In the organizer's words:

A pretzel, a word. Deutschlandfunk Kultur invites you to a live radio show from the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Join us as we welcome a prominent guest from the worlds of culture, science, media or politics to the Mechanical Arena. Have an engaging conversation together about the issues of our time. Chat, argue or think out loud together.

Here you can experience radio up close, watch and join in the discussion. An engaging conversation about the issues of the day, broadcast throughout Germany, held in the new old center of Berlin, in the rebuilt City Palace.

Whether Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin or Vladimir Putin - Katja Gloger was able to talk to all of them. As a correspondent for Stern magazine, the Eastern European historian experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union and the changing rulers in Moscow. She was the first Western journalist not only to interview Putin, but also to accompany him for months. For over 30 years, Russia and international security policy have been the focus of her work. Today, Katja Gloger works as a freelance journalist and author. Born in Koblenz, she was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize in 2010. In 2014, she was named political "Journalist of the Year".

Georg Mascolo is one of the country's leading investigative journalists. He was editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel and headed the research cooperation between NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung. His report on the fall of the Berlin Wall was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. In 2024, Georg Mascolo published an assessment of the coronavirus pandemic together with virologist Christian Drosten. "Everything over? An overdue discussion on a pandemic that will not be the last", is the title of their book. The German-Italian is a trained lawyer and notary's assistant. In 2014, he was named political "Journalist of the Year". In 2025, the journalist couple Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo published their joint book: "Das Versagen. An investigative history of German policy towards Russia".

- free of charge

- from 11.50 am to 1 pm (start of the live broadcast at 12.05 pm)

- Duration: 70 minutes

- Language: German

- Location: Mechanical arena in the foyer