Julia Gerlach

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Julia Gerlach is a journalist and author. She runs the news platform Amal News, which provides local news from Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt in Arabic, Persian and Ukrainian.

She studied political science and Islamic studies and completed a training programme at the Berlin School of Journalism. Her first job was at the ZDF studio in Cairo. From 1997 to 2008, she worked at ZDF in Mainz. From 2008 to 2015, she reported from Cairo as a correspondent for various media outlets. She is the author of several books on young Muslims in Germany and the Arab Spring.

Most recent articles by Julia Gerlach

- Interview
Iranian-American curator Negah Angha
"Religious practice can take place anywhere"

Negah Angha's upcoming exhibition "Seen and Unseen – Sufi Life in Frankfurt" is an intimate peek into Sufi practice in Germany. Guided by her interest in encounters across cultural and religious boundaries, Angha brings together experience in art, research and policy.

By Julia Gerlach 13.10.2026
- Interview
Interview Nouri Al Jarrah
What Distinguishes the West from the Arab World?

Nouri Al Jarrah heads a research centre in Abu Dhabi whose employees browse through libraries worldwide in search of old Arabic travellers' tales that the institute then publishes in new editions. Julia Gerlach spoke to Al Jarrah

By Julia Gerlach 15.09.2009
Murat Kurnaz, the "Bremen Taliban"

Inside Guantánamo

Murat Kurnaz, a Bremen-born Muslim living in Germany with a Turkish passport, spent five years in Guantánamo. After reading his recently published book, Julia Gerlach sums up that it is not Kurnaz that is a security risk – but the story he has chronicled

By Julia Gerlach 18.05.2007

"Religious practice can take place anywhere"

What Distinguishes the West from the Arab World?

Inside Guantánamo