Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Dr. Anna Sauerbrey, Foreign Editor at Die Zeit.Dr. Anna Sauerbrey is the Foreign Editor at the German largest weekly newspaper, Die Zeit. Before assuming this position, she was Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Der Tagesspiegel, a daily newspaper based in Berlin. She has written about German politics in The New York Times and comments on German and international politics on public German radio and television programs. She has also appeared on German television and on CNN and the BBC world service. She is the author of Machtwechsel. Wie eine neue Politikergeneration das Land verändert (Rowohlt Berlin, 2022) a book on the generation of German policymakers succeeding Angela Merkel.  Dr. Sauerbrey received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Mainz in 2009. She has also studied Political Science and Journalism. She was an Arthur F. Burns Fellow with the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2013 and has extensively written about transatlantic relations and U.S. domestic politics since. She was a ACG Kellen Fellow in 2018.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Aaron Wiener, Berlin Bureau Chief for the Washington Post.Aaron Wiener is The Washington Post's Berlin Bureau Chief, covering Germany, Austria, Poland, and Hungary, as well as broader news out of Europe. He was previously a Housing Reporter and the editor of Retropolis, The Post's history section. Earlier, he was a Senior Editor at Mother Jones, a reporter at Washington City Paper, a Berlin correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and the editor of the Washington Independent. He has been the recipient of several awards, including a 2011 Arthur F Burns Prize for reporting, a 2013 Society of Professional Journalists Dateline Award for news reporting, 20214 Association of Alternative Newsmedia Award for best blog, 2015 Street Sense Award for commentary, 2015 Association of Alternative Newsmedia Award for beat reporting, and he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for illustrated reporting in 2024.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Malte Lehming, Columnist for Tagesspiegel. From late 2000 to 2005, he was the newspaper’s Washington Bureau Chief. He joined the Tagesspiegel in 1991 as foreign policy editor — focusing on security policy, transatlantic relations, and the Middle East. From 1989 to 1991, he worked as a personal assistant and speechwriter for former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Mr. Lehming studied philosophy, German literature, and European history in Hamburg.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Daniel Brössler, Senior Editor at the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Berlin Bureau.Daniel Brössler covers the Chancellery and the Foreign Office. Mr. Brössler studied journalism in Munich and Washington and is a graduate of the German School of Journalism. In 1993, he reported for the German Press Agency from Bratislava. In 1996, he took over as head of the dpa office in Warsaw, before moving to the foreign affairs editorial department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich in 1999. There, he was responsible for reporting from Central and Eastern Europe. This was followed by stints as a correspondent in Moscow, Berlin, and Brussels. In 2023, he was awarded the Theodor Wolff Prize.

On this Special Edition of the Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Steven Erlanger, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe for The New York Times. He is based in Berlin.In over 40 years of career as a journalist, he has covered news in over 120 countries, from the war in Kosovo to Brexit. In 2002, Mr. Erlanger shared the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on his work on Al Qaeda and again received the prize in 2017 for a series on Russia. Between 1975 and 1983, he was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Beginning in 1976, he also worked as an Editor and Correspondent at the Boston Globe. From 1983 through 1987, he was the Globe’s European Correspondent in London. Beginning in 1988, he served as Bureau Chief for the New York Times in London, Paris, Jerusalem, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, and Bangkok. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Mr. Erlanger has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Robert Livingston Award for international reporting for a series of articles about Eastern Europe in 1981, the German Marshall Fund’s Peter Weitz Prize for excellence and originality in reporting and analyzing European and transatlantic affairs in 2000, and the Karl Klasen Journalists Prize for coverage of Germany and Europe and promoting trans-Atlantic understanding in 2017. Mr. Erlanger’s writing has been featured in many publications such as The Economist, The Spectator, The New Statesman, The New Republic, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Miriam Hollstein, ACG Fellowship alumna and Chief Political Reporter for Stern.Before this, she was the Chief Reporter from January 2022 to September 23 at T-Online in Berlin. Prior to this position, she served as the Chief Political Reporter for FUNKE Zentralredaktion from November 2020 to December 2021. She