Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?

American Council on Germany
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Join the American Council on Germany for its “Kaffeepause: What’s Abuzz in Berlin?” a regular podcast that takes stock of current events in Germany. Each week, we are joined by a journalist based in Germany to talk about the stories behind the headlines.

  1. 2D AGO

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Jim Tankersley

    On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Jim Tankersley, Berlin Bureau Chief of The New York Times.  Mr.Tankersley oversees the coverage of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and writes about broader trends across Europe. That includes stories about foreign policy, society, politics, migration, energy, and more. Previously, he covered economic and tax policy for the Times. In more than a decade covering politics and economics in Washington, he has written extensively about the stagnation of the American middle class and the decline of economic opportunity in wide swaths of the country. Mr. Tankersley was previously policy and politics editor at Vox and before that, an economics reporter for The Washington Post. He covered the 2008 presidential campaign for The Chicago Tribune and began his career working for The Oregonian, The Rocky Mountain News, and The Toledo Blade. He and a Blade colleague won the 2007 Livingston Award for Young Journalists for a series of stories exploring how and why the Ohio economy declined so dramatically over a generation. He was part of a Blade team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for public service. In 2018, he and two Times colleagues won the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing award for economics journalism, for a series on the effects of President Trump's trade policies on American companies and workers. A native of McMinnville, Ore., Mr. Tankersley is a Stanford graduate and a former editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily.

    48 min

  2. MAY 6

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Special Edition with Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger and Anja Wehler-Schöck

    On this Special Edition of the Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by journalists Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger and Anja Wehler-Schöck. Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger was the Foreign Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His writings deal especially with the United States, European, transatlantic, and international politics. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science, Economics, and American Studies from Frankfurt University. He joined the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s leading national daily, in 1986, and served in various capacities, as European, International, and Editorial Page Editor. Mr. Frankenberger was a Member of the Trilateral Commission and of the Scientific Council of the Institute for European Politics in Berlin. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin and is associated with several organizations that deal with the transatlantic relationship. Anja Wehler-Schöck is the International Editor of the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel and a 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 the Editor-in-Chief of the IPG Journal, a debate platform 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. Ms. Wehler-Schöck 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

    54 min

  3. APR 27

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Dr. Melanie Amann

    On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Dr. Melanie Amann, Member of the Editorial Team, DER SPIEGEL. Dr. Melanie Amann 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.

    34 min

  4. APR 20

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Marc Felix Serrao

    On this week's Kaffeepause, Dr. Steven E. Sokol is joined by Marc Felix Serrao, Global Report for Axel Springer. Marc Felix Serrao joined Axel Springer as a Global Reporter in January 2026. Prior to that, he was the Editor-in-Chief Head for the Neue Züricher Zeitung from 2021 until 2025 and Head of the Berlin office from July 2017 until January 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.

    45 min

  5. MAR 9

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Dr. Anna Sauerbrey

    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.

    44 min

  6. MAR 2

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Aaron Wiener

    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.

    39 min

  7. FEB 23

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Malte Lehming

    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.

    45 min

  8. FEB 17

    Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin? - Daniel Brössler

    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.

    45 min
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Join the American Council on Germany for its “Kaffeepause: What’s Abuzz in Berlin?” a regular podcast that takes stock of current events in Germany. Each week, we are joined by a journalist based in Germany to talk about the stories behind the headlines.

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