George Paloczi-Horvath (1908–1973) was a Hungarian writer, best known for his 1959 autobiography book ''The Undefeated''. He was born in 1908 to a privileged Hungarian family. As a young journalist, he reported on the rise of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

in Europe and became a dedicated anti-Nazi. When the German army marched through

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1941, he fled the country under an assumed name, ending up first in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and, after the war, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He returned to Budapest in February 1947, where he edited a magazine and joined the Communist Party. But he was soon arrested as a spy, and spent the next five years in prison. He was subjected to

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

and torture. He was finally released in 1954, and after the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, he left the country for good. Paloczi-Horvath settled in

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

with his family, and earned his living as a freelance writer and journalist. He published ''The Undefeated'' in 1959; the book won the Atlantic Editors' Non-Fiction Prize and the Prix de la Liberté, and has been reprinted by

Eland Books Eland Books is an independent London-based publishing house founded in 1982 with the aim of republishing and reviving classic travel books that have fallen out of print over time. Its list currently runs to around 160 titles and is highly rega ...

. He also wrote political biographies of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

and

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. He died of a heart attack in 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paloczi-Horvath, George 1908 births 1973 deaths Hungarian writers 20th-century Hungarian journalists Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom