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Cologne, Germany – Carl Bergengruen, currently head of the TV movie division at regional public broadcaster Swr, has been named the new head of production giant Studio Hamburg.

Bergengruen will take over from Martin Willich, who will retire in February after more than 30 years at the company.

In his time at Swr, Bergengruen has overseen some of the most prestigious German TV movies of the past few years, including period biopics "Stauffenberg" and "Romy" and real-life terrorist drama "Mogadischu."

While Willich will be leaving Studio Hamburg, the company's two managing directors, Robin Houcken and Hans-Peter Urban, will stay on under the new boss.

Cologne, Germany -- History repeated itself in several ways at this year's German TV Awards, held Saturday night in Cologne. Public broadcasters ZDF and ARD once again swept the honors, taking 16 of 21 trophies, and all the main winners were historic dramas looking at Germany's recent past.

ZDF's "Die Wolfe" (The Wolves), a docu-drama set in the 1940s, won three TV awards, helping the channel to a final tally of 10, far ahead of all competitors.

But it was ARD's "Mogadischu," a "Flight 93"-style drama tracking the infamous 1977 terrorist hijacking of a Lufthansa flight, that scooped the evening's top prize as best TV movie. Produced by Berlin-based teamWorx, the movie stars Thomas Kretschmann, Nadja Uhl and Said Taghmaoui.

For a change, the top winner was also a ratings hit. Roland Suso Richter's drama scored a 21% share in its first airing last November, with 7.3 million Germans tuning in.

Along with ARD and ZDF,...

Cologne, Germany -- It's been 30 years since Germany was gripped by the exploits of homegrown terrorists the Baader Meinhof gang, but Germans still can't tear themselves away.

This year has seen an onslaught of dramas and documentaries on the exploits of the gang, who called themselves the Red Army Faction or Raf.

The latest volley was "Mogadischu," a two-hour telefilm that aired Sunday on public channel Ard that follows the 1977 hijacking of a planeload of German tourists by Palestinians sympathetic to the Raf.

Some 7.3 million Germans tuned in, a 21% market share, and 5.8 million stayed on for interviews with the survivors on Ard's top-rated talk show "Anne Will."

Then there's Uli Edel's "The Baader Meinhof Complex." With ticket receipts at $22 million and counting, Germany's official entry for the foreign-language Oscar is a local boxoffice hit as well.

Add to that the countless number of news reports, television documentaries and magazine...