- My great grandfather Friedrich-Wilhelm Schirrmacher, who for more than 50 years was a history professor in Rostock and exceptionally gifted teacher, about whom I have published various items
- Two sociologists of religion in conversation in Istanbul in April 2009: With me is perhaps the most important representative of my field of study, Prof. Peter Berger, from Boston University, Massachusetts, USA
- A real model of involvement to help the poor, my longtime friend Colonel V. Doner (“The Samaritan Strategy”), pictured here in 2004 in one of our schools in Nicaragua
- Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling, formerly the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has more than once risked his career and has been a leading thinker for me with respect to mediation between ethnic groups at odds with each other; pictured here at the 2009 Global Media Forum
- Prof. Dr. Ralph Winter (1924-2009), Pasadena, California, USA, since 1979 my unforgettable mentor in missiology, cultural anthropology and alternative theological instruction
- Archbishop Athanasios, the de facto Patriarch of the Albanian Orthodox Church, built this church up from sratch after 1990
- The pastor of the church of my childhood and youth played a major role for my personal faith.
- Hermann Groehe, German minister of health, former general secretary of Mrs Merkels party, dedicated Christian in government, that pushed into religious freedom research (2014)