Andreas Austilat

Andreas Austilat is the deputy editor of the Sunday supplement of Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin’s leading daily, where he has worked since 1987. He interviewed many celebrities—such as Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash), architect David Chipperfield, fashion designer Tommy Hilfinger, as well as authors Ian Kershaw and Kathy Reichs—, and also the last survivors of the gigantic airship “Hindenburg,” which crashed in 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, after its transatlantic journey. He also discovered the lost copies of the oldest existing Titanic movie filmed in 1912, the year of the Titanic disaster; it was hidden in a Berlin archive. He published three travel and culture guides about Brandenburg and a history book about Zehlendorf, an affluent Berlin suburb. Austilat was born in Berlin, where he lives with his wife, his two children—a boy and a girl—and their dog Duffy. He studied history at the Free University and at first wanted to become a teacher, but decided switch to journalism early on.