Christoph von Marschall is Diplomatic Correspondent for the chief editor of the Berlin newspaper ‘Tagesspiegel’.
He is a welcome guest in moderated talks, panels, TV discussion rounds such as the ARD Press Club and the Phoenix Round Table, comments on WDR and is deputy chairman of the Berliner Presse Club e.V. as well as the author of several books.
His main topics include international politics, the USA, transatlantic relations, the European Union and especially its eastern members, power shifts between the world’s major powers and relations with China and Russia.
Christoph von Marschall Lecture topics
- Will Trump become a ‘lame duck’?
The congressional elections and their implications for power in the US and relations with Europe - Who will succeed Trump?
The 2026 US congressional elections as a guide to the 2028 presidency - Trump’s outrageous demands and Germany’s missteps.
What the German government must do to lead us out of the crisis and prevent a war with Russia - Black Tuesday
Why a war with Russia looms and how the German government can prevent it (also the title of his latest book) - Germany can weather a crisis if it wants to
The courage to reform is still lacking. But the country has already fought its way out of downturns on several occasions with determination - What now, USA? What now, Germany?
Trump’s second term and its consequences for America, Germany, Europe and the world - Autocrats, aggression, attacks:
Is democracy dying? - We no longer understand the world.
Germany’s alienation from its friends in an increasingly conflict-ridden world - Crises, wars, competition
What challenges does Germany face in the new global disorder? - Revision, the status quo or something new?
Putin, Ukraine and security in Europe - New World Order.
Germany’s interests, Europe’s crises, America’s division, Putin’s war and China’s rise
Further topics and suggested titles on the war in Ukraine, the consequences of the war in Iran, the crises facing the EU, and shifts in power within geo-economics and geopolitics are available on request.
Christoph von Marschall first made a name for himself as an expert on Eastern Europe. After studying Eastern European history, ancient history, political science and geography in Freiburg, Mainz and Krakow and completing his doctorate, he reported from Hungary for the ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ in 1989/90 on the mass exodus of GDR citizens to the West and the fall of communism in Romania and Bulgaria. In 1991 he moved to the ‘Tagesspiegel’, where he headed the opinion page from 1995 to 2005. He followed the integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the EU and NATO and interviewed almost all of their presidents.
From 2005 to 2013, he was the US correspondent and, since Barack Obama took office in 2009, the only German newspaper correspondent in the White House Press Corps. During this time, he wrote books about Barack and Michelle Obama and the cultural differences between Germany and America.
In 2017/18, Christoph von Marschall lived in Washington as the first Helmut Schmidt Fellow of the Zeit-Stiftung and the German Marshall Fund, had access to Donald Trump’s White House and wrote a book on what the USA and its EU partners expect from Germany: ‘Wir verstehen die Welt nicht mehr. Germany’s alienation from its friends’, Herder Verlag 2018.
In 2024/25, he is again observing the US election and its consequences for Germany and Europe in Washington, now as a Global Europe Fellow at the Wilson Center, one of the largest think tanks in the USA, and is writing a book on how Germany can preserve its security and prosperity in an increasingly conflict-ridden world.
Honours & prizes:
- 2002 German-American Commentary Prize
- 2005 Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
- 2010 Media Prize of the Steuben-Schurz Society
- 2019 Lucius D. Clay Medal of the German-American Clubs
- 2020 Hedwig von Schlesien Prize of the City and University of Wrocław