Christoph Dieckmann

Christoph Dieckmann (born 22 January 1956) is a German journalist, commentator and author. Before 1990 he grew up and, as a young man, built his career in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany): much of his most thoughtful writing continues to relate to those times, along with the tensions and frictions that still resonate from the division of Germany between 1949 and 1990.

Biography Christoph Dieckmann was born in Rathenow, a small town in the flat lands to the west of Potsdam and Berlin.

As a teenager, he was prevented from taking his school exit exam (Abitur), which was a prerequisite for university studies. The education officer at the school refused him permission to take part in the Abitur exams, despite positive recommendations and good grades.

With no prospect of moving on to university, in 1972 Dieckmann embarked on a traineeship at the Langenau film academy as a cine-projectionist. In 1974, shortly before he was due to sit for final exams, he was expelled from the college on "disciplinary grounds", however. Between 1978 and 1981 he continued his studies at the "Sprachenkonvikt" / "Latin convictorium" in East Berlin. His room at this theological academy here gave him a good view over the wall which since August 1961 had separated the "Sprachenkonvikt" from the Ecclesiastical Academy at Berlin-Zehlendorf of which it had formerly been an affiliate. Then, until 1990, he was employed as the ecclesiastical media officer at the Ecumenical Missionary Centre and Berlin Mission Society. 1992: International Joseph Roth Prize in Klagenfurt, awarded for journalism that builds mutual understanding 1993: Theodor Wolff Prize for journalism 1994: Egon Erwin Kisch Prize, a literary prize awarded for journalism 1996: Friedrich Märker Prize for essayists 2017: Caroline-Schlegel Prize for essays and contributions to literary supplements and journals

Personal Christoph Dieckmann's first marriage fell apart at the time of reunification. By his first marriage he has a daughter, born in 1983. By his second marriage his son was born in 1995.