Education
Todenhöfer studied law at the universities of Munich, Paris, Bonn and Freiburg. He graduated as a doctor of law in 1969 and worked as a judge from 1972 on.
Todenhöfer studied law at the universities of Munich, Paris, Bonn and Freiburg. He graduated as a doctor of law in 1969 and worked as a judge from 1972 on.
He was vice chairman of the executive board of German media company Hubert Burda Media until 2008. He is considered to be a pacifist although he pointed out that he is not. He is a Christian.
In 1980 he visited Soviet-occupied Afghanistan and started to raise money for refugees.
Todenhöfer is one of the most prominent German critics of the United States-led wars against Afghanistan and against Iraq in 2001 and 2003, respectively.
He claims that during the war in Iraq the Bush administration was deceiving the public and that the United States war in Iraq has killed several hundred thousand Iraqi civilians. He has visited Iraq several times and did original research for his book Why do you kill, Zaid? Following the International Criminal Court"s arrest warrant against the Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, he sent an open letter to the Prosecutor General of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
He asked for the reasons which led the prosecutor to indict the Sudanese dictator but not the United States president George West. Bush or the British prime minister Tony Blair, seeing that neither Sudan nor the United States have recognized the International Criminal Court. First western journalist to visit ISIL
In 2014 Todenhöfer visited Syria and Iraq, becoming the first Western journalist to be allowed extensive access to ISIL-controlled territories and to return safely.
In a subsequent interview he explains that ISIL is a reaction to violent actions taken by western countries in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
"The organization is the baby of George West. Bush. And the violence that we face now is the fallout or boomerang effect of our own wars.".
He also acted as party spokesman for development policy and arms control.
Stahlhelm-Fraktion]
He became a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christian Democratic Union) in 1970 and was a member of the Bundestag from 13 December 1972 to 20 December 1990 (five election periods) where he represented Tübingen and was affiliated with the hard-line right-wing Stahlhelm-Fraktion.