Hella Pick, who arrived in England as a child on the Kindertransport and went on to become a pioneering foreign correspondent, has died.

The Haverstock Hill resident, who was made a CBE in 2000 for services to journalism, led a busy life into her mid-90s.

She met King Charles last November at an event to mark the 85th anniversary of the Kinderstransport, received a Golden Medal of Merit in Vienna in December, then was guest of honour at a Berlin exhibition commemorating the Kindertransport in the Bundestag.

In January she penned her final article - on the war in Gaza - and last month attended a plaque unveiling at the British embassy in her birth city of Vienna dedicated to officials and clergy who helped thousands of Jews to escape Austria,

Paying tribute, Michael Newman CEO of The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) said: "We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of AJR member Hella Pick CBE.

"Hella was indefatigable and a pioneering journalist of great repute. We feel fortunate to have worked with her on a number of occasions, including most recently to mark the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport.

"Hella was one of the Kinder who met His Majesty the King at our commemoration last November and participated at events in both Vienna and the UK. She was dedicated to raising awareness of the Holocaust and sharing her story.

"We feel privileged to have captured her testimony as part of our Refugee Voices archive and we send our heart-felt condolences to all those mourning her."

Born in Vienna, Hella always regretted that she remembered little of her early years growing up with her mother Joanna and grand-parents after her parents divorced when she was three.

But when her mother was arrested by the Gestapo and released the next day, she put Hella on the list for the Kinderstransport.

She departed for England in April 1939, telling Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs in 2018 that she arriving at Liverpool Street station at the age of 10 bestowing her only English word on her new foster family 'good-bye'.

They lived in Brondesbury and wanted to adopt her, but just before war broke out Joanna managed to get a domestic visa for England and went to work in the Lake district as a cook.

Hella soon joined her and the family took her under their wing, and arranged for her to attend private school. Sadly they learned from the Red Cross that Hella's maternal grandmother had died in Theresienstadt.

Hella studied political science at the London School of Economics before starting work as a journalist in the late 50s. At a time when there were very few women correspondents she built a formidable reputation first in West Africa, then working for The Guardian as UN correspondent, Eastern Europe correspondent and diplomatic editor.

Over the decades she befriended numerous world leaders and covered everything from President Kennedy's assassination to the Watergate scandal and Martin Luther King’s march from Selma, to the Paris riots in 1968 and the Cold War.

In later life she wrote for the New Statesman, became director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an independent think-tank, and authored several books, including a biography of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in 1996, and her memoir Invisible Walls in 2021.

Although she became a British citizen in 1948, she retained dual British and Austrian citizenship, and regularly returned to her birth nation telling Lauren Laverne that although she felt "a deep sense of belonging to Britain" she wondered whether anyone not born here was ever truly accepted.

She also said she was "very proud of being Jewish but not at all religious".

Writing on X Jonathan Freedland wrote: "Hella Pick was a pioneer and a Guardian legend. Last summer I sat down to record a long interview with her. She had to break off twice, to take calls from editors about two separate pieces she had in the works."

Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger wrote on X "So sorry to hear Hella Pick has died. She was one of a kind and we were privileged that, well into her 90s, she wrote for Prospect Magazine."

Hella Pick died on April 4, 2024.