Wilhelm Grimm

Born in Hanau on February 24, 1786, Wilhelm Grimm became a German writer, philologist, and folklorist whose life’s work was closely tied to that of his older brother, Jacob. The two studied at Marburg, worked as librarians and scholars, and went on to become central figures in both folklore studies and German philology.

Wilhelm is especially remembered for helping compile and shape Kinder- und Hausmärchen, the collection later known in English as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. While the brothers gathered stories from many sources, Wilhelm played an important part in editing them, giving the tales much of the style and tone that made them so memorable for readers.

His work reached far beyond fairy tales. Together with Jacob, he also contributed to major scholarship on German language and tradition, including the ambitious Deutsches Wörterbuch. Wilhelm Grimm died in Berlin on December 16, 1859, but the stories and scholarship he helped preserve still travel easily across languages, generations, and cultures.