Hugo Portisch (19 February 1927 – 1 April 2021) was an Austrian historian and journalist. He had the gift of being able to explain in simple terms. In Austria, he is mostly known for writing authoritative Works on the First and Second Republic. He also worked with the Austrian newspaper Kurier in the 1950s and 1960s. In the mid-1960s, he advocated a state-controlled TV station which was to be independent of politics, known as ORF today.