Michael Sauga

Michael Sauga was born on 25 July 1959 in Goslar in the Harz region. After studying economics in Cologne, he worked as an editor at Wirtschaftswoche and Focus. In 1999 he joined DER SPIEGEL’s Berlin bureau, where he held various leadership positions in the business and politics desks. Until October 2025 he reported for the magazine from Brussels; since then he has been working as a free author and columnist in Berlin. Sauga has written books on the German social welfare system (Wer arbeitet, ist der Dumme – “Whoever Works Is the Fool”) and, together with Berlin journalist Ursula Weidenfeld, on the financial crisis (Gelduntergang – “The Demise of Money”). Last year saw the publication of his book Frühling der Autokraten – wie sie an die Macht kommen, wie sie herrschen und was ihr Aufstieg für die Demokratie bedeutet (“Spring of the Autocrats – How They Come to Power, How They Rule, and What Their Rise Means for Democracy”).