Vienna (OTS) – Today, Friday, Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig presented the Golden Town Hall Man to the journalist, author and Eastern Europe expert Paul Lendvai at the ORF center in Hietzing. The honor took place as part of a farewell reception on the occasion of the last edition of the “Europastudio” with Lendvai.
Ludwig called the journalist a “passionate European, democrat and sharp critic of autocratic and right-wing populist tendencies.” “With his ingenuity and his outstanding knowledge of Europe,” Lendvai was able to analyze complex political issues like no other and explain them in a generally understandable way. After 44 years as presenter of the ORF European studio and at the age of 94, it is more than understandable and deserved, says Ludwig. Thanks to Lendvai’s unbroken passion for the topic of Europe, he will fortunately continue to provide the ORF with his expertise. The Golden Town Hall Man is a small recognition for an important personality “who has already been honored with all the awards from the city and state,” said Ludwig.
Zur Person Paul Lendvai
Lendvai was born on August 24, 1929 in Budapest. After the Second World War, he studied law and worked as a journalist for social democratic newspapers in what was then the People’s Republic of Hungary. In the wake of the Hungarian uprising in 1957, he fled to Vienna via Prague and Warsaw. In 1959 Lendvai received Austrian citizenship. From 1960 to 1987 he was a foreign correspondent for the London Financial Times in Vienna. He founded the magazine “Europäische Rundschau” in 1973 (discontinued in 2020) and in 1982 became head of the ORF’s Eastern Europe editorial team and later director of Radio Austria International. From March 1980 to April 2024 he served as head of the discussion program “Europastudio”. Lendvai has published numerous books and is the recipient of awards and prizes such as the Gold Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria, the Gold Medal of Honor for Services to the State of Vienna, the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and many others. (End) red
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