Andrea Böhm (born 1961 in Munich,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) is a German prize-winning journalist and author. She is mainly known for her reports, essays and books in German about political affairs and society in the United States, the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

and

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Life and career

Böhm studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

in Berlin and the United States, and later completed her training at the

German School of Journalism The Deutsche Journalistenschule e.V. (), the German School of Journalism, is a journalism school in Germany. At the time of its establishment, it was the country's first German journalism school. Today, Deutsche Journalistenschule is considered o ...

. Following this, she worked as America

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

'' from 1989, also writing for German publications such as ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', ''

Geo Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazi ...

'', and others. As a freelancer working from New York City, she wrote reports about the United States for more than 10 years. Since 2006 she has been reporting about political affairs for ''Die'' ''Zeit''. From 2013 until 2018, she was stationed for the same weekly in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

as their correspondent for the

. Her areas of interest include the Near East, Eastern Asia, Africa, including the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(DRC),

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s and the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. She has authored books based on her experience in four continents, the United States and the DRC. For her 2011 travelogue ''Gott und die Krokodile. Eine Reise durch den Kongo (God and the Crocodiles. A Journey through the Congo)'' she was shortlisted for the 2011

Leipzig Book Fair Prize The Leipzig Book Fair Prize () is a literary award assigned annually during the Leipzig Book Fair The Leipzig Book Fair () is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days a ...

in the category Non-fiction/Essay. Böhm has been awarded prestigious German journalism awards, such as the

Theodor Wolff Prize The Theodor Wolff Prize is a German journalism prize. It has been awarded annually since 1962 in five categories, equal prizes of €6,000, by the . In addition, at irregular intervals, journalists are awarded the Theodor Wolff Prize for their life ...

and the

Hansel Mieth Prize Zeitenspiegel Reportagen is an agency of writers and photographers based in Weinstadt, near Stuttgart, Germany. The agency works for all of the major German magazines such as ''Stern'', ''Focus'', ''GEO'', and ''Die Zeit'', as well as internati ...

, in memory of German-American

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

Hansel Mieth of Santa Rosa, California (1909–1998).

Reception

Reviews in leading German media of Böhm's non-fiction books and reports have mentioned her profound knowledge of the countries described, a lively and straightforward narrative style as well as special

empathy Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are ...

for ordinary people. Due to more than 10 years as foreign correspondent in New York and her numerous trips into the lesser known regions of the United States, Böhm published the non-fiction book ''Die Amerikaner: Reise durch ein unbekanntes Imperium (The Americans: Journey through an Unknown Empire'') in 2004. In her essays about members of the upper class as well as about the social

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

of many underprivileged Americans, Böhm combined "biographical, historical and political aspects into a comprehensive analysis." In the

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

, the academic of

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

Andreas Eckert discussed the non-fiction book ''Gott und die Krokodile. Eine Reise durch den Kongo. (God and the Crocodiles. A journey through the Congo.)'' He rated Böhm's descriptions of the country, which has suffered from regional crises, international interventions and exploitation since the

colonisation of Africa External colonies were first founded in Africa Colonies in antiquity, during antiquity. Ancient Greece, Ancient Greeks and Ancient Rome, Romans established colonies on the African continent in North Africa, similar to how they established settl ...

, as outstanding in German-language literature on Africa. Due to her historical knowledge, Böhm succeeded in conveying both "sympathy for the country and its inhabitants" as well as a detailed description of the geopolitical situation. Her 2017 book ''Das Ende der westlichen Weltordnung (The End of the Western World Order)'' was described as providing insight into the crisis of the Western World. Meeting ordinary people in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

or China, she wrote about people who are mastering their lives, developing civil courage and living outside of the so-called global economy. In a December 2022 article for the

Frankfurter Rundschau The ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' (''FR'') is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. The ''Rundschaus editorial stance is social liberal. It holds that "independence, social justice and fairness" underlie its journalism. In Post-wa ...

on the occasion of Böhm's award of the Werner Holzer Prize for Foreign Journalism, her former colleague at ''Die Zeit'', Özlem Topçu, wrote that Böhm always had both geopolitical and climate policy in mind, challenged the "white view of the African continent" and portrayed people in the global South as "acting subjects".

Awards

* 2004

* 2010

* 2022 Werner Holzer Prize for Foreign Journalism

Publications

Non-fiction books

* ''Die Amerikaner: Reise durch ein unbekanntes Imperium.'' 2. aktualisierte Auflage, Herder Freiburg 2006 * ''Gott und die Krokodile. Eine Reise durch den Kongo.'' Pantheon Verlag, München 2011 * ''Das Ende der westlichen Weltordnung. Eine Erkundung auf vier Kontinenten.'' Pantheon Verlag, München – Berlin 2017

Magazine articles

Literature

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Böhm, Andrea Living people 1961 births Journalists from Munich German political journalists German reporters and correspondents 21st-century German women writers Die Zeit people Die Tageszeitung people 21st-century German journalists 21st-century German non-fiction writers 21st-century German women journalists