Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna
Part of UK in Austria
15th June 2018 Vienna, Austria
Meeting Hugo Portisch – again
The guest of honour takes up his place at the podium. The room is hushed. He begins to speak.
I was recently invited to attend the award of the honorary citizenship of the city of Vienna to Dr Hugo Portisch, at the splendid Vienna town hall. I had met Dr Portisch briefly when I was posted to Vienna as a second secretary from 1984-87 (I still have his card) and was delighted to meet him again. He seemed unchanged.
Hugo Portisch is one of the towering figures of Austrian journalism in the 20th Century. Born in what is now Bratislava in 1927 at a time when people in the city spoke Slovak, German and Hungarian, he left the city with the arrival of Soviet forces in April 1945. He had a glittering career, including as the editor of the Kurier newspaper, a foreign correspondent in London, and a TV journalist.
As his Wikipedia entry says, Hugh Portisch had a particular knack of explaining complex issues in a comprehensible way. I remember his TV series “Österreich II”, about the history of Austria’s Second Republic after World War II, which I devoured eagerly during my previous posting.
When Mr Portisch spoke at the award ceremony, characteristically without notes, the audience hung on his every word. It was a masterpiece of communication: clear, good-humoured and insightful. He described how he had taken up his studies at the newly-reopened University of Vienna in 1945; and his work as a student clearing rubble in the city, including in some iconic buildings. He also reflected on highlights of his life since then with wisdom and wit, including his time as correspondent for ORF in London; and the famous story of how he helped break the momentous news of the signing of the Austrian State Treaty with a special edition of the Kurier in 1955 headlined “Austria becomes free!”.
It was a privilege to meet Dr Portisch again. I wish him all the best in enjoying his honorary citizenship – what we would perhaps call in English the “freedom” – of one of the greatest cities in the world. And I look forward to watching “Österreich II” again.