György Faludy

FALUDY, GYÖRGY (1913–2006), Hungarian poet and author; born in Budapest. He translated François Villon's poetry into Hungarian (Villon balladái, 1937). In 1939 Faludy fled to France and eventually settled in the United States, where he volunteered for service in the U.S. Army. He returned to Hungary in 1946 and devoted himself to writing and journalism. Five years later he was arrested on a political charge, and was released from prison in 1953. Faludy then joined the editorial board of the literary journal Irodalmi Ujság. It was in this paper that in 1956 he published a poem about his experiences in prison. At the time, the publication of the poem was regarded as an indication of the liberalization of the regime. Almost immediately, however, the failure of the revolution forced him to flee the country once again. This time he went to England, where he resumed publication of Irodalmi Ujság. Faludy's works include A pompéji strázsán ("On the Guard at Pompei," 1938); Európai költők antológiája ("An Anthology of European Poets," 1938); and the prose works Tragoedie eines Volkes (1958) and Emlékkönyv a rót Bizáncról ("Memories of Red Byzantium," 1961). In 1962 he published his autobiography, My Happy Days in Hell, in English. Faludy's works in Hungarian were burned by the Nazis and in later years confiscated by the Communists.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.