Diplomatic correspondent of the editor-in-chief, Der Tagesspiegel
13:30 – 14:00
We don’t understand the world any more: two years of Donald Trump and the consequences for Germany and Europe.
Stage: KEYNOTE LOUNGE 2
Format: Power presentation
Track: Cultural Change
As the fourth-largest economy in the world, Germany has enormous international influence. But how fair and how reliable are the foreign and European policies of the alleged paragon? What do our neighbours and most important global partners think of us? Christoph von Marschall examines whether the German government is genuinely willing to take action on an international basis, and does not find any encouraging signs.
Profile
Christoph von Marschall is the diplomatic correspondent of the editorial offices of the Berlin daily newspaper ‘Der Tagesspiegel’. The journalist, who holds a doctorate in history, spent 2017/18 in Washington, D.C. as the first Helmut Schmidt Fellow of the Zeit Foundation and the German Marshall Fund, had access to Donald Trump’s White House and wrote a book about the expectations Germany’s European neighbours have with regard to the Federal Republic and what needs to change in German foreign policy in view of the upheavals in international relations, entitled ‘Wir verstehen die Welt nicht mehr. Deutschlands Entfremdung von seinen Freunden’, published by Herder Verlage in 2018.
In addition to his role at the ‘Tagesspiegel’, he appears as a guest in the television programmes ‘ARD-Presseclub’ and the ‘Phoenix-Runde’. He is also a commentator for Deutschlandfunk and Westdeutcher Rundfunk, is the Vice Chairman of the Berlin Presse Club e.V. and the author of several books.
From 2005 to 2013, he was the U.S. correspondent for the ‘Tagesspiegel’ and after Barack Obama took office in 2009, Dr. von Marschall was the only German newspaper correspondent in the White House Press Corps. Prior to this, he had made his name as an Eastern Europe expert. Prior to this, he had established his reputation as an expert on Eastern Europe. During his studies in Eastern European history, ancient history, political science and geography in Freiburg, Mainz and Cracow, he worked for the ‘Badische Zeitung’, ‘Die Zeit’ and the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ (FAZ). After completing his doctorate, he worked for the ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ in Hungary in 1989/90, where he reported on the mass exodus of East German citizens through Hungary to the west and on the revolutions in Romania and Bulgaria. In 1991 he joined the ‘Tagesspiegel’, where he was responsible for the regular “reportage page 3 and was the editor of the editorial page from 1995 to 2005. He reported on the integration of the transitioning Central and Eastern European countries in the European Union and NATO and interviewed almost all of their presidents.
In 2002 he was awarded the German-American Commentary Award, in 2005 the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, in 2010 the Steuben-Schurz Media Award for his books on Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and the Obama presidency.