Today in 1924, Ephraim Kishon, one of the greatest Israeli satirists, was born.
Kishon was born Franz Hoffman in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, survived the Holocaust in a labor camp, and immigrated to Israel in 1949, changing his name. Initially, he worked as a journalist for the Hungarian newspaper Oy Kelt (edited by Tommy Lapid and Israel Kastner), while at the same time he learned the Hebrew language in its entirety until he was able to renew linguistic innovations (although he never got rid of his Hungarian accent). In the 50s, he began writing sharp, sarcastic and humorous columns for two of Israel’s most prominent newspapers – Davar and Maariv – and became a well-known figure; his comedic plays began to appear in Israeli theaters, and his films (notably Salah Shabati and Azoulay) sprang up Israeli cinema on a number of levels, leading to international publicity. Despite his great popularity, his anti-establishment approach presented him with many professional failures, and he received official recognition as the Israel Lifetime Achievement Award only at the end of his life. His many journalistic pieces have been grouped into books over the years, and most of them are with us to this day. Kishon died in 2005, but the mark he left on the Israeli humor industry was tremendous, and a sharp-tongued universe like himself had not yet been established.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
