Author. He became one of Israel's best known and most widely translated authors. Born Ferenc Hoffmann in Budapest, Hungary, he narrowly escaped death several times during the Holocaust. In one Nazi camp, a German officer lined up Jewish inmates and shot dead one in every 10, passing him by. He later managed to escape the Nazis as he was already en route to the Sobibor death camp in Poland--he also escaped that. Immigrated to Israel in 1949 and changed his name to later become one of the new country's most revered writers of humorous but barbed essays. He also scripted some of its most iconic films, including "Salah Shabati," about the troubles of a poor, unskilled Jewish immigrant from North Africa, and "Azoulai the policeman." Said to have set the public agenda in the 1960s when he wrote a column for the mass circulation daily Maariv, often spiking his criticism with humor that appealed to Israelis of all types. Although he spent much of his time abroad, particularly in Switzerland, for which he was critized at home, he continued to write in Hebrew, his second language. Authored over 50 books and plays that were translated into 37 languages and sold 43 million copies worldwide, ironically 32 million in German language editions, alone. His "Family Stories" are considered as the highest selling Hebrew book in the world after the Bible. His first post-war novel, "My Comb," won the Hungarian Novel Contest, in 1993 he was awarded Germany's highest prize for literature and most recently he received the Israel Prize in 2002 for lifetime achievement to society and the country.
Author. He became one of Israel's best known and most widely translated authors. Born Ferenc Hoffmann in Budapest, Hungary, he narrowly escaped death several times during the Holocaust. In one Nazi camp, a German officer lined up Jewish inmates and shot dead one in every 10, passing him by. He later managed to escape the Nazis as he was already en route to the Sobibor death camp in Poland--he also escaped that. Immigrated to Israel in 1949 and changed his name to later become one of the new country's most revered writers of humorous but barbed essays. He also scripted some of its most iconic films, including "Salah Shabati," about the troubles of a poor, unskilled Jewish immigrant from North Africa, and "Azoulai the policeman." Said to have set the public agenda in the 1960s when he wrote a column for the mass circulation daily Maariv, often spiking his criticism with humor that appealed to Israelis of all types. Although he spent much of his time abroad, particularly in Switzerland, for which he was critized at home, he continued to write in Hebrew, his second language. Authored over 50 books and plays that were translated into 37 languages and sold 43 million copies worldwide, ironically 32 million in German language editions, alone. His "Family Stories" are considered as the highest selling Hebrew book in the world after the Bible. His first post-war novel, "My Comb," won the Hungarian Novel Contest, in 1993 he was awarded Germany's highest prize for literature and most recently he received the Israel Prize in 2002 for lifetime achievement to society and the country.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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