Stefan Aust

Stefan Aust (born 1946 in Stade) is a German journalist and author. He began his career at the magazine konkret and later worked for the public broadcaster NDR, including its political program Panorama. In 1988, he founded Spiegel TV. From 1994 to 2008, he was editor-in-chief of the news magazine Der Spiegel; he subsequently became, among other roles, a shareholder in the news channel N24 and, from 2014 to 2024, publisher of the newspaper Die Welt. Aust has published numerous books and television documentaries. His book The Baader-Meinhof Complex, first published in 1985 and dealing with the history of the Red Army Faction, is regarded as a standard work. One of his Panorama reports, about a death sentence imposed by naval judge Hans Filbinger, also became widely known and contributed to Filbinger’s resignation as minister-president of Baden-Württemberg.