wrote for the Berliner Zeitung while still a student and worked as an editor for Internationale Politik. She worked as a foreign correspondent for Welt am Sonntag, and from 2006-2014 was a WELT-Gruppe’s domestic policy editor and reporter. From 2015 to 2020, she worked for Bild am Sonntag, first as a domestic policy and then from 2018 as chief reporter of politics. Her reporting brought her into regular contact with the office of the German Chancellor. In 2009, she published the first graphic biography of Angela Merkel, entitled “Miss Tschörmanie,” together with illustrator Heiko Sakurai. She appears regularly on the German news program “Phoenix,” where she speaks on political and societal issues. She regularly travels internationally for reporting assignments. In addition, she was a 2005 Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2008 ACG McCloy Fellow, and was recognized in 2015 by the DEFA Stiftung (German Film Corporation Foundation) for her contribution to preserving German film heritage.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Nette Nöstlinger, Politics Reporter for Politico Europe.In Berlin, where she keeps an eye on all things relevant to an international audience interested in the EU’s biggest economy. Her coverage has ranged from the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to Germany’s fiscal and military U-turn in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She was trained at Reuters with stints in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Brussels. She grew up in Antwerp with a Belgian father and an Austrian mother.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Vladimir Balzer, an award-winning journalist and moderator at Deutschlandfunk. Vladimir Balzer grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023 he started as a correspondent at the Capital Studios of Deutschlandfunk in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the U.S.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Paul-Anton Krüger.He has been an Editor at SPIEGEL’s capital city office since January 2025. He was the Parliamentary Correspondent in the Berlin Bureau of the Süddeutsche Zeitung from September 2021 to December 2024. He previously reported on political affairs and served as Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Department, focusing on the Middle East and international security for three years. Before that, he spent four years in Cairo as a correspondent covering large parts of the Arab world and Iran.After graduating from the Alte Landesschule in Korbach, he studied journalism in Berlin and Munich. In August 2005, he joined the Süddeutsche Zeitung as a volunteer, worked as an editor from 2008, and as head of the foreign policy department from 2011. In the fall of 2007, Mr. Krüger was a guest editor at the Chicago Tribune as part of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, the German-American journalism scholarship of the International Journalism Programs e.V.

On this Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Anja Wehler-Schöck, International Editor at Der Tagesspiegel.She has been Head of International Politics at Der Tagesspiegel since August 2022. Prior to that, she worked as editor-in-chief of the IPG Journal, a debate platform for issues on international and European politics. She previously worked as a social affairs officer at the German Embassy in Washington and headed the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s office for Jordan and Iraq in Amman from 2012 to 2017.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Julian Heissler, International Correspondent of WirtschaftsWoche.Before returning to Berlin, he reported from 2018 to 2025 from Washington, DC, as the magazine’s US Correspondent. Prior to this, he spent several years in Berlin writing about German federal politics for various media outlets. He studied Communication Studies, Political Science, and Philosophy at the Free University of Berlin and completed the Master’s program in Journalism at the Hamburg Media School. He also reported from various countries including China, Israel, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Finland. His book Dream and Nightmare: America and the Many Faces of Freedom was published in October 2023, and his most recent book Amerikas Oligarchen was published in October 2025.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Matthias Deiß, Deputy Director of ARD’s Capital City Studio in Berlin and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of television.In this capacity, he is a regular moderator of Bericht aus Berlin (Report from Berlin). From 2018 to 2021, he served as the Editorial Director for ARD’s political magazine Kontraste. Before this, he worked from 2012 to 2017 as a TV correspondent with ARD. Mr. Deiß has received numerous awards — including the Media Prize of the German Bundestag, the “Prix Europa,” and was named CNN’s Journalist of the Year in 2013. He studied Journalism and Political Science at the University of Munich and at the German School of Journalism in Munich. In 2008, he participated in the ACG's Young Leaders Conference.