Sandra Maischberger (born 25 August 1966) is a German journalist, talk show host, and author.

Early life and education

Born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Maischberger spent five years of her childhood in

Frascati Frascati () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated wit ...

, near

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, and also grew up in

Garching Garching bei München (''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a town in Bavaria, Germany, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments on its campus. It became a city on 14 September 1990. Location The ...

, near Munich. Her father was a physicist for the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

and her mother was a tour guide. (in German) She is the sister of German archeologist Martin Maischberger. Maischberger's initial career choices while growing up were to become a

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

or a detective. (in German) She later attended

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

School of Journalism but dropped out after 3 days in order to start her media career directly.

Career

upleft, Maischberger in 2002 Maischberger started her career at the

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadca ...

and has since been working for various television stations including

Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

, RTL, VOX,

n-tv n-tv is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by the Bertelsmann Media's RTL Group. n-tv broadcasts news and weather every hour and half-hour in the morning. It also broadcasts magazine shows and documentaries. History n-tv b ...

, and ARD. From 1992, she moderated ''

0137 ''0137'' was a live-broadcast German talk show. It was broadcast between 1991 and 1994 on pay-TV channel Premiere, now known as Sky Deutschland. The structure of the show consisted of three short interviews of 15 minutes daily from 7:30 pm. The t ...

'', a live-broadcast talk show, in rotation with Roger Willemsen. Maischberger has written several books including ''Hand aufs Herz'' (an interview with

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming C ...

) and ''Die musst Du kennen — Menschen machen Geschichte'', an encyclopaedia of the most prominent scientists, artists and politicians from classical times to the present. Since 2003, Maischberger has been moderating the talk show '' maischberger. die woche'' on ''

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are memb ...

''. In 2009, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south ...

, she interviewed

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Op ...

. Alongside Maybrit Illner, Peter Kloeppel and

Claus Strunz Claus Strunz (born 29 September 1966) is a German journalist and television host. Biography Strunz was born in Münchberg. After graduating from high school in Bayreuth, he worked as a trainee at the ''Nordbayerischer Kurier''. He then studied ...

, Maischberger later moderated the only TV election debate between Merkel and her competitor

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliame ...

ahead of the 2017 elections, which was aired live on four of Germany's most-watched television channels during prime-time. In her talk show, she has also interviewed international guests, including

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Yanis Varoufakis Ioannis "Yanis" Varoufakis ( el, Ιωάννης Γεωργίου "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης, Ioánnis Georgíou "Giánis" Varoufákis, ; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. A former academic, he served as the Gree ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

(2016), Chancellor

Sebastian Kurz Sebastian Kurz (; born 27 August 1986) is a former Austrian politician who twice served as chancellor of Austria, initially from December 2017 to May 2019 and then a second time from January 2020 to October 2021. Kurz was born and raised in M ...

of Austria (2018) former

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Ministe ...

(2020) and

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

(2021). Maischberger co-hosted the annual German Television Award ceremony in 2002, 2010 and 2014. She served on the award's jury in 2001, 2002 and 2006.

Other activities

In addition to her work as a journalist, Maischberger holds a variety of honorary positions, including the following: * Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2017) * Freya von Moltke Foundation for the New Kreisau, Member of the Advisory Board * ''Jugend debattiert'', Member of the Board of Trustees In 2001, Maischberger and many other famous Berliners took part in the street art activity Buddy Bear Berlin Show. The proceeds raised from auctioning many bears were given to several children's and youth projects in Berlin. The bear designed by Maischberger in homage to the sculptures of

Niki de Saint Phalle Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monum ...

was auctioned in 2003 at ''Mercedes World'' at the Salzufer in Berlin. The total proceeds came to over €171,000. Today, the bear can be found at the museum in

Bad Pyrmont Bad Pyrmont (, also: ; West Low German: ) is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the river Emmer, about west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popular spa resor ...

. In 2008, Maischberger founded an organization called Vincentino, which helps expose underprivileged children to the arts through sponsoring cultural projects in schools. Moreover, she supports the work done by the Freya von Moltke Foundation and the Kreisau Initiative in the running of the New Kreisau in regards to the opportunities that are given to the younger population throughout Europe.

Recognition

Maischberger has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Golden Camera from German magazine ''

Hörzu ''Hörzu'' () is a German weekly television listings magazine published in Hamburg. History and profile ''Hörzu'' first appeared in 1946 and was published by Axel Springer as the first radio program magazine to be produced in what was then the ...

'' for her

interview. * 2000: Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award * 2001:

Bavarian TV Award Bayerischer Fernsehpreis (the Bavarian TV award) is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989. The prize symbol is the "Blue Panther", a figure from the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. The prize money is €10,000 (S ...

* 2002: Ernst Schneider Prize * 2002:

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show is usually held in early February in Hamburg, but has also taken place in Berlin in the past. The gold-plate ...

* 2004: Medienpreis für Sprachkultur, Association for the German Language (GfdS) * 2008:

* 2013:

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 2016: Romy

Personal life

Maischberger is married to cameraman Jan Kerhart. After 12 years of marriage, their first child, son Samuel, was born on 24 February 2007. (in German) The family has homes in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Maischberger likes to travel and also enjoys mountain climbing and diving. She speaks Italian, Spanish, English and French.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maischberger 1966 births Living people German television talk show hosts German women television journalists German television reporters and correspondents German broadcast news analysts 20th-century German journalists 21st-century German journalists Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany ARD (broadcaster) people Westdeutscher Rundfunk people 20th-century German women 21st-century German women