'Top 100 Germans' Poll Yields Surprises

Pop stars, sports personalities and a number of political contemporaries have all rated higher than the current chancellor in a poll to find the top 100 Germans of all time. Gerhard Schröder was awarded a lowly position at 82, way behind such German luminaries as music producer Dieter Bohlen (30), Formula One star Michael Schumacher (26) and talent show runner-up Daniel Küblböck (16). Schröder was even overtaken by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (20), not even a German in the strictest sense, as he is claimed by Austria as a native son. The poll, organized by the Bild newspaper and ZDF television, took calls from millions of Germans to find their top 100 compatriots from a nomination list of 1300. The top ten, which includes Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, Willy Brandt and Johann Sebastian Bach, will be the subject of a further poll over the next three weeks to find the “Best German.”