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Malte Lehming, Opinion Writer for Tagesspiegel.Malte Lehming works as a writer for the Tagesspiegel, where he heads the opinion page. From late 2000 to 2005, he was the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the Tagesspiegel in 1991 as foreign policy editor — focusing on security policy, transatlantic relations, and the Middle East. From 1989 to 1991, he worked as a personal assistant and speechwriter for former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Mr. Lehming studied philosophy, German literature, and European history in Hamburg.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist and Moderator for Deutschlandradio.Mr. Balzer grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at Deutschlandradio’s main studio in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Clay Risen, a Reporter and Editor at The New York Times.Mr. Risen is also the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America. He reported for the Times from Berlin for the month of May. Mr. Risen has been at The New York Times since 2010. Before writing obituaries, he was a Senior Editor on the 2020 politics team, and before that an Editor on the Opinion desk, most recently as the deputy Op-Ed editor. Before joining the Times, he worked at The New Republic and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He has written eight books, some about U.S. history, some about whiskey. They include American Rye and The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century. He holds a degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Master’s in Social Science from the University of Chicago.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Gordon Repinski, Executive Editor for Politico in Germany.Mr.Repinski joins from The Pioneer, where he served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief responsible for the newsletter and podcast “Hauptstadt – DAS Briefing”. Before that, he worked as deputy chief editor and head of the politics department at the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and was a correspondent for Der Spiegel in Berlin and Washington D.C. He embarked on his journalistic career after training at the Deutsche Journalistenschule in Munich, starting at the national newspaper taz. Mr. Repinski was a recipient of the Arthur F. Burns Award for transatlantic reporting in 2011. In his new role, he will report to Jamil Anderlini, Editor-in-Chief of POLITICO in Europe.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Anja Wehler-Schöck, International Editor of the German newspaper Tagesspiegel and member of its Editorial Board.In 2022, she founded the paper’s international affairs desk, which she subsequently headed until the end of 2024. Prior to that, she served as editor-in-chief of IPG Journal, a debate forum for international and European policy. Previously, she worked as Political Counselor at the German Embassy in Washington, DC and headed the Amman office of the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) as Country Director for Jordan and Iraq. She has published extensively and is a frequent commentator on international affairs, European politics, transatlantic relations and security policy. From 2005 to 2007, she served as Adjunct Lecturer at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Sciences Po in Paris, France and the Free University of Berlin.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Sabine Rennefanz, award-winning journalist, author, and columnist for DER SPIEGEL.Ms. Rennefanz has written extensively about the fall of the wall, the transformation and the challenges of the unified Germany. Her book „Eisenkinder. Die stille Wut der Wendegeneration“ — a coming-of-age-memoir about the 1989/90 change — was a bestseller in 2013 and is going to be republished next year. She was born in 1974 close to the Polish border.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Dr. Melanie Amann, Member of the Editorial Team at SPIEGEL.She studied Law in Trier, Aix-en-Provence, and Berlin, and received her doctorate from the LMU Munich. From 2003 to 2004, she spent a year at the German School of Journalism in Munich. After working as an editor at the Financial Times Deutschland, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, she moved to SPIEGEL in Berlin in 2013. From February 2019 until September 2025, she headed SPIEGEL's capital city bureau, together with Sebastian Fischer, Christoph Hickmann and Martin Knobbe. She was a member of the editorial board from May 2021 until September 2025.

On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Marc Felix Serrao, Editor-in-Chief in Germany for the Neue Züricher Zeitung.Marc Felix Serrao has been the Head of the Berlin office since July 2017 and Editor-in-Chief of the Neue Züricher Zeitung in Germany since 2021. After military service, he studied political science in Berlin. In 2004/05, he was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York. He graduated in 2006.Mr. Serrao worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung from 2007 to 2016 – first as a trainee, then as deputy head of the society and style department. In 2015, he began a part-time Executive MBA at the Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung (WHU) and the Kellogg School of Management. From 2016 to 2017, he served as the Business editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.