Joe Schlesinger
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Joe Schlesinger , CM , D.Litt (born 1928) is a Canadian television journalist and author.
Born in Vienna, Austria, his family moved to Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. In 1939, his parents sent him and his brother to a school for Czechoslovakian refugees in Wales organized by Nicholas Winton to escape the anti-semitism of continental Europe during World War II. After the war, he returned to Bratislava and found out that his parents had been killed in the Holocaust.
In 1948, he worked as a translator for the Associated Press and soon he left Czechoslovakia to Austria to escape the communists. In 1950, he emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He studied at the University of British Columbia.
After spending time as a journalist in Toronto, London and for the International Herald Tribune in Paris, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1966. He retired from full-time employment in 1994, but continues to produce essays and special reports for CBC News. He was a host on CBC Newsworld and producer of commentaries and documentaries for CBC Prime Time News.
In 1990, he wrote his autobiography, Time Zones: a Journalist in the World.
In 1994, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He was nominated for 18 Gemini Awards and won three awards, for "Best Reportage" (1987 and 1992) and "Best News Magazine Segment" (2004). He was also awarded the John Drainie Award (1997) and "Best Performance by a Broadcast Journalist (Gordon Sinclair Award)" (1987).
A fascinating Czech documentary 'Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good' was produced in 2002, with Joe Schlesinger narrating. It is 'a gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stockbroker who saved the lives of 669 children. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Nicholas Winton organized eight transports (one airplane and seven trains) to take children from Prague to new homes in Great Britain.' Winton never told anyone what he had done -not even his immediate family, who learned of his incredible history when his wife discovered a scrapbook in their attic in 1988. It is only in the course of the documentary that viewers come to realize that Schlesinger is not linked to the film as narrator alone. Joe Schlesinger reveals that he was one of these children rescued by Nicholas Winton. He has also since talked about the experience.
