Professor Guido Knopp, born in 1948, has been head of the ZDF History Department since 1984.
Professor Knopp studied History, Politics and Public Relations in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Würzburg, achieving a Ph. D. in History. He started his professional career in 1976 as editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper; he was also Foreign Affairs Editor for the Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag before he joined ZDF in 1989, taking charge of the series "Fragen zur Zeit" (“Questions of the Moment”) before being appointed head of the newly created ZDF Contemporary History Department in 1984. Since 1994 Professor Knopp has also been regularly teaching Journalism at a German college.
He presents the ZDF weekly “History” series and has launched, produced and (co-)written a large number of documentary films and series, including "Die deutsche Einheit" (The German Unity) in 1990, "Der verdammte Krieg" (The Doomed War) in 1991, "Bilder, die Geschichte machten" (Pictures making History) in 1992, “Entscheidung Stalingrad” (The Stalingrad Decision) in 1993, “Top Spione” (Top Spies) in 1994, "Hitler - Eine Bilanz" (Hitler - a Profile) in 1995, "Hitlers Helfer" (Hitler's Henchmen) in 1996 and 1998, "Vatikan - Die Macht der Päpste" (Vatican - the Power of the Popes) in 1997, "Hitlers Krieger" (Hitler's Warriors) in 1998, "Kanzler" (Chancellors) in 1999, “100 Jahre” (100 Years) in 1999 and “Hitlers Kinder” (The Hitler Youth) in 2000. Many of these productions have been co-produced with high-profile international partners such as The History Channel US and broadcast in over 60 countries around the world. His books accompanying these works regularly climb the top of the non-fiction bestseller lists. In the fall of 2000 ZDF broadcast the docu-drama “Deutschlandspiel” (The German Gambit) and the 6-part documentary series “Holokaust”. In 2007, ZDF broadcast the 5-part documentary series “Die Wehrmacht – eine Bilanz” (The Wehrmacht – a Profile), and in 2008, the 10-part documentary series ”Die Deutschen“ (The Germans). 2009 saw the airing of the EMMY nominated docu-drama “Die Wölfe” (The Wolf Pack), and “Die Sternstunden der Deutschen” (Germany’s Stellar Moments), which portraits the greatest moments in German history.

For his work in television Guido Knopp has been honored with numerous awards, including the Bundesverdienstkreuz (the supreme national merit of honor in Germany), the Jacob Kaiser Award, the European Television Award, the Telestar, the Golden Cable, the Golden Lion for German Television, the Bavarian Television Prize, an Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Los Angeles, the ROMY (Austrian Television Prize), the CLIO (French Television Prize) and the Hans Klein Media Award.
For the 90minute drama-documentary “Dresden” he received the International Emmy Award in 2005 and the Magnolia Award in 2006. In 2007, Guido Knopp was awarded the Grand Japan Award, and in 2009, he received the Outstanding German Journalist Award.