Teodoro Schwartz

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Teodoro Ŝvarc (or Schwartz or Soros Tivadar; 1894-1968) was a Hungarian Jewish doctor, lawyer, author and editor. He was the father of George Soros.

He fought in World War I and spent years in a prison camp in Siberia before escaping. He founded the Esperanto literary magazine Literatura Mondo (Literary World) in 1922 and edited it until 1924. He wrote the short novel Modernaj Robinzonoj (Modern Robinsons) (1923), and Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto (Masquerade (dance) around death), published 1965, an autobiographical novel about his experience during the Nazi occupation of Budapest, Hungary. Maskerado has been translated into English, Russian, German, Turkish, and Hungarian [1]. He also wrote under the name Teo Melas ("Melas" is Greek for "black", just as "Schwartz" is in German).

[edit] Maskerado

His book details his struggles to survive the fascist invasion of Hungary. This took the form of the Hungarian members of the Arrow Cross, their secret police searching out any signs of anti-state activity or Jewish ancestry. Soros 'masqueraded' to survive, adopting a fake name and using his connections, wealth, and skill to aid the flight of many people. He charged high fees to the rich in exchange for forged papers they would need to escape the country. He used this money in turn to provide materials to poor clients for free or for very small fees.