André Loersch

International independent journalist, a person who brought up more than a generation of journalists, a political analyst, polyglot, peacemaker.

Life and work

Language

He explained to me that it's important to understand the basics of any story you cover in journalism and never add your bias to it.

Sarah Wood, significant other of Andre

If you were asked "how do you imagine a real international journalist?", Then, undoubtedly, you would describe André Loersch. Andre was a man of encyclopedic knowledge who seemed to know everything about everything. During his life, he learned 7 languages. His native languages were Italian and French, but despite this he managed to master Russian to such an extent that many did not believe that he was not from the post-Soviet countries. Andre began his journalistic career at the Geneva daily newspaper "Le Courrier", however, he always felt that he was not fully realizing his potential. After several years of work, Andre directed his attention to other countries outside of Switzerland. Andre went to work in the Balkans, where at that time there was a conflict in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Later Andre taught journalism in the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia. He worked as a media consultant in Eastern Europe. He regularly lectured on journalism in Switzerland and other countries. Between 2014 and 2020, he worked in Ukraine, first as a press secretary for the ICC, and then as an observer and member of the expert group (on media and politics) of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, where he was sent by the Federal Department of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And even this is far from the whole experience of Andre Loersch.

André Loersch in Central Asia for a consultation on the implementation of professional journalism standards

André Loersch in an exclusive interview with the correspondent of the Internet edition "Reni-Odessa"

Relatives remember Andre as an incredible person. He had many different talents and brilliant characteristics – a great craving for knowledge, a love of basketball, a capacity for music, and an unimaginable sense of humor that always attracted those around him. Friends and relatives remember him as a person who was drawn to difficult circumstances, because he really wanted to help people.

Annelise Loersch

"He could make everyone smile, laugh. He was very ironic and added to this world another reason to smile." After many years of work in the publication "Le courrier" he went to Kyrgyzstan to teach journalism. For Andre, as a teacher at that time, it was important to convey his vision of what moral and ethical principles a real journalist should carry. After 10 years, returning to Geneva, he wrote a lot of material about his experience of work and life in Central Asia. For many, his history and observations were a real discovery.

André's sister Anneliese Loersch recalls how many conversations they had about everything that he managed to go through in each period of his life.
“It all felt to me like the discovery of many realities, because I would never have come into contact with the understanding of how people live in the places where Andre worked,” Anneliese recalls. Andre really loved people, he loved to communicate and was one of those people about whom they say: "will support any topic." During his life, Andre learned 7 languages, because it was important for him to understand the people with whom he communicated, to understand their culture and the logic in their native language.

Tolkunbek was Andre's colleague while teaching journalism standards in Central Asia. In an interview, Tolkunbek recalls some funny and sometimes fateful stories that happened to them during that period. Andre admired the fabulous cities and landscapes of Central Asia and truly loved this land. He sincerely wanted to help local journalists reach a new level in their professional activities

Tolkunbek Turdubaev

"I was always amazed what things in him can easily be combined. Such a childlike direct view of the world, but at the same time a very deep concentration and seriousness of the desire to understand very important and sometimes fateful issues. For me, this quality of him was instructive on the one hand and at the same time evoked very deep respect. " Andre communicated with people with interest and was genuinely concerned about the problems of everyone with whom he happened to meet. In an interview, Tolkunbek also recalls several stories where Andre showed himself in the first place as a kind, responsive person who sought to help people.

While working in the eastern Ukraine, Andre met in Severodonetsk with Sarah Wood, who after a while became his girlfriend. In an interview, Sarah recalls what kind of person Andre was and for what the people around him first of all loved him.

Sarah Wood

Sarah recalls many expressive features in Andre's personality, thanks to which he was able to constantly maintain erudition at the proper level and in all topics of interest to him. When Andre did something, he did it well and did it sincerely. Andre read a lot. Wherever he went and no matter what he did, he always had a book with him about politics, conflict management or culture, when he wanted to take a break from reading serious problems, he read detective novels - he loved detective novels and riddles. He used to stop often to discuss everything interesting that caught his eye. He dug into the very core of every problem, every question, and even when he found the answer, he came back to it later to see how his views changed.

