The multi-volume reference work offers biographical articles about individuals who were particularly significant to the development of the city of Hamburg. It encompasses the entire spectrum of Hamburg's history across all eras. The sixth volume of the "Hamburg Biography" expands the previously available 1,641 articles by adding 282 more biographical portraits. Among those portrayed are politicians such as Wilhelm Drexelius and Ernst Thälmann, writers like Matthias Claudius and Kurt Hiller, artists like Arthur Illies and Heinrich Stegemann, scientists such as Fritz Fischer and Hans Schimank, as well as actresses and directors like Heidi Kabel and Helmuth Gmelin. The "Hamburg Biography" has been developed since 2000 at the Institute for Hamburg History at the University of Hamburg. The first five volumes were published in 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2010.