Fonds HHP - Hella Pick papers

7 boxes

Donated to the Guardian Foundation by Pick's executors in July 2024.

Personal and professional papers of journalist and writer Hella Pick. Includes correspondence with friends, family and work colleagues, research for her books and articles, newspaper cuttings including her Guardian cuttings books and ephemera from travels and events attended.

Administrative/Biographical history: Born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents in 1927, Hella Pick came to the UK alone as a child refugee on the Kindertransport in March 1939. Later joined by her mother, after an initial period in London she spent most of her remainder of her childhood in the Lake District before going on to study at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Pick entered the world of journalism in 1958 as commercial editor for the London based weekly magazine, West Africa. In 1961, Pick joined the Guardian initially as a freelance journalist but was quickly appointed as UN correspondent, one of the first female diplomatic correspondents in the British media. It was the start of a long career as a foreign correspondent at the newspaper covering political events across the globe for the next 35 years.

Pick later published her own memoir 'Invisible Walls' in 2021, which was her third book following 'Guilty Victim - Austria from the Holocaust' (2000) and her biography on Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, 'A Life in Search of Justice' (1996).

She was awarded a CBE in 2000 for her work as a writer and journalist.

Arranged into series by file type. Original order preserved where possible.

Subject to access restrictions in line with data protection. Contact the archive for further information.

Copyright: See accession correspondence and deed of gift.

• English

• German

See also GNM archive records: MEM/HHP and OHP/65.