Rupert Neudeck (; 14 May 1939 – 31 May 2016) was known for his humanitarian work, especially with refugees. He started his career as a noted correspondent for
Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio.
History
Broadcasting in th ...
, a German public broadcaster.
[Christoph Koch: ]
Wie wird man eigentlich … Entwicklungshelfer, Rupert Neudeck?
' In: ''FAZ Hochschulanzeiger.'' September 2004. Later, he focused on assisting those fleeing conflict. He was noted for his role in assisting thousands of refugees from Vietnam in the late 1970s.
Neudeck was a winner of numerous awards, including the Theodor Heuss Medal, the
Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights
The Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights is a biennial award created in October 1976 on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Bruno Kreisky. The laureates are rewarded for their achievements in the field of human rights. The prize was divided in 199 ...
, the Erich Kaestner Award and the Walter Dirks Award, and was co-founder of both the
Cap Anamur and Green Helmets humanitarian organizations.
Early life and education
Neudeck was born in
Danzig, then the
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
(now
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Poland), and lived in
Danzig-Langfuhr (now
Wrzeszcz
Wrzeszcz (pronounced , german: Langfuhr; csb, Wrzészcz) is one of the boroughs of the Northern Polish city of Gdańsk. With a population of more than 65,000 in an area of (population density 6,622), Wrzeszcz is the most populous part of Gdańs ...
) until 1945. In the final months of World War II, when
large numbers of German civilians were being evacuated from eastern Germany, his family had received tickets for the passenger ship ''
MV Wilhelm Gustloff
MV ''Wilhelm Gustloff'' was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by in the Baltic Sea while evacuating civilian evacuees from East Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Estonia and German military personnel from ...
'', which left
Gdingen
Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in ...
(now Gdynia) on 31 January 1945 and was sunk by a Soviet submarine with huge loss of life. The Neudecks missed the sailing, which probably saved their lives.
He studied various subjects in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, including law and Catholic theology. Neudeck decided to work in journalism, first as a student editor at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...
, then professionally for Catholic radio. In 1977 Neudeck became a correspondent for
Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio.
History
Broadcasting in th ...
.
Humanitarian work

In 1979, Rupert Neudeck and his wife Christel, along with a group of friends, formed the committee "A ship for Vietnam" and chartered the commercial freighter ''
Cap Anamur'' for a rescue mission to Southeast Asia. The mission eventually saved more than 10,000
Vietnamese boat people
Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...
fleeing Vietnam after
the war.

Following the ''Cap Anamur'' missions, he continued his humanitarian work on various other projects that aided refugees. The Green Helmets (''Grünhelme'') Association, founded in 2003, is dedicated to rebuilding schools, villages, and medical services in various war-torn regions, particularly those in Islamic countries. More recently, he worked to aid Syrian refugees. He was listed on
Unsere Besten ("Our Best"), a German poll similar to
100 Greatest Britons
''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included ...
.
In 2005, Neudeck was featured in an interview on the Vietnamese entertainment show ''
Paris By Night 77'', which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the
fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of Sou ...
and the work of the Cap Anamur Committee. Neudeck's humanitarian efforts continued up to the time of his death. Most recently he assisted with the emigration of refugees from Syria and Eritrea to Germany.
In 2014 Neudeck received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by
Alexandra Hildebrandt
Alexandra Hildebrandt (née Weissmann, born on 27 February 1959) is a German human rights activist and museum director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. In 1995, she married the museum's co-founder and former director Rainer Hildebrandt, and they ...
. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.
Death
Neudeck died on 31 May 2016, from complications after
heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to c ...
, aged 77.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neudeck, Rupert
1939 births
2016 deaths
German journalists
German male journalists
German humanitarians
People from Gdańsk
Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia
Naturalized citizens of Germany
People from the Free City of Danzig
German male writers