Freimut Duve

Freimut Duve (26 November 1936 – 3 March 2020) was a German journalist, writer, politician and human rights activist. From 1980 to 1998 he was a member of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was the first OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media from 1998 to 2003. He was lesser known on the German literary scene.

Born in Würzburg on 26 November 1936, Duve grew up in Hamburg. He studied history, English literature and sociology at the University of Hamburg. In 1961, he studied Britain's colonial history in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He was the supervisor of foreign students at the University of Hamburg in 1965.

In 1966, Duve joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and became a personal assistant of Helmuth Kern [de], the Hamburg senator for business. He campaigned for the party together with Günter Grass and Siegfried Lenz. He 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. He published political writings by Václav Havel, a manifesto against dictatorship in Portugal by Mário Soares and yearbooks on human rights in Central and East Europe, among others. Duve was a member of the Bundestag for the SPD, directly elected by the Hamburg-Mitte electoral district, from 1980 to 1998.

He was the first OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media until 2003, being succeeded by Miklós Haraszti.

Duve died in Hamburg on 3 March 2020.

Duve's publications include:

As author

As editor