Ulrich Kienzle

Ulrich Kienzle (born 9 May 1936 in Neckargröningen, Free People's State of Württemberg, today part of Remseck, Ludwigsburg District, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is a German journalist and publisher. He is renowned in Germany as an expert on politics and culture of the Near and Middle East.

Life

Kienzle, who grew up in late-World War II and post-war Swabia and the early Federal Republic of Germany, earned a university degree in political science (with minors German studies and history of art), studying at Munich University and Tübingen University from 1956 to 1963.

From 1956 to 1967, he worked, first as freelancer, then as a permanent contributing editor of Abendschau (i.e. evening news) for the TV program of the Stuttgart-based regional broadcaster Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR). After a stint working for Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in 1967 and 1968, he returned to SDR, becoming lead anchor of Abendschau from 1968. From 1972 to 1974, he was co-host/co-editor of Kompass, a common foreign affairs broadcast of SDR and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).

In 1974, Kienzle started working for the national public broadcaster ARD as correspondent, from 1974 to 1977 for the Near East (stationed in Beirut). In this function, he was one of the few Western journalists that were allowed to interview then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. From 1977 to 1980, he was ARD's correspondent for Southern Africa. From 1980 to 1990, he was chief editor of North German regional station Radio Bremen.

From 1990 to 1993, Kienzle was chief editor for foreign affairs at Hessischer Rundfunk and anchor for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), presenting foreign affairs magazine Auslandsjournal. From 1993 to 2000, he was one of the "combattants" in the weekly ZDF political magazine Frontal, that always featured a controversial debate between the more leftist Kienzle (usually taking the position of the Social Democratic Party of Germany) and the more rightist Bodo Hugo Hauser (usually taking the position of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany).

In the 2000s (decade), Kienzle hosted a ZDF program on the German political party's campaigns in the run up to the German federal election, 2002, and is contributing to a ZDF magazine on the economy (WISO) since 2003.

Today, he is occasionally interviewed on matters of the Near and Middle East, e.g. the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan and the Arab Spring.

Honours

  • 1983 Eduard Rhein Prize, award for "outstanding achievements in research and/or development in the areas of radio, television an information technology".
  • 1995 BAMBI, important German media prize "to recognise excellence in international media and television with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public"
  • 2004 Journalistenpreis des Deutschen Mittelstandes ("journalist prize of the German middle class"), for critical journalism on bargain hunters.

Works

  • Südafrika. Weiße in der Wagenburg. Droemer Knaur, München 1985, ISBN 3-426-04002-6. (i.e. "South Africa. Whites on the Defensive").
  • Noch Fragen, Kienzle? Ja, Hauser! Der offizielle deutsche Meinungsführer. Hofmann & Campe, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-455-11075-4 (zusammen mit Bodo H. Hauser). (i.e. "Any questions, Kienzle? Yes, Hauser! The official German opinion leader").
  • SchwarzRotGeld. Der offizielle deutsche Marktführer. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-455-11076-2 (zusammen mit Bodo H. Hauser). (i.e. "Black-Red-Gold". The official German guidebook on the market")
  • Total Frontal. Sprüche und Widersprüche aus 7 TV-Jahren. Heyne, München 1999, ISBN 3-453-15530-0 (zusammen mit Bodo H. Hauser). (i.e. "Total Frontal. Quotations and controversies from seven years on TV").
  • Bitte recht feindlich! Schöner leben und streiten im neuen Jahrtausend. Heyne, München 2000, ISBN 3-453-16497-0 (zusammen mit Bodo H. Hauser). ("i.e. Live and debate better in the new millennium").
  • Küchenkabinett. Essen und Trinken bei Rechten und Linken. Heyne, München 2001, ISBN 3-453-18843-8 (zusammen mit Bodo H. Hauser). (i.e. "Kitchen Cabinet. Food and Drink of rightists and leftists.)
  • Wo kommsch denn Du alds Arschloch her? Die Erfindung des Schwaben; wie er wurde, was er ist; ein Essay. Edition Sagas, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-9812510-9-8 (mit Audio-CD). (an essay on the cultural history of the Swabian people).
  • Abschied von 1001 Nacht. Mein Versuch, die Araber zu verstehen . Edition Sagas, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-9812510-7-4. (i.e. "good bye to One Thousand and One Nights. My attempt to understand the Arabs").
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