Martin Klingst

Biography

Martin Klingst is a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a senior expert at the Atlantik-Brücke. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter and head of strategic communications at the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany (2020-2021), as a senior political correspondent at Germany's leading weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT (2014-2020), as the paper’s bureau chief in Washington DC (2007-2014), and as its senior political editor and managing editor of the political department (1998-2007).

Klingst studied law in Freiburg, Geneva and Hamburg and worked at the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Hamburg. In 2006, he was a fellow at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Before assuming his position with DIE ZEIT, Klingst worked as a journalist for the North German Public Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) and the weekly paper Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt. He has written about domestic issues and international affairs. As a reporter, he covered the Balkan wars, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the transatlantic relations, and in 2015 and 2016 the European refugee crisis.

In 2012, Klingst was awarded the George F. Kennan Editorial Prize and in 2016 the German Reporter Prize. He has also published several books and gave courses about transitional justice at the University of Utrecht, and about speech writing at the University of Erfurt.

Affiliations

• Political Editor, Die Zeit
• Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
• Senior Expert, Atlantik-Brücke
• John F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University