Spotted at the German Bundespresseball Quiz

Answer: Christian Wulff

Having taken over the office in June 2010 from the resigned Horst Köhler, Christian Wulff was initially seen as a dynamic, forward-oriented choice for the office of President of Germany. Unfortunately, several irregularities from his previous office - he had been prime minister of Lower Saxony for the seven preceding years - came to light in December 2011 and were not handled well so that by January 2012, the public and press pressure on him to resign had become substantial.

Answer: Roland Emmerich

The two movies I am talking about are of course "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson and "Independence Day", the fourth highest grossing movie of the 20th century. Emmerich has also been responsible for the climate thriller "The Day After Tomorrow", the 1998 remake of "Godzilla" and the extremely special-effects-heavy apocalyptic picture "2012".

Besides his blockbuster work, Emmerich also finds time and resources for more subdued and subtle movies, as exhibited in the 2010 production "Anonymous", a historical drama revolving around the works of Shakespeare and their sometimes disputed authorship.

Answer: Karl Albrecht

Valued at over 17 billion Euro (over 21 million US$), Karl Albrecht is the older brother of the pair responsible for the famous Aldi discount stores. Hailing from Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, the brothers at first had small, traditional full-service grocery stores but in the 1960s, these stores faltered under the pressure of cash & carry supermarkets.

In order to save their business, they took the idea to the extreme, creating a discount store that concentrated on only the essentials, did not stock perishables and worked with a minimum of staff, store equipment and marketing.

The concept was an immediate success - the Aldi ("Albrecht Discount") stores sold 10 times as much product per employee than regular supermarkets and thus were able to offer unbeatable prices.

After a dispute over some business policies, the brothers split their empire into a northern and southern half with each taking the helm of one group (who still share logos, many suppliers and some marketing). Fifty years later, both are equally going strong and expanding both nationally and internationally.

Answer: Helmut Kohl

Born in 1930 in Ludwigshafen, Helmut Kohl had a meteoric political career. At age 25, he was elected to the state leadership of his party (the Christian Democrats), at age 33 he became party leader in the state parliament of Rheinland-Pfalz and at age 39, he took office as that state's prime minister.

In 1982, finally, Kohl became chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, an office he would keep for 8 years and then 8 years more as the chancellor of the unified Germany, surpassing Konrad Adenauer for the longest tenure in this office.

When the Berlin Wall fell, Kohl quickly seized the opportunity to push for full reunification, and, together with foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, became the architect of the unified Germany as well as one of the most vital persons in creating the unified European currency.

Answer: Frei Otto

Otto's architecture is characterized by the extensive use of tensile structures - essentially membranes of an often flexible material suspended under tension. This type of construction is derived from the setting of tents, but the materials used in tensile buildings are designed to be permanent.

Frei Otto was born in 1925 and earned his doctorate in 1954. He worked as a professor of structural engineering for several years before concentrating his attention solely on the planning and realization of buildings. His masterpiece is the 1972 Olympic arena, even today still considered an example of such constructions. In spite of his advanced age, Otto still actively participates in projects and symposiums.

The name Otto is a common first name in Germany, by the way, while Frei (meaning "free") is very rare as a first name but reasonably common as a surname.

Answer: Michael Gielen

Michael Gielen is one of the world's leading conductors for music from the late classical and romantic periods. He excels especially at works for large symphony orchestra, having recorded, amongst others, the complete symphonic work of Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms. Gielen is also known as a composer of contemporary music and one of the main driving forces behind the renowned Donaueschingen festival.

The SWF (Südwestfunk, the South West German public radio broadcaster) Symphony Orchestra, known since 1996 as SWR Symphony Orchestra, is one of Germany's leading orchestras with a wide repertoire from early classical to contemporary music. It publishes both mass market and limited edition recordings, the latter of which are in high demand by classical music aficionados.

Answer: Herta Müller

Herta Müller was born in Banat, Romania in 1953 as part of a German-speaking minority. She studied both the German and Romanian languages. Her motivation to write came from the Ceausescu regime where it had become too dangerous to talk about anything controversial, so her way of dealing with it was to pen her thoughts on paper.

In 1984, she first had the opportunity to visit West Germany and she managed to emigrate there in 1987. During her time in Romania, Müller published only two books, one of them in a heavily censored version. Once in Germany, she became a prolific author whose main themes are human rights and oppression.

Answer: Erika Kahn

Erika Kahn was born in Berlin in 1925, and fled the country along with her parents and brother in 1938. By the time she left, she had already been profoundly influenced by the work of Matisse and Klee, and discovered her love of design when working for a children's wear company in New York City during World War II. After a number of jobs including various types of teaching, she completed her studies in painting and printmaking, and became a professional artist. She says that her work is motivated by her love of fabrics, weaving, embroidery, dying, and all textile arts. She now lives in California, and draws heavily on Pacific cultures for her current inspirations, including traditional Japanese and Hawaiian textiles, and includes aspects of collage in her work.

Mary Bauermeister is known for her involvement in the Pop Art movement, and studied music with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Ella Bergmann-Michel, who died in 1971, was an abstract artist involved in the constructivist movement. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century Christian mystic, philosopher and artist.

(question, answer and information provided by looney_tunes)

Answer: Günter Grass

Günter Grass was born in 1927, and wrote his most noted novel in 1959. It was called "The Tin Drum". It was the first in the Danzig Trilogy. Grass has won several notable prizes, including the George Büchner Prize in 1965 (for "The Tin Drum") as well as the Nobel Prize in 1999.

(Question, answer and information provided by salami_swami)

Answer: Harald zur Hausen

Born in Gelsenkirchen in 1936, Harald zur Hausen achieved his doctorate in 1960 and became a professor in 1972. His research was always centered on virology with his primary interest being in the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), one of the primary causes of cervical cancer and also suspected to play a major role in many head and throat cancers.

In 1976, he was the first researcher to discover the clear link between HPV infections and cancer. Based on his work, an HPV vaccine became available in 2006.