
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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The European Union condemned the closure of an independent radio station in Hungary, but critics say the EU has been slow to punish Budapest for repeatedly violating democratic principles.
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President Biden reached out to European allies in an attempt to rebuild transatlantic relations during a virtual meeting of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
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The electric automaker plans to start building cars outside Berlin this summer, threatening to upend Germany's traditional combustion engine car culture. It's Tesla's first European production site.
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Tesla is creating a vast new plant near Berlin to build its electric vehicles. And the move threatens to upend Germany's traditional combustion engine car culture.
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AstraZeneca fell short of its vaccine promise and the EU isn't happy. The firm will provide another 9 million doses, which is good news for the EU but is still less than half of what was agreed to.
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Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has wrapped up a two-year investigation into the Alternative for Germany. The party's far-right branch is already under surveillance.
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Angela Merkel has been one of Germany's most popular leaders. She's stepping down at the end of this year. Over the weekend, her party chose a new leader and possible successor to her.
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Countries are taking a variety of approaches to their mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. NPR's international correspondents discuss the results in Germany, Israel and Brazil.
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Alexei said he has purchased a Sunday plane ticket to return to Moscow. He has spent months in Germany recovering from nerve agent poisoning.
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The storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump extremists has shocked America's allies, and prompted denunciations. They've called it an assault on democracy, and urged a peaceful transfer of power.