The FragDenStaat Team

That's us - currently 18 lawyers, journalists, developers and activists! We enjoy great support by many dedicated volunteers and an active community.

Portrait Stefan Wehrmeyer
Stefan Wehrmeyer

Tech

Stefan founded FragDenStaat in 2011 and works as a software developer.

Arne Semsrott

Director

Arne is director and has been part of the FragDenStaat team since 2014. He is a political scientist and journalist, co-founded the Freedom Fund and is an honorary board member of LobbyControl.

Portrait Judith Doleschal
Judith Doleschal

Fundraising and Community development

Judith joined the FragDenStaat team in 2019. Next to focusing on fundraising and grant management she is also responsible for community development.

Portrait Max Kronmüller
Max Kronmüller

Tech

Having completed his federal voluntary service at FragDenStaat in 2020, Max is currently busy with the code & design of the website and other projects next to his computer science studies.

Portrait Hannah Vos
Hannah Vos

Legal

Hannah is a lawyer and part of our legal team. She takes care of all matters concerning the legal field. 

Portrait Vera Deleja-Hotko
Vera Deleja-Hotko

Journalism

Vera works as an investigative journalist and is head of the investigative research unit. She mostly works in cooperation with journalists from private or public media houses.

Portrait Luisa Izuzquiza
Luisa Izuzquiza

Brussels Office

Luisa heads our Brussels office and works mainly on Frontex. She is responsible for access to information in the EU and focuses especially on migration and border control.

 

Portrait Sebastian Sudrow
Sebastian Sudrow

Legal

Sebastian is an external lawyer and part of the legal team.

Portrait Melek Bazgan
Melek Bazgan

Research

Melek supports FragDenStaat as a student assistant and does research on Frontex, among other things. She is studying Sociocultural Studies in Frankfurt (Oder).

 

Portrait Giulia Norberti
Giulia Norberti

Accounting and Ethics

Giulia is our ethics advisor and takes care of our accounting. She is also part of the management board of the non-profit association "mafianeindanke".

Portrait Leonie Gehrke
Leonie Gehrke

Communications

Leonie works at FragDenStaat since 2021 and is head of press and public relations. Previously, the political and media scientist worked for several years as a press officer and worked on brand development as well as various campaigns in the nonprofit sector.

Portrait Whizzy
Whizzy

Office dog

Whizzy is our office dog and responsible for regular breaks.

Aiko Kempen

Journalism

Aiko is an investigative journalist and has been part of the FragDenStaat journalistic team since 2022. He has worked on police and right-wing extremism for many years. In 2021, he published his book "On the Right Path? Racists and Neo-Nazis in the German Police.“

Kara Engelhardt

Tech Lead

Karl studies is a software developer and the Tech Lead at FragDenStaat.

Monica Phương Thúy Nguyễn

Communications

Monica has studied information and social sciences and joined FragDenStaat in October 2022. She is a founding member of the Autonomous BIPoC Department at the University of Cologne and is interested in abolitionist ways of acting at the intersection of national borders and biometric technologies.

Dr. Vivian Kube

Legal

Vivian has been part of the Legal team since 2022 and is an expert in the area of freedom of information, freedom of the press and access claims. She also works as a lawyer.

Isa Lachmann

Communications

Isa is a trained photographer, cultural and media scientist. She has coordinated FragDenStaat's public relations since October 2022.

Tasha Akimi

Voluntary Service

Tasha is currently doing her federal voluntary service at FragDenStaat. She has a special focus on public relations.

 

Philipp Schönberger

Legal

Philipp is a fully qualified lawyer and supports the legal team of FragDenStaat. He also works at Green Legal Impact.

Lara Grünberg

Legal

Lara Grünberg is a legal trainee at FragDenStaat from June to August as part of her elective station. She supports the legal team.

 

Gaby Jeliazkov

Brussels Office

Gaby is our Climate Justice Campaigner, working from the Brussels Office.

Volunteers & Community

Since FragDenStaat was created, the project heavily relies on our volunteers and the community. Thus, our greatest appreciation, applause and endless thanks goes to the people who support us and fight for more freedom of information in Germany!

Are you thinking of joining us? Learn how you can support us.

Legal Volunteers

Legal volunteers support our full-time lawyers in their legal research. Our thanks goes to:

  • Yolanda Scheytt
  • Marco Mauer
  • Paula Oels
    Katja Grabka
  • Samuel Boltjes
  • Álvaro Zoder

Moderators

Moderators working on a voluntary basis help us to support the users in using the platform and ensure that our Netiquette is followed. Thanks a lot!

  • Paul Strobach
    Jakob Schubert
  • and 2 other moderators

...and many more!

Thanks to all the people who support us in campaigns, technical projects or in completely different ways, among others:

  • Johannes Filter
  • Christopher Bohlens