1880 - Gerhart Hauptmann, playwright, novelist
A German playwright and novelist, and the Nobel laureate in Literature in 1912 for his extensive contribution to literary culture. A representative of naturalism in the theatre, he was the author of many remarkable works, notably the social drama Vor Sonnenaufgang (“Before Sunrise”) and the celebrated play Die Weber (“The Weavers”). Hauptman had close ties to Lower Silesia. At first he lived with his father in Szczawno-Zdrój, a town adjacent to Wałbrzych; after his European travels and a stay of several months in Berlin, he moved to Szklarska Poręba and then to Jagniątków, a district of Jelenia Góra, where he lived when not staying in Berlin or on Hidensee Island.