He studied journalism in Leipzig and afterwards he worked in various editorial offices at the radio of the GDR in Berlin. In 1990, he relocated to Prague as a correspondent from Czechoslovakia. After the end of GDR, he stayed in the Czech Republic and became a freelance journalist. Today, he is a correspondent for Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag. As a commentator he also writes on the Czech news portal Aktuálně.cz. He also wrote two books about the Czech Republic; Tschechien – eine Nachbarschaftskunde für Deutsche and Tschechien – wieder Zeman: Kein Frühling in Prag.