TALKING TO DICTATORS

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Erich Follath
TALKING TO DICTATORS

Erich Follath on his meetings with tyrant rulers and the background to their rise and fall.

Is it possible to describe tyranny and murderousness? Explain their causes? In his new book, Erich Follath, reporter and foreign correspondent for STERN, SPIEGEL and ZEIT for almost five decades, tells of unusual encounters and controversial conversations with some of the worst politicians of our time. And also about the consequences he was personally confronted with during his research. As the foreword says: „How I was once sentenced to death - and thirteen years later was able to conduct an interview with the tyrant responsible.“ The perpetrator was Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of the Congo.

Follath visited Muammar al-Gaddafi in his desert tent, listened to a private singing performance by Imelda Marcos, played chess with Menachem Begin and experienced a blackout with Yasser Arafat. Pol Pot's private secretary told him over tea why he married the widow of the mass murderer and raised his daughter. But „All My Murderers“ is far more than a series of astonishing meetings. The author has also intensively investigated the effects of the tyrants and has followed in the footsteps of the perpetrators' relatives, companions and victims.

Erich Follath was a journalist at the Star, experienced the revolution in Iran as a reporter in 1979. In 1994 he switched to the Mirror, worked at STERN for 20 years and for SPIEGEL for 22 years, and has been writing for DIE ZEIT since 2017. With a doctorate in political science, he is the author of numerous non-fiction books that have become bestsellers, including „The Legacy of the Dalai Lama“, „The New Great Powers“ and „Beyond All Borders“. His book „All My Murderers“ has just been published by Picus Verlag.

Tessa Szyszkowitz is a journalist and author, she writes from London for the Falter, Tagesspiegel and NZZ on Sunday. Her most recent book: “Echte Engländer - Britannien und der Brexit” (Picus Verlag, 2018). She is a Distinguished Fellow of Rusi, the Royal United Services Institute. She was honoured with the FPA Media Award for Best Story of the Year 2025.