Foreign Minister Steinmeier issued the following statement today (15 July) on the death of Péter Esterházy:

“With the death of Péter Esterházy, Hungary and Europe have lost a literary giant with close ties to Germany. In his highly personal, frequently self‑critical and invariably humorous works, Péter Esterházy repeatedly traced the trajectory and the ruptures of Hungarian and Central European history in his own marvellous style, thereby touching the hearts and minds of many readers in Germany, too.

He was one of the great contemporary European authors, and a recipient of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Until the very end, Péter Esterházy retained his almost unparalleled acuity and sense of irony, finding even the lightness of death, describing it as a very simple thing, in contrast to literature; it happens one day and that is that. We shall miss Péter Esterházy.”