English — Carl von Siemens

Carl von Siemens was born on 26 May 1967 to industrialist executive Peter C. von Siemens and Bettina Schicht. His father devoted his career to Siemens AG, the company co-founded by Carl’s great-great-great grandfather, Werner von Siemens. Carl grew up in Erlangen, Mexico City, Istanbul, and Munich, where he attended the classical Wilhelmsgymnasium. In 1986, he earned both the German Abitur and the Swiss Matura at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz. He went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Trinity College, University of Oxford, as well at the London School of Economics. In 1996, he completed a doctorate in Public Economics (Dr. oec. publ.) from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He served his time as a management consultant, worked as a corporate strategist for two firms, and co-founded an internet agency in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district.

Since 1995, Carl has published widely in the German-language press. His essays and reportage have appeared in DER FREUND, Lettre International, Das Magazin (Switzerland), Rolling Stone, Süddeutsche Zeitung, DIE WELT, and DIE ZEIT. His work moves between autofiction, narrative journalism, and the personal essay.

Carl’s debut novel „Kleine Herren“, published in 2010, draws on his own experiences as an Anglophile alien at the University of Oxford. Christian Kracht wrote of the book: „Can the ghosts of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis be summoned in German? Carl von Siemens has done so - with aplomb, wit, dazzling humour, and an exquisite ear for dialogue.”

Carl came to wider attention through his public criticism of the Belo Monte dam project in the Brazilian Amazon, in which Siemens AG had a stake. His second book, „Der Tempel der magischen Tiere“ (2018) recounts three journeys - to the Indigenous peoples of Australia, the haunted world of the South Pacific, and the Ayahuasca shamans of Peru - undertaken between 2010 and 2014. These encounters marked the beginning of a personal transformation, laying the groundwork for his ecological stance, which calls for a departure from anthropocentric thinking.