Ladislas Farago

Ladislas Faragó or Faragó László (21 September 1906 – 15 October 1980) was a Hungarian military historian and journalist who published a number of best-selling books on history and espionage, especially concerning the World War II era.

Biography and work

Faragó was the author of ''Patton: Ordeal and Triumph'', the acclaimed 1963 biography of George Patton, that formed the basis for the 1970 film ''Patton'' and wrote ''The Broken Seal'' (1967), one of the books that formed the basis for the 1970 movie ''Tora! Tora! Tora!''.

The British historian Stephen Dorril, in his ''MI6 Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service'' asserts that Faragó was the 'most successful disinformer or dupe' concerning the presence of Nazis in South America. However, Faragó's book ''Aftermath: The Search for Martin Bormann'' which details the Nazi presence in South America was based on both Faragó's own personal investigation and interviews in South America, and Argentinian intelligence documents (some of which are provided in the book) whose veracity was attested to by attorney Joel Weinberg.The Bormann documents
Weinberg states: "I personally interrogated several of the special agents whose names were mentioned in or whose signatures appeared on the documents, including Inspector Hector Rodriguez Morguado of Coordination Federal and Commissioner Alejandro Rafaelo of Policia Federal, and ascertained that the documents in Mr Faragó's possession bearing on the Bormann case were, indeed, genuine, and originated as claimed at the Seguridad Federal, formerly known as Coordination Federal, the central archives of the Argentine Secret Service Establishment. Based upon my investigation and my questioning of the parties concerned in the acquisition of the documents, I have no hesitation to state that the documents on which the Bormann part of "Aftermath" is based are genuine and authentic, true copies of the originals on file at the agency until recently called Seguridad Federal in Buenos Aires."

Moreover, French intelligence operative (during World War II - on the 'Resistance' side - and later) and right-wing polemist Pierre de Villemarest justified part of Faragó's statements. Villemarest disagreed on the details of Bormann's survival, but agreed he did survive the escape from Hitler's Bunker. Villemarest states that Bormann was not a mere Soviet agent (like Heinrich Müller) but was smart enough to get free (after a few months or years) from the Soviets' 'protection'.

The main point of agreement between Faragó and Villemarest being the resolute assertion of a several-year survival of Bormann after the fall of Hitler's regime. Faragó's book 'Aftermath' contains several reproductions of genuine Argentinian secret police documents related to the life of Bormann after 1945.

Faragó appeared as a contestant on the January 22, 1957, episode of ''To Tell the Truth''. He was Jewish.

Death

Faragó died in 1980. His son, John M. Farago, is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law."John Farago"
CUNY School of Law

Selected bibliography

*''Abyssinia on the Eve'' (1935)
*''Abyssinian Stop Press'' (ed.) (1936)
*''Palestine on the Eve'' (1936)
*''The Riddle of Arabia'' (1939)
*''Burn After Reading'' (1961)
*''Strictly from Hungary'' (1962/2004)
*''The Tenth Fleet'' (1962)
*''War of Wits'' (1962)
*''Patton: Ordeal and Triumph'' (1963)
*''The Broken Seal: "Operation Magic" and the Secret Road to Pearl Harbor'' (1967)
*''The Game of the Foxes'' (1971)
*''Spymaster'' (1972)
*''Aftermath: The Search for Martin Bormann'' (1974)
*''The Last Days of Patton'' (1981)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Farago
1906 births
1980 deaths
20th-century Hungarian historians
20th-century American writers
American male journalists
20th-century American journalists
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
American non-fiction writers
Hungarian journalists
Historians of World War II