg, Nazi Germany (now Germany)
Date of Birth: 15 November, 1936
Ethnicity: * father – Ashkenazi Jewish * mother – German
Wolf Biermann is a German singer, songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is known for his song “Ermutigung.” He was expatriated from East Germany in 1976.
His father, Dagobert Biermann, was a German Resistance fighter, and Communist; he was Jewish, and was killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943. His paternal grandparents were killed in the Holocaust in Belarus, in 1941. His mother, Emma (Dietrich), was of non-Jewish German descent, and was also a Communist Party activist.
Wolf is married to Pamela Rüsche. He has ten children, including two with Pamela. He was previously married to Christine Raben Barg and actress and singer Eva-Maria Hagen. Wolf’s stepdaughter is singer and actress Nina Hagen , from his marriage to Eva-Maria.
Wolf’s paternal grandfather was Johann “John” Biermann (the son of Adolph Rudolf Biermann and Rosa Lewald). John was born in Hamburg, to a Jewish family. Adolph was the son of Karl August Biermann and Mathilde Caroline Gievitzier. Rosa was the daughter of Salomon Levald, who was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a father from Gdańsk, Poland, and a mother from Helsingør, Denmark; and of Sara Plaut.
Wolf’s paternal grandmother was Louise Löwenthal (the daughter of David Löwenthal and Karoline Keile Simon). Louise was born in Hamburg, to a Jewish family. Karoline was born in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Poland.
Wolf’s maternal grandfather was named Karl Dietrich. Karl was born in Saxony.
Wolf’s maternal grandmother was named Martha Schimpf. Martha was born in Halle/Saale, Saxony-Anhalt.
Source: Genealogy of Wolf Biermann – https://www.geni.com