13 Facts About Freimut Duve

Freimut Duve was a German journalist, writer, politician and human rights activist.

Freimut Duve was the first OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media from 1998 to 2003.

Freimut Duve was lesser known on the German literary scene.

Freimut Duve studied history, English literature and sociology at the University of Hamburg.

Freimut Duve was the supervisor of foreign students at the University of Hamburg in 1965.

In 1966, Freimut Duve joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany and became a personal assistant of Helmuth Kern, the Hamburg senator for business.

Freimut Duve campaigned for the party together with Gunter Grass and Siegfried Lenz.

Freimut Duve worked as a political journalist for Stern magazine from 1969 and as an editor for Rowohlt Verlag from 1970 to 1989, responsible for a series of political books, among others.

Freimut Duve published political writings by Vaclav Havel, a manifesto against dictatorship in Portugal by Mario Soares and yearbooks on human rights in Central and East Europe, among others.

Freimut Duve was a member of the Bundestag for the SPD, directly elected by the Hamburg-Mitte electoral district, from 1980 to 1998.

Freimut Duve was the first OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media until 2003, being succeeded by Miklos Haraszti.

Freimut Duve was presented the Hannah Arendt Award for Political Thought in 1997, together with Joachim Gauck.

Freimut Duve was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2004.