Amounting to around 1300 episodes, between January 2000 and March 2006, 4 times a week, journalist Sandra Maischberger conducted in-depth interviews in Germany's smallest television studio. German chancellors such as Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl, Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel were guests there - as well as numerous public and cultural personalities such as Bud Spencer, Sir Peter Ustinov, Roger Willemsen, Henning Mankell, Roger Moore, Giorgio Armani, Roland Emmerich, Harry Belafonte and Die Ärzte.

Shortly after its launch, the highly concentrated format was awarded the German Television Prize (2000), followed by the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Prize (2000), the Bavarian Television Prize (2001), the Ernst Schneider Prize for Business Journalism (2002), the Golden Camera (2002) and many more. Maischberger's mastery in cleverly prepared questions was only surpassed by her art of listening. She succeeded in portraying the personality of the interviewees without indiscretion or breaking taboos. The chamber play atmosphere located within a few square metres made even experienced celebrities forget the cameras. Set pieces, like a minister of labour who did not recognise his own pension formula, were lined up against touching or harrowing life stories from Leni Riefenstahl to Günther Netzer, Udo Jürgens or Hildegard Hamm-Brücher. Maischberger's approach followed a chronological path through each interviewee's life and career, providing a rounded portrait of each protagonist. Today, as some of the guests have passed away and others are celebrating major birthdays, the 40-minute productions still look fresh and provide a valuable resource.

In addition to those already listed, the collection is a who's who of the noughties in Germany, together with international personalities such as Shimon Peres, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Henry Kissinger, Aktham Suliman, Rudolph Giuliani, Jean Ziegler and the Dalai Lama. The interviews document events such as the implosion of the CDU of Helmut Kohl, the flowering and failure of the first red-green government, but also reaction following 9/11 - 11th September 2001, with Helmut Schmidt, Richard von Weizsäcker and Hans-Dietrich Genscher. Many editions feature debates with more than one guest, for example on the "Agenda-Politik" between political opponents Norbert Blüm and Hans-Jochen Vogel. The editorial team's intention was always to speak directly to the decision-makers, not just listen to their assessors or critics. Some editions, however, offer both perspectives.

Sandra Maischberger was and is still revered as an incisive and attentive interviewer. For many "Maischberger" has thus become a synonym for high-quality conversational journalism, quoted in speeches in the German Bundestag and used as teaching material at journalism schools.

In recognition of Sandra Maischberger's outstanding achievement, the "Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" added a complete set of "Maischberger" copies to its collection. PROGRESS is making the complete production available to the public for the first time in digital form and with keywords.