Ingo Petz

Ingo Petz at a reading on July 9, 2009 in Cologne

Ingo Petz (born November 15, 1973 in Stolberg (Rhld.) ) Is a German journalist and writer and an expert on the contemporary Belarusian culture and music scene.

Life

Petz began his journalistic career as a freelance culture editor for the Dürener Zeitung . During his studies of Eastern European History, Slavic Studies and Political Science at the University of Cologne and the State University of Volgograd , he worked as a freelancer for the Kölnische Rundschau and began a traineeship there in 2001. After a year, Petz broke off his traineeship and emigrated to New Zealand in 2002, where he worked as a freelance correspondent from Auckland for the Handelsblatt, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Austrian newspaper "Der Standard", for example on the Americas Cup . Since his return to Germany at the end of 2003, Petz has lived as a freelance journalist and writer in Berlin. a. for brand eins, the SZ features section, the adac travel magazine, as well as for a number of well-known daily and weekly newspapers (including Der Standard, Tagesspiegel, Rheinischer Merkur, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung). Since August 2010 he has also been reporting for Deutschlandfunk.

Books

In 2004 Petz traveled to Azerbaijan as a scholarship holder of the Countess Marion Dönhoff program for young journalists . As a result of this three-month stay, his first book Cuckoo Clocks in Baku was published in 2006 , in which he mixed personal experiences with the description of the country and its inhabitants. Facts about the history and culture of the country are on an equal footing with personal observations. The book was published in 2008 as an audio book read by the Cologne singer Gerd Köster .

As a result of his almost two-year stay in New Zealand, Petz published his second book in 2008 under the title Kiwi Paradise: Journey to a Damn Serene Country . The leitmotif of this book is man's search for happiness, which many believe to be found in New Zealand . Petz, who often slips into the role of the misanthrope, encounters a culture of serenity and lightheartedness in New Zealand that leaves a lasting impression on him. As in his first book, Petz combines historical, cultural and political facts about the country and its inhabitants with personal impressions and experiences in Kiwi Paradise . A report on a hike through the New Zealand wilderness, which almost ended in a fiasco, is on an equal footing with an interview with Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mount Everest .

Work as a journalist and Eastern Europe expert

In addition to working as a (travel) writer, Ingo Petz is a well-known connoisseur of Belarus and reports regularly on the local music and cultural scene as well as on the Belarusian opposition in the daily press as well as in specialist magazines.

In 2006, Petz, in collaboration with Maxim Grouchevoi, the Robert Bosch Foundation and the German-Belarusian Society , initiated the Belarusian Red Book - Music of Belarus CD project , which gathers songs by 13 of the most famous Belarusian bands, including many pieces like "Maja Kraina / Mein Land "( Kasia Kamockaja ) or" Majo Pakalenne / My Generation "( NRM ) belong to the hymns of the opposition youth in Belarus. Belarussian Red Book - Music of Belarus is the world's first CD outside Belarus dedicated to the country's rock and pop music. Since October 2005, Petz has been organizing regular concerts in Germany with well-known Belarusian bands such as NRM

His reporting on the Belarusian underground music scene and his good contacts with opposition groups led to a temporary entry ban in November 2006 when Petz wanted to visit the German-Belarusian Minsk Forum, which meets annually. Together with the head of the Russia program of Deutsche Welle, Cornelia Rabitz, and the members of the Bundestag Marieluise Beck (Greens) and Georg Schirmbeck (CDU), Petz was refused entry.

Ingo Petz is a board member of the German-Belarusian Society.

In the first half of 2012, Petz led a project of the German section of Reporters Without Borders in the course of the 57th Eurovision Song Contest , which took place on May 26, 2012 in the Azerbaijani capital Baku , which addressed violations of press freedom in the South Caucasian country. After a stay in Baku in front of the ESC, Petz gave German media numerous interviews about the situation of press freedom in Baku.

In cooperation with the Berlin Fan Project and under the umbrella of the German-Russian Exchange eV, Petz has been organizing seminars for young journalists and active fans from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia since 2014, on the subject of "football fan culture in the open society" .

Awards

• 2004: Scholarship holder of the Countess Marion Dönhoff program for young journalists
• 2006: Research funding from the European Cultural Foundation
• 2009: Cross-border commuter grant from the Berlin Literary Colloquium and the Robert Bosch Foundation

Works

• Cuckoo clocks from Baku. Travel to a country that really exists . Droemer, Munich 2006. ISBN 978-3-426-27390-6 ; (Paperback edition: ISBN 978-3-426-77973-6 ); Read as audio book by Gerd Köster : ISBN 978-3-86604-845-4 .
• Kiwi Paradise. Travel to a damn serene country . Droemer, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-426-27433-0 .
• Naked in the forest with Nietzsche . In: Hermann Gieselbusch & Michael Schmidt-Salomon. "Education is a nuisance ...". Karlheinz Deschner Life - Work - Effect . Alibri Aschaffenburg 2006. ISBN 978-3-86569-003-6 .
• Oh, the east. An approximation . In: Regina Maria Anzenberger. east . moser, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-9812344-0-4 .
• Where are you going to Belarus? My travels to the unknown center of Europe . In: Thomas Bohn / Victor Schadurski. A white spot in Europe ... The imagination of Belarus as a contact zone between East and West . transcript, Bielefeld 2011. ISBN 978-3-8376-1897-6 .
• Michel Ruge: Curb King. My wild youth in St. Pauli (as an employee) . Droemer, Munich 2013. ISBN 978-3-426-78550-8 .
• Stephan Urbach: New start. From the life of a network activist (as a ghostwriter) . Knaur TB, Munich 2015. ISBN 978-3-426-78729-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Ingo Petz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Official website
• Website of the German-Belarusian Society
• Reporters Without Borders: Press Freedom for Baku

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Background broadcast on Deutschlandfunk
2. ↑ Eurozine: New beginnings through music. Cultural counter-elite in Belarus
3. ↑ Press information on the CD
4. ↑ Information from the German-Belarusian Society on the CD ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Der Standard: Interview with the opposition member Ljavon Barsceuski
6. ↑ taz: The opposition of the free birds
7. ↑ Netzeitung from November 8, 2006: German reporters are not allowed to go to Minsk ( Memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
8. ↑ Committees of the dbg ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Page from Reporters Without Borders on the Azerbaijan project ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Media magazine on B5 of Bayrischer Rundfunk  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Broadcast on WDR 5: Azerbaijan appears twice  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ Report to DRA  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.