On Friday evening, WELT reporter Christine Kensche, who died in January, was awarded the renowned Werner Holzer Prize for foreign journalism at a celebration at the Römer in Frankfurt am Main. Read former WELT editor-in-chief Jennifer Wilton’s eulogy here:
I don’t have to close my eyes to hear your voice.
You don’t need to close your eyes to hear Christine Kensche’s voice, because anyone who has ever met her will never forget that voice. Also because he is a little special.
But mostly because he was always filled with something: moved, committed, annoyed, urgent. Urge.
Christine Kensche has concerns, literally. Especially as a journalist. There is an extraordinary tenacity in this research, in the desire to go deeper. That’s why he was the one who exclusively revealed how the financial flows of the terrorist organization Hamas work, one of his last sensational investigations.
That’s why he was often the first to come somewhere and report, like after October 7, at the kibbutz. Was he the one a year earlier with one of the most famous clan bosses sitting in a park in Berlin and not letting himself be intimidated in the slightest. People who then accompany dropouts for a long time – for reportswhich later became a book.
There is always empathy that guides Christine Kensche, but does not hinder her, in analyzing what she sees and experiences, in her ability to see and represent all sides.
This makes him a great journalist. And this makes him exceptional as a reporter on the Middle East conflict, a conflict whose bias against blacks and whites has reached frightening proportions, especially in recent months.
He already has an unconditional attitude and enthusiasm, thoroughness and tenacity as a trainee; even then he went everywhere and everywhere. In 2020 he became WELT’s correspondent in Israel. And he is a 24-hour correspondent.
There are days when more than just texts come from him. And while we were still adjusting to the mask and layout, we looked up and saw on the newsroom screen how he had just picked up the microphone again on his balcony in Tel Aviv, in Jaffa, and spoke directly to the camera for the third time that day.
I remember a legendary newspaper production where he almost drove the editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief crazy minutes before the editorial deadline because a small detail in four pages might not have been quite right. It wouldn’t be a small detail if it wasn’t precise. That’s their argument. And he’s right. And he doesn’t give up when he’s right. The printing press had to wait.
That’s what Christine is like.
Your voice will always be missed.
The Werner Holzer Prize, named after the editor-in-chief of the “Frankfurter Rundschau”, honors outstanding foreign journalism. This year, Juliane Schäuble (“Die Zeit”) received first prize, Susanne Koelbl (“Spiegel”) and Katharina Willinger (ARD) jointly received second prize. The main speaker was Federal Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius. The prize was donated by the Holzer family and the Werner Holzer Institute.
