Rob Schmitz
Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
Prior to covering Europe, Schmitz provided award-winning coverage of China for a decade, reporting on the country's economic rise and increasing global influence. His reporting on China's impact beyond its borders took him to countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Inside China, he's interviewed elderly revolutionaries, young rappers, and live-streaming celebrity farmers who make up the diverse tapestry of one of the most fascinating countries on the planet. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road (Crown/Random House 2016), a profile of individuals who live, work, and dream along a single street that runs through the heart of China's largest city. The book won several awards and has been translated into half a dozen languages. In 2018, China's government banned the Chinese version of the book after its fifth printing. The following year it was selected as a finalist for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award, Poland's most prestigious literary prize.
Schmitz has won numerous awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow Awards and an Education Writers Association Award. His work was also a finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan — from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami — was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University's Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey's account of Apple's supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show's "Retraction" episode. In 2011, New York's Rubin Museum of Art screened a documentary Schmitz shot in Tibetan regions of China about one of the last living Tibetans who had memorized "Gesar of Ling," an epic poem that tells of Tibet's ancient past.
From 2010 to 2016, Schmitz was the China correspondent for American Public Media's Marketplace. He's also worked as a reporter for NPR Member stations KQED, KPCC and MPR. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China — first as a teacher for the Peace Corps in the 1990s, and later as a freelance print and video journalist. He also lived in Spain for two years. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He has a bachelor's degree in Spanish literature from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
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"People should look at this place and think about our moral responsibility," says Pawel Sawicki, a longtime guide at the Auschwitz museum in Poland.
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A devastating outbreak of swine fever in China has increased Chinese demand for European pork, and that's leaving less meat available for sausages in Germany.
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Between the financial crisis and record refugees, the long-serving chancellor "kept a steady hand during a tumultuous time," says one biographer.
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Across Europe and North America, throngs of Santa impersonators have been busy preparing children for Christmas. But in Germany, there's a lack of interest among people to play the jolly character.
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President Trump is expected to sign into law sanctions against companies building a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
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Picturesque Goerlitz has appeared in films like The Grand Budapest Hotel and Inglourious Basterds. But a lack of jobs led thousands of residents to go elsewhere. The city is trying to woo them back.
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Gorlitz, Germany, lost most of its population after the Berlin Wall came down 30 years ago — but now the city is on the rebound, thanks to tourism and the film industry.
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The Hoff recently sat down with NPR in Berlin and told the story of how he became a rock star there.
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Thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell, Hoyerswerda is struggling to thrive, a far-right party has gained popularity and many residents worry about the future when Germany phases out coal.
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Beijing recently canceled a sister-city agreement with Prague, whose mayor opposed inclusion of a "One China" provision that Taiwan is part of China. Beijing also canceled a Prague Philharmonic tour.
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Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party leads its opposition in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's election. "Christianity is part of our national identity," party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said recently.
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It's election season in Poland, and the clear favorite is the right-wing Law and Justice party. It has overseen one of the fastest growing economies in the EU.