Holocaust survivor from Hungary: writer György Konrád is dead

György Konrád is dead. The writer and former president of the Berlin Academy of Arts died at the age of 86 years in Budapest, said a spokeswoman for the Academy on Friday evening, citing his family. Also the Hungarian news agency MTI reported about it.

The Hungarian author had directed the artists' association from 1997 to 2003. During his tenure, the Academy has opened to Eastern Europe, said the spokeswoman for the news agency dpa. She praised his work as a great merit.

As a child, Konrád, born in 1933, survived the Holocaust and lost much of his Jewish family. In Budapest he studied literature, sociology and psychology. He worked as a youth welfare and urban sociologist.

With his literary work he came in opposition to the communist regime and acted thus a travel and publication ban. Scholarships led Konrád 1976 but to West Berlin and the United States. In 2001 he received the Aachen Charlemagne Prize for his achievements in the European unification process.

His works include the debut novel "The Visitor" (1969), "Ghost Festival" (1986) and "Guestbook - Contemplating Freedom" (2016). In the early 1990s Konrád was president of the international PEN club. He died on Friday after a long, serious illness, said the academy spokeswoman in Berlin.