Anne Will (born 18 March 1966) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

television journalist and host of the eponymous political talk show. She was

anchorwoman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

of the daily '' Tagesthemen'' news broadcast on ARD from 2001 until 2007.

Early life and career

Will was born on 18 March 1966 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

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 ...

, the daughter of an architect. She grew up in

Hürth Hürth () is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne and is about 6 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Natur ...

and attended the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium high school. From 1985 she studied history, politics, and English in Cologne and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, with a scholarship of the

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

(FES). While a student she had articles published in the ''Kölnische Rundschau'' and ''Berliner Volksblatt'' newspapers. In 1990 she graduated with a Magister's degree from the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

Career in television

Will began her career in radio and television at Sender Freies Berlin. At the end of 1992 she started presenting the talk show ''Mal ehrlich'' and the sports magazine ''Sportpalast''. She hosted the

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...

show ''Parlazzo'' from 1996 to 1998. In November 1999 Will became the first woman to host the ''

Sportschau ''Sportschau'' is a German sports magazine on broadcaster ARD, produced by WDR in Cologne. The magazine started in 1961. In its Saturday edition, the ''Sportschau'' shows a summary of the Bundesliga, whereas the Sunday edition reports on the l ...

'' sport show. During the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, she presented live sport shows from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for the ARD. From 14 April 2001 to 24 June 2007 she presented the late night news magazine ''Tagesthemen'' alternating with Ulrich Wickert and, from September 2006, with his successor

Tom Buhrow Tom Buhrow (born 29 September 1958) is a German journalist who served as director general of public broadcaster WDR from 2013 to 2024. In this capacity, he also served as chair of the ARD from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 and from 4 Augus ...

''Anne Will'', 2007–2023

Will's political talk show '' Anne Will'' ran from 16 September 2007 to 3 December 2023. It succeeded Sabine Christiansen's similar show when Christiansen retired. Will was succeeded at the ''Tagesthemen'' by

Caren Miosga Caren Miosga (born 11 April 1969) is a German journalist and television presenter. She was a longtime presenter of the news television show ''Tagesthemen'' on ARD (broadcaster), ARD. Early life and education Caren Miosga grew up in Groß Ilsed ...

. Alongside

Maybrit Illner Maybrit Illner (née Klose; born 12 January 1965) is a German journalist and television presenter. Education Born in East Berlin, Illner went to school in the Friedrichshain area of Berlin and studied journalism at the University of Leipzig fr ...

, Peter Kloeppel and

Stefan Raab Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German entertainer, television host, television producer, and businessman. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night talk show, late-night comedy talk show ''TV total'' on ProSieben. He also creat ...

, Will also moderated the only TV election debate between incumbent

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

and her competitor Peer Steinbrück ahead of the 2013 elections, which was aired live on four of Germany's most-watched television channels during prime-time. She also interviewed Merkel in September 2009 (shortly before the 2009 election), in October 2015, in February 2016, November 2016 and in June 2018 (following the 44th G7 summit). She hosted Merkel’s successor

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

for the first time in March 2022. Among the international dignitaries who appeared on the show were the foreign ministers of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Sebastian Kurz Sebastian Kurz (; born 27 August 1986) is an Austrian former politician who served twice as Chancellor of Austria, first from 2017 to 2019 and then again from 2020 to 2021. Kurz was born and raised in Meidling, Vienna. He entered politics by ...

(2016) and Jean Asselborn (2014, 2015 and 2018). In 2010, Will interviewed former

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

for daily newspaper ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

''.

Later career

In 2024, Will launched a weekly interview podcast, ''Politik mit Anne Will'' (''Politics with Anne Will'').

Other activities

An active contributor to the Kindernothilfe and

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

charities, Will is also involved in projects aiming to eliminate landmines. On 2 July 2005, she hosted the German stage event of the

Live8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...

in front of the

Siegessäule The Victory Column ( , from '' Sieg'' 'victory' + '' Säule'' 'column') is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Second Schleswig War, by the time it was inaugura ...

in Berlin. She also serves as ''Ambassador for the Room of Names'' of the

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (, also known as the Holocaust Memorial German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany, designed by architect Peter Eisenman an ...

in Berlin.

Personal life

Will lives in Berlin. From 2016 until 2019 she was married to

Miriam Meckel Miriam Meckel (born 18 July 1967) is a German journalist and professor for Corporate Communication, editor and publisher of the German magazine ''Wirtschaftswoche'' and Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the Uni ...

, then editor-in-chief of the major German magazine ''

WirtschaftsWoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. ''Wirtschaft'' means “economy” (including business), and ''Woche'' is “week”. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published ...

'' and professor of communications and media at the Swiss University of St. Gallen. Will is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Awards (selection)

* 2002:

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...

* 2006: German Television Award * 2007: Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Will, Anne 1966 births Living people German sports journalists German television talk show hosts German television reporters and correspondents German broadcast news analysts German LGBTQ journalists 21st-century German women journalists German LGBTQ broadcasters German women television presenters German television presenters German women television journalists 21st-century German journalists Television people from Cologne ARD (broadcaster) people Westdeutscher Rundfunk people Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg people 21st-century German women 21st-century German LGBTQ people German Roman Catholics LGBTQ Roman Catholics