Till Lindemann (1963)

Till Lindemann was born in Leipzig, East Germany, but he grew up in the village of Wendisch-Rambow near Schwerin . His father is Werner Lindemann and his mother, Brigitte "Gitta" Hildegard Lindemann, was a journalist and writer until she retired. Lindemann has one sister who is six years younger. At age 11 he went to a sports school at the Rostock Sport Club, and from 1977 to 1980 attended a boarding school. His parents divorced in 1975.
In 1978 Lindemann was a participant in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence, and was shortlisted to go to 1980 Olympics in Moscow but discontinued the sport soon after. According to Lindemann, "I never liked the sport school actually, it was very intense. But as a child you don't object." Lindemann later worked as an apprentice carpenter, a gallery technician, a peat cutter and a basket weaver. In 1981, he apparently refused to do his eighteen months of compulsory military service and was almost imprisoned as a result.