A former spokeswoman at the BBC’s German service has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her “achievement as a human being, as much as for [her] lifelong dedication and work as a journalist”.
From an early age, Renate LaskerHarpprecht was exposed to Nazi terror.
After her parents were murdered she and her sister were transported to Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen.
The day of her liberation, she said, was when her life really began and she moved to Britain to work for the BBC.
Her long suffering eventually gave her the impetus to commence her lifelong dedication to building the links between Germany and the Jewish community.
At the recent ceremony, Ambassador Thomas Matussek reflected Lasker-Harpprecht’s message: “Your life is a calling to a love of life and against hate. As you yourself once said: ‘Those who hate foreigners or Jews are in truth haters of all mankind, and of life itself.'”
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