Alfred Diebold

Alfred Diebold (born 1953) is a German economist, author, photographer and filmmaker.
Diebold was born in Heidenheim an der Brenz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He studied economics in Tübingen, Germany and at the San Diego State University, USA, (Bachelor of Arts Economics 1976), University of Hohenheim, Germany, (Diplom-Ökonom equivalent to Master of Economics 1979) and received a doctoral degree in economics from University of Stuttgart in 1987. He studied film at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, USA, in 1997 and photography at the Scuola Romana di Fotografia, Rome, Italy, 2013-2014.
From 1980 to 1981 he was a scientific assistant at the Institute for Social Economics at University of Stuttgart where he received his doctorate with a dissertation on agricultural systems in developing countries. From 1982 to 1987 he held positions with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome (Italy), Bangkok (Thailand), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) as economist and deputy FAO representative for Tanzania and Seychelles. In 1987 he joined the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) for which he served as a program manager and desk officer in Rabat (Morocco) 1987-1990, Bonn (Germany) 1991-1993, Warsaw (Poland) 1993-1996, Almaty (Kazakhstan) 1997-1999, Kathmandu (Nepal) 2000-2002, Berlin (Germany) 2003-2007 and Tirana (Albania) 2007-2009.
After the fall of the Soviet Union he coordinated the realization of a three week-long journey of the former chairman of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, to all states of the FSU in February and March of 1992, documented by articles of Christian Schmidt-Häuer in the German weekly “Die Zeit” and by Herbert Riehl-Heyse of “Süddeutsche Zeitung as well as a 45-minute TV-program by writer and filmmaker Alexander Kluge based on footage by Alfred Diebold.
Posted to Kathmandu (2000-2002) he created the website: www.nepaldemocracy.org . In Berlin (2003-2007) he supported the integration process of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union.
From 2006 onwards Alfred Diebold started with expeditions to Svalbard, Greenland, North Pole, Antartica. In 2010 he published a travel book “Kreuzfahrten Nordmeer und Arktis” ("Expedition Cruising in the Arctic") which received the ITB book award in 2017 and has since gone in 3rd edition.
In 2008 Alfred Diebold was nominated as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany for the European Parliament. He was running his campaign in Südwürttemberg in May and June 2009. During this campaign he was accompanied by a professional camera team. Their footage became part of the award winning 85-minute film ”Souvenir”, which was first screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in the Forum-Section in 2014.
In 2010 Diebold became Technical Director of the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC-IFAS). He produced a 85-minute documentary with the title “From the glaciers to the Aral Sea” and several short films, which show the challenges of Central Asia´s countries regarding transboundary water management, glaciers melting and climate change. Alfred Diebold is the author of the Syr Darya chapter of the World Bank publication “Reaching Across Waters” and co-author of the book “Water Unites”. 
In 2013 he started to teach at the German-Kazakh University in Almaty Social Marketing, Environmental Economics and Water Management. Since 2014 he has been advising UNESCO in Almaty and the United Nations Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia (UNRCCA), based in Ashgabad, on climate change and transboundary water management in Central Asia.
Since 2016 Alfred Diebold has been teaching documentary filmmaking at the Marubi film school in Tirana. He produced the films “I am alive”, “Say goodbye to Tirana”, and “Toronto”. In December 2017 Diebold had a photo exhibition in Tirana titled “Choreography of Happiness” with images of North Korea. He also published books about travelling by dogsled in Eastern Greenland, the Uyghurs in Kashgar. His latest book “Remains of Paranoia” is about the remains of military installations from Albania´s communist past.
Today Alfred Diebold lives in Berlin.
* Water Unites - From the Glaciers to the Aral Sea
* Reiseführer Kreuzfahrten Nordmeer und Arktis: Norwegen, Spitzbergen, Island, Grönland, Kanada, Alaska und russische Arktis
* Remains of Paranoia
* Publication “The Impact of Glacier melting on national and transboundary water systems in Central Asia”
* Publication “Glaciers melting in Central Asia: time for Action”
* Deutschlandfunk Essay Reihe Wasserzeichen: Der Aralsee zwischen gottgegeben und preisgebunden
* Blog-Beiträge Hapag Lloyd cruises
* "India Moving", Heidenheim, Germany, 2005 
* "Albania Votes", Tirana, Albania, 2009 
* "Water unites", Berlin, Germany, 2012
* "Palio", Siena, Italy, 2017
* "Choreography of Happiness", Tirana, Albania, 2017
Film 	Year 	Length 	Language 	Notes
On the way to a market economy 	1994 	48 min. 	German, English, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Albanian and Ukrainian	
Economies in Transformation 	1995 	6 x 28 min.	English, German, Russian and Polish 	Series of 6 videos
Like in Poland 	1995 	3 x 30 min.	English, German, Russian and Polish 	Director Vladimir Rerich, producer Alfred Diebold
Albania – out of bunkers 	1995 	30 min. 	English, Ukrainian and German 	
Sentimental Journey – Transsiberian Railway 	1996 	60 min. 	Russian 	Director Vladimir Rerich, producer and camera Alfred Diebold
Sweet Surrender 	1997 	8 min. 	English 	
Aus der Vogelperspektive 	1997 	43 min. 	German and Russian 	
Human Rights and Freedom of the Press 	1997 	40 min. 	English and Russian 	
Every vote counts 	2008 	28 min. 	English 	
From the glaciers to the Aral Sea – water unites	2012 	85 min. 	English, German and Russian 	
I am alive 	2018 	57 min. 	English and German 	
Everyone goes his own way 	2018 	40 min. 	English and German 	
Say goodbye to Tirana 	2019 	37 min. 	English 	
DET Democracy and Economies in Transformation 	1995-96	19-48 min. 	English, Russian and German 	YouTube channel
* Honorary Professor of Turan University, Almaty, Kazakhstan - 1998 )
* ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin) Buch Awards - 2017
Category:1953 births
Category:German economists
Category:German writers
Category:German photographers
Category:German filmmakers
Category:San Diego State University alumni
Category:University of Stuttgart alumni