1615 – 1678: Wolfgang Heimbach, Painter (DE)

Wolfgang Heimbach (1615–1678) was a North German Baroque painter, mostly active in Denmark. He was deaf-mute but compensated by being able to read and write several languages. 

(Wolfgang Heimbach, self-portrait, 1666)

1727 - 1790: Samuel Heinicke (DE)

"Samuel Heinicke was born April 14, 1727, in the part of Europe that is now the eastern part of Germany. In 1754, he began tutoring students—and one of them was deaf. This deaf student reportedly was a young boy. He used the manual alphabet to teach that deaf pupil."

"In 1777, his reputation as a deaf educator was so well established that he was asked to open the first (oral) public school for the deaf. This school opened in Leipzig, Germany and it was the first school for the deaf officially recognized by a government."

1778: First School for the Deaf in Germany, Leipzig (DE)

In 1778 Samuel Heinicke opened the first German public school for the education of the deaf in Leipzig. 

Heinicke insisted that lipreading was the best training method because it made his students speak and understand the language as it was used in society. 

1829 - 1907: Paul Ritter, Painter (DE)

At the age of four, Paul Ritter became deaf due to illness. He became known in particular for his large-format architectural pictures of old Nuremberg with historical figure staffage against the background of the historically faithful architecture of the old town.

1860 - 1911: Heinrich Fick, Painter (DE)

1900 - 1966: Richard Liebermann, Painter (DE)

Richard Liebermann was born deaf and Jewish at Neu-Ulm in Bavaria.  He painted portraits and landscapes all across Germany, but when the Nazis came to power, he was prohibited from continuing his public career because of his Jewish ancestry.

1927: Deutscher Gehoerlosen-Bund e.V. (DGB) German Association of the Deaf

The German Deaf Association was founded in 1950. It regards itself as the legal successor to the Reich Association of the Deaf of Germany (ReGeDe), founded in 1927, which was renamed the Reich Association of the Deaf of Germany in 1940 during the Nazi era and was merged into the German Association of the Deaf and Speech Impaired (DGS) in 1943.

1928 - ..: Peter Dimmel, Sculptor (AT)

Peter Hans Dimmel (born August 31, 1928 in Vienna) is an Austrian sculptor and functionary in various deaf interest groups. His life's work includes more than 170 works, including many sculptures and restoration work for churches, especially with the material bronze.

1930 - 1945: The Deaf in the Nazi Era (film)

"With excerpts from the film "Misunderstood People" from 1932 as well as other documents and stories from contemporary witnesses, the German Deaf Association produced a new, one-hour film in 2013 entitled "The Deaf in the Nazi Era". 

This film shows how the diversity of the deaf community in Germany and especially in Berlin was gradually destroyed during the Nazi era.

1940 - 2003: Albert "Fisé" Fischer, Painter (DE)

Albert Fischer was born on October 13, 1940 in Munich. He became deaf at the age of one as a result of meningitis.

From 1956 to 1959 he studied art with Prof. Karl Blocherer in Munich - and there he showed his extraordinary talent.

1949: Foundation of the Deutsches Gehörlosen-Theater e.V., Germany

The German Deaf Theater (Deutsches Gehörlosen-Theater e.V., DGT for short) was founded over half a century ago with the aim that the deaf people can visit a theater in their language and that the deaf actors can come out of themselves and slip into other roles and still be themselves stay.

Deaf actors have long been discriminated outsiders. That shouldn't be anymore. On stage they are free spirits and rebels who maintain the culture of the deaf. It is simply fascinating to see how the deaf actors on stage implement their creative ideas with such passion, as if it were about life and death, about everything or nothing.

2002: Germany, Legal Recognition of German Sign Language

German Sign Language was first legally recognised in The Federal Disability Equality Act (2002) in May 2002. Since then, deaf people have a legal entitlement to Sign Language interpreters when communicating with federal authorities, free of charge.