“You always hear people say, ‘I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot.’ ‘I remember where I was when the space shuttle challenger blew up.’ Those moments stay with you, not just because of the event but becasue of how you heard about it. For most people, they weren’t there when the Berlin Wall fell, they weren’t there when those events happened, you rely on a reporter or a newscast to tell you about it. And certainly one of the finest this country’s had is Joe Schlesinger — an amazing storyeller, a beautiful voice, a distinct voice — and Joe’s about to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.”

This is CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos introducing CBC reporter Joe Schlesinger on his program, The Hour, on March 10.

Schlesinger spoke with Strombo about escaping from the Nazis in the former Czechoslovakia as a young boy, being a refugee twice in his life and returning to Europe as a journalist to report on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the regime in his home country.

Watch the Schlesinger interview on The Hour (segment begins at 6:10).

Schlesinger is the 2009 recipient of the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s (CJF) Lifetime Achievement Award. He will accept the award at a gala in Toronto on June 9.