Dieter Bednarz

About Dieter Bednarz

Dieter Bednarz, born in 1956, is one of the most distinguished German Middle East experts. He became widely known beyond SPIEGEL for his diplomatic skill in securing world-politically significant heads of state as interview partners to critically question them. His extensive interviews with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi garnered international attention. Bednarz is also well known to Israeli ambassadors and politicians.

Even before his time at SPIEGEL, he was accredited in Jerusalem as an Israel correspondent and held discussions with nearly all the important Israeli and Palestinian politicians of the time. These discussions led to the creation of two books: “Palästina Protokolle – Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektive” and “Blick zurück ohne Hass – Juden aus Israel erinnern sich an Deutschland.”

When SPIEGEL appointed him in 1991 as the head of the Middle East office in Cairo, “a circle was completed,” according to Bednarz. Due to his experience in the region, Dieter Bednarz is a valued conversation partner in political Berlin. For many ambassadors from the Middle East, such as Houssam Maarouf, Vice President of the German-Arab Friendship Society (DAFG), Bednarz is “not only the Middle East Editor of SPIEGEL but rather the Diplomatic Correspondent of the magazine.” Maarouf states: “Despite the clarity in his analysis, Dieter Bednarz always maintains personal respect for his counterpart and knows how to build political bridges.” This is also why he is a sought-after moderator for discussion circles with political or economic interest in the region.

But Bednarz is also familiar with a completely different front: As the author of the nearly autobiographical book “Überleben an der Wickelfront – Vom Elternglück in den besten Jahren,” he is also a sought-after speaker on the topic of work-life balance. The then-Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen presented the book in 2009 at the Bertelsmann Palais in Berlin as “an entertaining as well as socially important stimulus for thought.” The successful Berlin producer Regina Ziegler soon acquired the film rights, and with active participation from the author, the TV film of the same name was created, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht and Valerie Niehaus in the lead roles. When it aired in 2011 on ZDF, “the comedy with depth” (Ziegler) was the ratings winner of the evening. The producer also filmed the fictional continuation of the family story based on Bednarz’s novel “Mann darf sich doch mal irren! – Unser Leben nach der Wickelfront,” published in 2013. This film also became the ratings winner when it aired in April 2015.

Whether as a knowledgeable analyst of global political events or as a sensitive storyteller from the tension between children and career – with his open, personal manner of speaking, Dieter Bednarz also wins the sympathies of your guests, whether in the intimate setting of a fireside evening or in the larger context of conferences, trade fairs, or corporate events. More information is available at: www.DieterBednarz.de