Profile of the Day: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Do you have German ancestry? On this day in 1749, German writer, poet and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goeth was born in Frankfurt, then an Imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire.

Image: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / Library of Congress

A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe’s works are considered the beginning of the Sturm und Drang movement in German Romantic literature. His is perhaps best remembered for his two-part poetic drama Faust, which he began around the age of 23 and finished shortly before his death 60 years later. The tragedy is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of German literature.

Although best remembered for his work in poetry and literature, Goethe also wrote on botany, anatomy, and color theory. He had a strong interest in geology and by the time of his death, had accumulated the largest private collection of minerals in all of Europe.

Goethe died on March 22, 1832 at the age of 82 in Weimar, Germany. He is buried in the Ducal Vault at Weimar’s Historical Cemetery.

Explore Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re related to the writer.

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