About

I am a German-Canadian Berlin-based journalist and frequent contributor to the New York Times. I have written for the New York Review of Books, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, New York Magazine, Slate, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Awl, Monocle and Salon (where I was an editor), among others. I speak English, German and French, and can order a sandwich in Norwegian. I also work as an editor, translator and documentary producer. I am (sort of) on Twitter. My email is trogers145 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Select articles:

“Welcome to Germany” (New York Review of Books): On Germany’s efforts to integrate 1.2 million migrants

“The Get-Rich-Quick Scheme That Nearly Killed a German Soccer Team” (Bloomberg Businessweek): The story of the terror attack on Borussia Dortmund

“Heil Hipster” (Rolling Stone) : An investigation of German far-right youth culture

“The Long Shadow of German Colonialism” (New York Review of Books) On the debate about comparisons between colonialism and the Holocaust

“He Knows the Stars’ Dirty Laundry, Because He Washes It” (NY Times): A profile of Hans-Jürgen Topf, the world’s top tour-laundry specialist

“Rise of the Nazi-Grave Robbers” (Bloomberg Businessweek) : On the conflict between preservationists and the WWII relic market

“Berghain: The Secretive, Sex-Fueled World of Techno’s Coolest Club” (Rolling Stone): How tourism and the internet are changing Berlin’s party scene.

“Torbjorn Rodland’s Photos Are Unsettling and Arousing” (NY Times): A profile of the prescient Norwegian photographer

“Pump Up the Geopolitical Volume” (Bloomberg Businessweek): On the post-Brexit, post-Crimea geopolitics of the Eurovision Song Contest

“Welcome to Berlin, Now Go Home” (The Awl): On gentrification, generational angst and moving to Berlin

Most recent pieces:

• “Sandra Hüller, Uneasy in the Spotlight” (NY Times)
• “At the Berlin Film Festival, Tension Onscreen and Behind the Scenes” (NY Times)
• “Restitution Is Moving Quickly. The Pergamon Museum is Taking It Slow.” (NY Times)
• “Music Too Fast For Feet” (NY Times)
• “‘Sex Is a Huge Part of a Character’s Life’ Especially in ‘Passages.'” (NY Times)
• “At Wagner’s Festival, New Technology Reveals a Leadership Rift” (NY Times)
• “This Bulgarian Writer’s Books Bend Time” (NY Times)
• “A Movie Confronts Germany’s Other Genocide” (NY Times)
• “The Long Shadow of German Colonialism” (New York Review of Books)
• “An Artist’s Queer Take on Moby Dick” (NY Times)
• “Once a Bullied Teen, Now Movies’ Master Storyteller of Youth” (NY Times)
• “How Germany Changed Its Mind, and Gave the Benin Bronzes Back” (NY Times)
• “Bending Gender’s Rules, in Life and in German Grammar” (NY Times)
• “Florentina Holzinger Makes Everyone Uncomfortable” (NY Times)
• “Artists Scrutinize a Collector’s Nazi Family Past” (NY Times)

