Wilhelm Carl Grimm was a German author and anthropologist, best known as the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, with whom he formed the legendary literary duo the Brothers Grimm.
Born in February 1786 in Hanau, Hesse-Kassel, Wilhelm shared a deep bond with Jacob throughout their lives. From 1803, he studied law at the University of Marburg, following in the footsteps of Jacob, who had enrolled a year earlier.
The brothers were inseparable; as schoolboys, they shared a bed and a table, and as students, they moved to two beds and tables in the same room. They continued to live together, sharing books and possessions.
In 1825, Wilhelm married Henriette Dorothea Wild, known as Dortchen, the daughter of a chemist. Despite this personal milestone, the harmony between the brothers remained unbroken. A contemporary observer, Richard Cleasby, noted that the brothers' life together extended to Wilhelm's family, describing them as living "in such harmony and community that one might almost imagine the children to be common property".
Wilhelm's character contrasted with Jacob's. Robust and healthy in his youth, he later suffered a long illness that left him physically weak. His intellectual approach could have been more expansive and exploratory than his brother's; Wilhelm preferred to concentrate on defined literary fields, ignoring areas unrelated to his work.
He had a love of music that Jacob did not share and excelled in storytelling. Cleasby recalled Wilhelm reading a farcical play in the Frankfurt dialect with such engaging humour that it captivated his audience. Described as lively and sociable, Wilhelm was a gregarious personality who was often in demand in social circles.
The brothers' enduring fame is mainly due to their collection of folk tales, first published in 1812 as Grimm's Fairy Tales. Their commitment to cultural preservation and academic rigour was also evident in their political activism. From 1837 to 1841, the Grimms, together with five colleagues from the University of Göttingen, formed the Göttingen Seven, who protested against the constitutional violations of King Ernest Augustus of Hanover. This act of defiance led to their dismissal.
Wilhelm's work was profoundly literary. Unlike Jacob, who pursued linguistic and legal historical research on a broad scale, Wilhelm concentrated on editing and refining.
Wilhelm Grimm died of an infection in Berlin on 16 December 1859, at the age of 73
