•
Georg Arnhold (1859-1926), banker •
Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925) industrialist •
Max Arnhold (1845-1908) banker
Aristocracy and military •
George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1507–1553), prince •
Bernhard VII, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (1540–1570), prince •
John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1596–1660), prince •
John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1627–1693), prince and Prussian field marshal •
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1676–1747), ruler of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747 •
Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1700–1751), prince and Prussian general •
Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau (1702–1769), prince and Prussian field marshal •
Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (1833–1916), Duchess of Nassau and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg •
Eduard, Duke of Anhalt (1861–1918), Prince of the House of Ascania and the penultimate ruler of the
Duchy of Anhalt in 1918 •
Oswald Boelcke (1891-1916), World War I air ace •
Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt (1901–1947), the last ruler of the
Duchy of Anhalt Science and philosophy •
Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), German Jewish philosopher, father of Haskalah •
Heinrich Schwabe (1789–1875), astronomer and botanist, worked on
sunspots •
Karl Adolph von Basedow (1799–1854), a German physician •
Max Müller (1823–1900), philologist and Orientalist •
Franz Woepcke (1826–1864), an historian, Orientalist and mathematician •
Friedrich Preisigke (1856–1924), a German Egyptologist and papyrologist •
Hugo Junkers (1859–1935), German engineer and airplane designer, constructed first airplane made from metal, founded the
Junkers & Co •
Gustav Lindau (1866–1923), mycologist and botanist •
Johannes Winkler (1897–1947), launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket in Europe at Dessau •
Hans von Ohain (1911–1998), physicist, designer of the first jet engine •
Gernot Böhme (1937–2022), philosopher and author
The arts •
Wilhelm Karl Rust (1787–1855), a German pianist •
Friedrich von Olivier (1791–1859), a German history painter in the Romantic style •
Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827), lyric poet, best known for the
Lieder of
Franz Schubert •
Ludwig Philippson (1811–1889), writer and rabbi, founder of
Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums •
Wilhelm Rust (1822–1892), composer, musicologist, Bach researcher and choirmaster •
Bernhard Cossmann (1822–1910), a German cellist •
Friedrich Grützmacher (1832–1903), cellist and composer •
Leopold Grützmacher (1835-1900), a German cellist and composer. •
Erna Schorlemmer (1875-1945), a German composer •
Julius Schubring (1839–1914), classical scholar •
Henriette Johanne Marie Müller (1841–1916), a street character identified with Hamburg •
August Klughardt (1847–1902), composer and conductor •
Kurt Weill (1900–1950), composer, grew up in Dessau, worked with
Bertolt Brecht, •
Gerhard Nebel (1903–1974), writer, essayist and cultural critic •
Ursula Herking (1912–1974), actress and cabaret artist • Anne-Marie Lauenstein (1923–2010), first German war bride to emigrate to the US in 1946 •
Herbert Tobias (1924–1982), fashion photographer •
Horst Bollmann (1925–2014), a German film and television actor •
Gerhard Stolze (1926–1979), a German operatic tenor •
Karl-Heinz Kämmerling (1930–2012), professor of piano •
Brigitte Grothum (born 1935), a German film actress •
Dieter Hallervorden (born 1935), comedian, cabaret artist and singer, hon. citizen of Dessau •
Imi Knoebel (born 1940), a German artist of minimalist, abstract painting and sculpture •
Emil Schult (born 1946), painter, poet and musician •
Thomas Kretschmann (born 1962), actor •
Annette Schlünz (born 1964), a German musician and composer •
Michael Flade (born 1975), German composer of electronic music
Sports •
Ameli Koloska (born 1944), javelin thrower, competed in the
1968 Summer Olympics •
Danny Fuchs (born 1976), retired Bundesliga football player •
Carsten Rump (born 1981), a retired German footballer with 436 club caps ==Gallery==