Older Work

• “More Than Fjords: A New Museum to Put Oslo on the Map” (NY Times)
• “Making Up for Lost Time as Ibiza’s Clubs Reopen” (NY Times)
• “Parisian Love Stories for the Age of Talk Less, Message More” (NY Times)
• “With New Museum, Officials Give Techno the Stamp of Approval” (NY Times)
• “Isabelle Huppert Doesn’t Watch Her Past Films, But She Will Discuss Them” (NY Times)
• “Why Shouldn’t Housing for the Homeless be Beautiful?” (NY Times)
• “Welcome to Germany” (New York Review of Books)
• “Anne Imhof’s Stylish (and Shareable) Provocations” (NY Times)
• “Vicky Krieps Gave Hollywood One More Try. It Wasn’t So Bad” (NY Times)
• “A Long-Awaited Museum Opens, With Agony and Ivory” (NY Times)
• “Hearing the City, Too, at an Outdoor Berlin Film Festival” (NY Times)
• “When Europe’s Theaters Reopen, Will Fans Return?” (NY Times)
• “She’s Starring Opposite Tom Hanks. She’d Never Heard of Him” (NY Times)
• “Humboldt Forum in Berlin Finally Opens (Kind of)” (NY Times)
• “Reclaiming, on Netflix, an Ancient Battle Beloved of Germany’s Far Right” (NY Times)
• “A German Painter’s New Rule: ‘Never Answer a Critic’” (NY Times)
• “To Test Spread of Coronavirus, These Scientists Put on a Concert” (NY Times)
• “Museum’s Future Clouded by Chance Discovery: Swastika Hiding in Plain Sight” (NY Times)
• “At Europe’s Illegal Parties, the Virus Is the Last Thing on Anyone’s Mind” (NY Times)
• “Missing the Acts You Love? Spare a Thought for These Superfans” (NY Times)
• “Europe’s Museums Begin Reopening, Cautiously, With New Rules” (NY Times)
• “Heard About the Pandemic? On ‘Big Brother,’ They Hadn’t” (NY Times)
• “Berlin Parties On, Despite the Coronavirus” (NY Times)
• “A D.J. Shows How to Let Go in Authoritarian Kazakhstan” (NY Times)
• “A New Era for the Berlin Film Festival, With Two at the Top” (NY Times)
• “Protesters and Politicians Rally to Protect Berlin’s Clubs” (NY Times)
• “Writing From Real Life, in All Its Excruciating Detail” (NY Times)
• “Rocking Out in Lederhosen, With a Hint of Populism” (NY Times)
• “Demands of Far-Right Party Unsettle Artists in Germany” (NY Times)
• “Is This Ring an Honor, or a Curse?” (NY Times)
• “Symbol of a Brutal Regime? Or a Fun Place to Party?” (NY Times)
• “On the Met Roof, Alicja Kwade’s Test of Faith” (NY Times)
• “She Raps and Sweden Listens” (NY Times)
• “He Knows the Stars’ Dirty Laundry. Because He Washes It.” (NY Times)
• “Helsinki’s New Library Has 3-D Printers and Power Tools. (And Some Books, Too.)” (NY Times)
• “‘Deutschland 83’ Was a Hit Abroad but a Flop at Home. What About ‘Deutschland 86’?” (NY Times)
• “The Get-Rich-Quick Scheme That Almost Killed a German Soccer Team” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• “A Rock Band Flirts With German Taboos, and Finds a Huge Following” (NY Times)
• “I Went Naked to a Museum, and It Was … Revealing” (NY Times)
• “An Unlikely Sex Symbol, Poised for a Breakthrough” (NY Times)
• “How Soon Is Too Soon for a Movie of Real-Life Trauma?” (NY Times)
• “An Artist Wants to Build a U.F.O. Next to Edvard Munch’s Studio” (NY Times)
• “Torbjorn Rodland’s Puzzling Photos Are Unsettling and Arousing” (NY Times)
• “India Is Getting Fat. This Gym Chain Wants to Get Huge” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• “With ‘Dark,’ a German Netflix Series, Streaming Crosses a New Border” (NY Times)
• “Picasso Murals Caught Up in Terrorist Attack’s Bitter Legacy” (NY Times)
• “In Berlin, an Iconic Theater Gets a New Leader. Cue the Protests.” (NY Times)
• “Eurovision Serenades a Continent in Crisis” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• “The Complicated Architecture of Albert Speer Jr.” (The New Yorker)
• “Where Does Canada’s Accent Come From?” (BBC Culture)
• “Rise of the Nazi-Grave Robbers” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• “How Many Angela Merkels Does It Take to Screw German Comedy” (Foreign Policy)
• “Art from the Holocaust: The Story Behind the Images” (BBC Culture)
• Interview with Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (Monocle)
• “Distinctively Average” (Monocle)
• “Brace Yourself” (Monocle)
• “The James Bond of East Germany” (BBC Culture)
• “The Nazi Ghosthunters” (Pacific Standard)
• “Berlin is the Best Place to Party (in a Wheelchair)” (The Fader)
• “Berlin is the ‘Post-Tourist’ Capital of Europe” (New York Magazine)
• “Authoritarian Outfitters” (The New Republic)
• “A Major German Political Party Used to Support Pedophilia—And It’s Coming Back to Haunt Them” (The New Republic)
• “This German Talk Show Is American Celebrities’ Worst Nightmare” (The New Republic)
• “The Life and Death of a ‘Cool’ City” (The New Republic)
• “Berliners open their doors for ultra-intimate concerts” (BBC Culture)
• “Heil Hipster” (Rolling Stone)
• “Berghain: The Secretive, Sex-Fueled World of Techno’s Coolest Club” (Rolling Stone)
• “Welcome to Berlin, Now Go Home” (The Awl)
• “The Pines’ Summer of Discontent” (New York Magazine)
• “For Canada to Arrive, It Needs to be Obliterated on Film” (The Globe and Mail)
• Full archive of articles for Salon.
• Segment: “The Origins of Male Gay Voice” on “The Organist,” a Believer podcast
• Author of the Germany entry in to “How to Make a Nation: A Monocle Guide”