Peter von Zahn (Jan 29., 1913 Chemnitz - Juli 29., 2001 Hamburg, Germany) started his career as a journalist at Radio Hamburg on July 15, 1945. Educated, eloquent and with a distinctive style of speaking, Zahn soon became a fixture at the station of the Allied military government, which continued to exist from September 30, 1945 as NWDR (Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk) and was converted into an independent broadcaster from January 1, 1948. When the NWDR was split into NDR and WDR in 1956, from then on, Zahn stood for continuity and quality at the northern German broadcaster.
In 1951 he took the plunge across the pond and became a pioneer in foreign reporting in the United States. His 15-minute radio show "From the New World" explains the German society and politics of the occupying power. From 1955 onwards, the same format led to success on television.
Von Zahn left NDR in 1961 and founded his own production company, Windrose Film- und Fernsehproduktions-GmbH. His reports were shown in WDR, among others, which developed the "Weltspiegel" („mirror of the world“) series from the format.