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Journalist Gerd Ruge: Reporter "out of passion and conviction"
Photo: Jens Kalaene / picture alliance / dpa
The long-time ARD correspondent Gerd Ruge is dead. The well-known journalist died on Friday at the age of 93 in Munich, as Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR) announced on Saturday.
Ruge reported for many years as a correspondent from countries such as Russia and the USA.
He was considered a reporter legend.
The ARD chairman and WDR director Tom Buhrow said: »Gerd Ruge is one of the great reporter personalities of the first hour. Profound analyzes, precise interviews and the ability to explain complex relationships in an easily understandable way - that's what made him stand out. «Ruge was a valuable witness to important political events at home and abroad, and his numerous reports abroad and travelogues have remained unforgettable. For many subsequent generations of journalists, he was a role model and orientation.
Gerd Ruge was born in Hamburg on August 9, 1928, and came to radio in 1949. His professional career has been shaped primarily by his work for ARD.
Ruge worked in various positions for public broadcasting.
In the 1950s he went to Moscow as an ARD correspondent and in the 1960s to the USA.
In the early 1970s, the ARD chief correspondent took over the management of the WDR studio in Bonn.
In the 1970s he also worked for the daily newspaper "Die Welt" in China for several years, after which he worked again for ARD.
A reporter "out of passion and conviction"
When he retired in 1993 - which did not mean the end of his journalistic work - SPIEGEL once wrote about Ruge that "with his mumbling voice and his calm explanatory style" he is one of "the few unmistakable reporters on German television."
Ruge is a reporter "out of passion and conviction."
On Saturday, Tina Hassel, the head of the ARD capital studio, commented on Gerd Ruge's death on Saturday.
"What a loss!" She wrote.
“I learned a lot from him and later I was allowed to oversee some of his international documentaries.
There's a really big one! "Hassel described Ruge as" urbane, courageous, incorruptible and always full of humor and warmth towards the people around him. "
The WDR announced to change the program for Saturday evening and Saturday night on the occasion of Ruge's death: From 9.45 p.m., the station will now devote itself to the reporter.
Among other things, »Gerd Ruge on the Road - Summer on the Colorado«, one of Ruge's last reports, will be broadcast.
mbö / dpa