Katja Hoyer

Katja Hoyer (born 1985) is a German-British historian, journalist and writer.

Life and career Hoyer was born in Wilhelm-Pieck-Stadt Guben, Bezirk Cottbus, German Democratic Republic (GDR), where her mother was a teacher and her father an officer of the National People's Army. She received a Master's degree from the University of Jena

Hoyer is a visiting research fellow at King's College London and has published three books about the history of Germany. She is also a journalist for The Spectator, The Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement, UnHerd, and Die Welt. even though some reviewers suggested that she had played down the negative aspects of the period and of Otto von Bismarck's legacy. Her second book, Beyond the Wall, about the history of the GDR from 1949 to 1990, was well reviewed in the United Kingdom, but less well received in Germany. Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe (Allen Lane, 2026)

Articles

"Life in East Germany: the cultural evolution behind the Iron Curtain" "What's 'wrong' with east Germany? Look to its long neglect by the wealthy west" "There's only one way to keep Germany's far-right AfD at bay. Address the concerns it exploits."

Film Hoyer served as Lead Historical Adviser and Technical Consultant for the 2025 BIFA-qualifying Cold War-set short film Whispers of Freedom, based on the true story of Chris Gueffroy. . The film had its German Premiere at the DDR Museum in Berlin, and regularly screens at the Museum's exhibition cinema - including on 5 February in commemoration of Gueffroy's death.