Ephraim Kishon
| Ephraim Kishon | |
|---|---|
Ephraim Kishon, 2003
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| Born |
Ferenc Hoffmann August 23, 1924 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | January 29, 2005 (aged 80) Appenzell, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Spouse(s) | Eva Klamer (1946–58) (divorced) Sara Kishon (1959–2002) Lisa Witasek (2003–05) |
| Children | Rafael Kishon (born 1957) Amir Kishon (born 1964) Renana Kishon (born 1968) |
Ephraim Kishon (Hebrew: אפרים קישון, August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was an Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated film director. He was one of the most widely read contemporary satirists in the world.
Ephraim Kishon was born on August 23, 1924 by the name of Ferenc Hoffmann into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. In his youth he knew neither Hebrew nor Yiddish. His father worked as a bank manager and his mother was a former secretary. Kishon also had a sister who was a writer.
His writing talent became evident in his youth. In 1940 he won his first prize for writing a novel for high school students. Due to the racial laws applied in Hungary during World War II, he was not allowed to continue his studies at the university and therefore he began to study jewelry making in 1942.
During World War II the Nazis imprisoned him in several concentration camps. At one camp his chess talent helped him survive, as the camp commandant was looking for an opponent. In another camp, the Germans lined up the inmates and shot every tenth person, but passed him by. He later wrote in his book The Scapegoat, "They made a mistake—they left one satirist alive". He eventually managed to escape the concentration camps while being transported to the Sobibor extermination camp in Nazi German Occupied Poland, and hid the remainder of the war disguised as "Stanko Andras", a Slovakian laborer.
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