Asfa-Wossen was born in 1948 in Addis Ababa, where he attended the German school and received his "Abitur". He went on to study law, economics and history at the University of Tübingen and at Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1978, he was awarded a Ph.D. with honours in Ethiopian history at the University of Frankfurt am Main. In 1974 the Derg takeover in Ethiopia made it impossible for him to return to the land of his ancestors: His father and 60 other dignitaries of the Imperial Government were executed without a trial and all the members of the Imperial Family were held in kith and kin detention for more than a decade by the Derg. While in West Germany Asfa-Wossen Asserate founded the human rights group for Ethiopia called the Council for Civil Liberties in Ethiopia and campaigned for the release of all political prisoners and his detained family until the demise of the Mengistu dictatorship. After leaving university Asserate worked as the Press Officer for the Frankfurter Messegesellschaft, and as the Director of the Press and Information Department of the Düsseldorf Trade Fair and as a freelance journalist. In 1981 he became a German citizen. Since 1983 he has been working as a Consultant for African and Middle Eastern Affairs, advising middle-sized German companies in respect to their export promotion to these countries. As a political analyst he has written a considerable number of articles and essays in German daily newspapers and learned publications. In 1994 he founded Orbis Aethiopicus, the Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Ethiopian Culture, which holds scientific congresses with a focus on Ethiopian culture, history and archeology and places great endeavour to pass on Ethiopia's ancient cultural heritage to the new generation. His published books include the etiquette bestseller Manieren, a 2015 biography entitled King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, and most recently African Exodus: Migration and the Future of Europe.
Literary work
Die Deutsche Schule in Addis Abeba – aus äthiopischer Sicht. In: Zeitschrift für Kulturaustausch, Ethiopia special edition 1973 release, E 7225 F.S., pp. 162–175.
Manieren. Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 2003, 388 pages,
as editor, with Aram Mattioli: Der erste faschistische Vernichtungskrieg. Die italienische Aggression gegen Äthiopien 1935–1941. Köln: SH-Verlag, 2006;
as editor: Adolph Freiherr Knigge: Benjamin Noldmanns Geschichte der Aufklärung in Abessynien. Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 2006;.
Ein Prinz aus dem Hause David und warum er in Deutschland blieb. Frankfurt am Main: Scherz, 2007;
Draußen nur Kännchen. Meine deutschen Fundstücke. Frankfurt am Main: Scherz, 2010;
Afrika. Die 101 wichtigsten Fragen und Antworten. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2010;
Integration oder die Kunst, mit der Gabel zu essen. Munich: Utz, 2011;
Contributions to the English Encyclopaedia Aethiopica;
Der letzte Kaiser von Afrika – Triumph und Tragödie des Haile Selassie. Berlin: Propyläen, 2014;
