Gyula "Julius" Háy; 5 May 1900 – 7 May 1975) was a Hungarian communist intellectual and playwright. He wrote under the pen name Stefan Faber.

Biography

Háy was born in 1900 in

Abony Abony (german: Wabing) is a town in Pest County, Hungary. Geography Abony is a town in the south-east of , between the Danube and Tisza rivers. It is from Cegléd and from Budapest, at an elevation of . The area is on the River Tisza's wide ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

to a Jewish family. He was involved in the German communist movement in the 1920s, particularly in

agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...

plays. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he lived for a time in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

's Hotel Lux, along with scores of other Communist exiles.Peter Dittmar
"Der steinerne Zeuge des stalinistischen Terrors"
''Die Welt'' (30 October 2007); retrieved 11 November 2011. In the 1950s he was a dissident in the

Hungarian Writers' Union The Hungarian Writers Union (also known as The Free Union of Hungarian Writers) was founded in 1945 at the end of World War II. Initially the union was intended to be an organizational body through which the interests of writers in Hungary could be ...

, and advocated for

workers' councils A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

in the months leading up to the

Hungarian revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. During the revolution, he played a significant role in the

, as a revolutionary body. He was involved in the workers council movement, and wrote the radio appeal to the intellectuals of the world which was broadcast as the Parliament building fell to Soviet troops. Háy was arrested and sentenced to 6 years in prison in November 1957. After three and a half years in prison, he was released and a few years later in 1965, left Hungary for Switzerland with his wife Éva where he continued to write plays in the west as an emigré. He died 1975 in Ascona, Switzerland, two days after his 75th birthday. His son,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, is a retired

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

author, publisher and bookseller.

Selected works

* ''Tiszazug'' (1945) * ''Isten, császár, paraszt'' (1946) * ''Romok'' (1947) * ''Ítélet éjszakája'' (1948) * ''Az élet hídja'' (1951–52) * ''Erő'' (1952) * ''Gyilkosok tanyáján'' (1953) * ''Öt színdarab'' (1954) * ''Sorsok és harcok'' (1955) * ''Szabadság, szerelem'' (1955) * ''A pulykapásztor'' (1956) * ''Királydrámák'' (1964)

Sources

*Reményi Gyenes István: Ismerjük őket? Zsidó származású nevezetes magyarok (Ex Libris Kiadó, Budapest, 2000); * Háy Gyula: Született 1900-ban; Interart, Budapest, 1990; * Háy Éva (Háy Gyuláné, Majoros Éva): A barikád mindkét oldalán (Budapest, Osiris, 2000) * Ki kicsoda a magyar irodalomban? Könyvkuckó Kiadó, Budapest, 1999;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Gyula 1900 births 1975 deaths People from Abony Hungarian Jews Hungarian communists Hungarian male dramatists and playwrights Hungarian expatriates in Switzerland Hungarian revolutionaries 20th-century Hungarian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Hungarian male writers