Journalist and media pioneer Derk Sauer passes away after sailing accident

Journalist and media entrepreneur Derk Sauer passed away on Thursday at the age of 72, Het Parool, where he had written a column for many years, reported. Sauer was seriously injured a month ago in Greece due to an accident on his sailboat. He was subsequently treated in hospitals in Athens and Amsterdam, but the treatments were unsuccessful.

Sauer began his journalism career as a correspondent for VPRO and Nieuwe Revu, acting as the editor-in-chief for the magazine between 1982 and 1989. He attracted many well-known names to Nieuwe Revu, such as journalists Ischa Meijer and Karel Glastra van Loon, and cartoonist Gerrit de Jager.

In the late 1980s, Sauer left the Netherlands for Russia, where he saw opportunities for new journalistic initiatives after the fall of the Soviet Union. He introduced Russian versions of international successful magazines like Playboy and Cosmopolitan.

The Dutchman started The Moscow Times in 1992. It was a new newspaper providing Russians and expats with independent news. In addition, Sauer continued to work for Dutch media. Between 2010 and 2015, he was chairman of the supervisory board of NRC and served as chairman of the IDFA documentary festival for ten years. Sauer also wrote a column for Het Parool for over 30 years.

Sauer returned to the Netherlands in the spring of 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had ensured that the journalistic situation had become untenable, according to Sauer. He moved the editorial office of The Moscow Times from Moscow to Amsterdam, where the medium was hosted by DPG Media. The tragic news comes six months after Sauer started a music label together with a Russian music journalist for bands and artists who are no longer allowed to perform in their own country.

Sauer was “a true fighter for press freedom,” Het Parool responded. “As a columnist, Derk was a valued and skilled familiar voice for our readers,” the newspaper said. “His columns were always sharp and relevant, especially since the war in Ukraine.”

The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, paid tribute to Sauer on Thursday. “Such an inspired and courageous person, such a kind man," Halsema said. “He never lost his love for Russia and the Russian people, but even more so, he loved freedom of expression and justice, and he stood firmly against the Putin regime.” Halsema added that she will miss Sauer as they had often been in contact during his time as IDFA chairman.

Sauer's son, Pjotr, said that his father's columns for Het Parool are “a monumental chronicle of modern Russian history. In the end, Derk did not fall victim to the Russian mafia (which he never feared), nor to Putin’s long arm (which he defied for years), but to the consequences of an accident on our sailboat,” Pjotr, who now works as a Russia correspondent for the British newspaper the Guardian continued. “He most loved being alone with mom on the boat. They are experienced sailors, but the accident was sheer bad luck."