Ephraim Kishon (Hebrew: אפרים קישון) was an Israeli writer, satirist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director.
Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, as Ferenc Hoffmann (Hungarian Hoffmann Ferenc), Kishon studied sculpture and painting, and then began publishing humorous essays and writing for the stage.
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 shooting every tenth person, passing him by. He later wrote in his book The Scapegoat, "They made a mistake—they left one satirist alive." He managed to escape while being transported to the Sobibor death camp in Poland, and hid the remainder of the war disguised as "Stanko Andras", a Slovakian laborer.
After 1945 he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont to disguise his Jewish heritage and returned to Hungary to study art and publish humorous plays. He immigrated to Israel in 1949 to escape the Communist regime, and an immigration officer gave him the name Ephraim Kishon.
His first marriage, in 1946 to Eva (Chawa) Klamer, ended in divorce. In 1959, he married his second wife Sara (née Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003, he married the Austrian writer Lisa Witasek. He had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1963), and Renana (b. 1968).
This autobiographical work has the shape of a very long interview, similar to Amoz Oz's Was ist ein Apfel?, which I read some time ago. It is honest and amusing like all Kishon's writings. I've been an avid reader of his satirical works since school days. Being half Hungarian, I found his memories of Budapest and Hungary very touching and interesting indeed. He was Jewish, Israeli, but the Hungarian bit prevailed to the end. (That accent! Greetings from my Hungarian mother ... ;)) I hadn't known what Kishon and his family went through during the holocaust. Terrible things, but he writes without bitterness. He was clearly a man of many talents. The greatest one could be the ability to laugh about himself. Which is vital if you want to write funny things. Amazing also his insights into Israel's position and what to expect from their blind-with-hate neighbours. He as good as predicted what we see happening today. Not exactly easy reading, but a fast read nevertheless. RIP, Ephraim/Ferike.
It has been a long time I didn't read anything from Kishon ... actually I think it can be quiet interesting to start Kishons large range of books with this one. It draws exactly his caracter and specifically his humour ... I love his way of laughing at everything, even more at himself.