Books, essays, articles. Reading in a whole makes up a great deal of our social coexistence. Spreading well-considered ideas, observations and thoughts in times of populism is more important than ever. With dasfeuilleton I would like to make a contribution in that regard: By conveying authors and books across borders and writing journalistic pieces.

When reading, I often come across authors whose names are not known beyond the borders of their countries. Whose books are only available in their own language and thus inaccessible for people who do not sufficiently master that language. This despite the fact that these authors not only have great stories but also a message. I wish to spread the ideas of these authors and all authors I will yet find – not because I insisted that they would be right in any respect but because I am convinced that their thoughts can be of value for the readers. Thinking and discussing are more important than merely accepting somebody else´s opinion as your own.

Forming an opinion brings me to journalism. With my journalistic pieces I would also like to encourage free thinking rather than presenting the only rightful interpretation. During school and my time at university, I worked as a freelance journalist for nearly ten years with a newspaper publishing house in the West of Germany and also for some time for the major German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) with publications in, among others, Süddeutsche Zeitung. For my pieces I was striving through the night with graffitiartists, interviewed illegal tattooists in motorcycle clubs (“If there is any lead to me in your article – we know where you live”) and wrote a feature about the shoemaker of the tallest man on earth – I admit, the latter comes close to reporting about puppies, but back then I was very young…

Next to my engagement for dasfeuilleton, I work as a Dutch and German law qualified lawyer in Rotterdam.