Achim Roder

Achim Roder was born in 1945 in Oberstdorf and now lives in Lower Bavaria, where he runs two pharmacies. After completing his studies in pharmacy, he initially worked as a hospital pharmacist in Straubing. From 1975 to 1979, he was a member of the “Standards and Packaging” committee of the German Association of Hospital Pharmacists. During this period, he began to engage intensively with the effects of emerging cost-containment policies in the healthcare system – a subject that has remained with him to this day.

A defining moment came at the German Pharmacists’ Congress in Munich in the mid-1970s. There, he spoke out with a critical statement addressed to the then Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Walter Arendt (SPD). He accused health policy of placing economic principles above patient welfare and predicted the relocation of the pharmaceutical industry away from Germany. At the time, this stance was considered provocative, yet it met with broad approval among professional colleagues.

In 1979, he was elected to the board of the Bavarian State Chamber of Pharmacists and, in the same year, founded his first pharmacy. In 2008, a second pharmacy was added, which he continues to operate to this day. In addition, he was at times active in the health policy committee of the CSU. As a licensed pharmacist, he published the specialist reference work “Manufacturing and Shelf-Life Data of German Medicinal Products” with Deutscher Apothekerverlag, which has since established itself as a reliable source of reference.

Kingdom of Europe is his first work of fiction – a literary-political project born of the conviction that language does not merely describe, but also shapes reality. The novel interweaves personal life experience with societal reflection and articulates a bold vision for a new Europe – grounded in responsibility, a critical spirit, and a belief in the power of the written word.