During his life, Andre managed to do a lot, knew so many people, learned so many languages, and with these languages he came to a deep

understanding of cultures, history and people. It's like he opened doors to so many different ideas and culture, and in a way, , I feel like he did this for me too. He taught me how to dive deeply into subjects that interest me, how to ask the right questions, to be interested and open to ideas from different points of view, and just to go and do what interest me with nothing holding me back.

Red Cross

When he worked as a Red Cross representative in Kiev, he always referred to this as an important highlight in his career. Shortly after taking over the position, a Russian cargo incident in Ukraine hit the headlines and Andre was forced to give interviews and speak on behalf of the Red Cross in multiple languages ​​for various international news agencies. Sarah Wood said in an interview that Andre always spoke so calmly and accurately, as if he was never nervous. One day, when she asked how he managed to do this without getting nervous, he replied: “THINK and speak slowly. Make people really listen to what you are saying

OSCE Mission to Luhansk

Sarah and Andre met in Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. The conflict in Donbass worried both of them and Andre spoke a lot about it. He worked as a political officer for the OSCE in Luhansk. Everyone in this team considered Andre a genius and marveled at how deeply he understood the situation. Everyone came to him with questions about the political situation in the region. He had this ability to communicate with people, and he shared how much he learned just by talking to the Ukrainians living in the area, as well as some of the separatist leaders in meetings. They knew him well because he spoke Russian. He had excellent Russian, so he rarely needed a translator. Sarah is convinced that this was one of the reasons that added to his understanding of the political culture in Luhansk, because the conversations were always conducted in Russian, and not translated, and this allowed a deeper understanding of what was happening. In addition, as a trained professional journalist, he had the unique ability to

ask the right questions in order to understand the foundations and motives of the conflict and the political issues in the region. He knew how to write and speak about these issues objectively and accurately.

Andre Loersch was a frequent visitor to the Faculty of Journalism at the National University "Odessa Law Academy", where he often conducted trainings with students, and, one might say, was a great friend of the faculty. A meeting with representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine was held at the Faculty of Journalism of the NU "OLA" dedicated to the purpose of honoring the memory of the former representative of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the Red Cross in Ukraine, Andre Loersch. During the meeting, it became known that the three best students of the Faculty of Journalism received personal scholarships and negotiations are currently underway with the Swiss Foreign Ministry on the establishment of an annual Andre Lorsch scholarship for students of the Faculty of Journalism of NU "OLA", which was founded by his family and friends.

went through so many trials and experiences that are difficult to imagine. Sometimes it was hard to believe what he was saying because it seemed too much like a movie. What real person experiences such things and can tell such a captivating and engaging story about them?

He slept in bomb shelters, lived in countries with ongoing conflicts,

During his work in Odessa, Andre fell madly in love with this city. He quickly got acquainted with the cultural and diplomatic elite of the city, often attended poetry evenings, exhibitions, literary museums, and the Odessa Philharmonic and the Opera House became a must-see for him. Andre considered Odessa the cultural capital of Ukraine and he was very happy here. Many of Andre's acquaintances say that he even thought about staying to live in Odessa.

André Loersch served as the OSCE Special SMM in Odessa. In addition to settling the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE is also monitoring the situation throughout Ukraine as a whole. During his work in Odessa, Andre managed to identify a number of violations in various aspects of the life and work of Ukrainians. The problem of infringement of human rights in Ukraine is really urgent and demanded immediate intervention and publicity.

Andre passed away at the beginning of 2020. Andre Loersch was a man who was driven by new ideas, a desire to learn everything about everything and understand every issue of interest, Andre loved people very much and was really worried about the problems of society.

André Loersch has many reasons why he should be admired not only as a professional in the field of international journalism, but also as a real Person who has dedicated his life to helping people who needed it. Born in Switzerland, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, he went abroad. Wherever he was, in whatever dangerous situations he visited, he always remained a person and thought primarily about others. He was ready to reach out to everyone and always treated with misunderstanding those who behaved differently in relation to other people. Probably, there is no person today who would say bad about Andre. Andre's departure was a great loss not only for his friends and relatives, but also for our world as a whole, because it is on such people that he keeps