| Ulrich Kienzle | |
| Birth Date: | 9 May 1936 |
| Birth Place: | Neckargröningen, Württemberg, Germany |
| Death Place: | Wiesbaden, Germany |
| Education: | |
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Ulrich Kienzle (pronounced as /de/; 9 May 1936 – 16 April 2020) was a German journalist and author. He was known for specializing in the politics and culture of the Middle East. He worked for several broadcasters, including German public television networks ARD and ZDF. He was one of the few Western journalists to interview Muammar Gaddafi in the 1970s. In 1990, he was the last western journalist who interviewedSaddam Hussein, days before Gulf War started.[1] Kienzle was known for appearing on Frontal, a ZDF series of political discussions also featuring broadcast journalist Bodo Hugo Hauser.He was one of the most famous journalists in the six German speaking countries.
Kienzle was born in Neckargröningen, Württemberg, today part of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. He was 9 years old when World War II ended and 13 when the Federal Republic of Germany was founded. Kienzle earned a university degree in political science (with minors in German studies and history of art), studying at the University of Munich and University of Tübingen with from 1956 to 1963.
From 1956 to 1967, he worked first as a freelancer, then beginning in 1963 as a permanent contributing editor of the German: Abendschau ("Evening News") of the Stuttgart-based regional broadcaster Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR). After a stint working for Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in 1967 and 1968, he returned to SDR, becoming lead anchor of the German: Abendschau from 1968. From 1972 to 1974, he was co-host and co-editor of German: Kompass, a joint foreign affairs broadcast of SDR and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).
In 1974, Kienzle started working for the national public broadcaster ARD as a correspondent, from 1974 to 1977 covering the Middle East and stationed in Beirut. He was among the first journalists to interview Muammar Gaddafi, then a young rebel. From 1977 to 1980, he was ARD's correspondent for Southern Africa. From 1980 to 1990, he was chief editor of North German regional broadcaster Radio Bremen (RB).
From 1990 to 1993, Kienzle was chief editor for foreign affairs at Hessischer Rundfunk (Hessian Broadcasting) and anchor for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), presenting the foreign affairs magazine German: Auslandsjournal. In this position, in 1990 he was one of the few Western journalists allowed to interview Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. From 1993 to 2000, he was one of the "combatants" in the weekly ZDF political magazine , which always featured a controversial debate between the more leftist Kienzle, usually taking the position of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and the more rightist Bodo Hugo Hauser, usually taking the position of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).
In the 2000s, Kienzle hosted a ZDF program on German political campaigns in the run-up to the 2002 federal election, and beginning in 2003 contributed to a ZDF broadcast 'magazine' on the economy (German: WISO). He was interviewed on events in the Middle East, such as the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan and the Arab Spring revolts.
Kienzle died in Wiesbaden, Hesse, on 16 April 2020, aged 83.
Kienzle's publications are held by the German National Library, including:[4] [5]