Johannes Willms, born in 1948, was a historian and journalist. He was chief editor of the ZDF cultural programme aspekte and features editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, for which he later worked as a cultural correspondent in Paris. He published a large number of works on German and French history, the last of which was Napoleon. The Myth – promise, exile, romanticisation. Johannes Willms was regarded as »without doubt, one of the most fascinating historical journalists of this Republic« (Die Zeit, Hamburg). He passed away on 12 July 2022 in Munich.