View source for Ephraim Kishon

{{Short description|Israeli author and filmmaker (1924–2005)}}
{{Expand Hebrew|topic=bio|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ephraim Kishon
| image              = Ephraim Kishon awarded Kinor David 1964.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = 
| native_name        = אפרים קישון
| native_name_lang   = he
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1924|08|23}}
| birth_place        = [[Budapest]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age |mf=yes|2005|01|29|1924|08|23}}
| death_place        = [[Appenzell]], [[Switzerland]]
| birth_name         = Ferenc Hoffmann
| nationality        = Israeli
| spouse             = Eva Klamer (1946–58) (divorced)<br/>[[Sara Kishon]] (1959–2002)<br/>Lisa Witasek (2003–05)
| children           = Rafael Kishon (born 1957) <br/> Amir Kishon (born 1964) <br/> Renana Kishon (born 1968)
| awards             = 
}}

'''Ephraim Kishon''' ({{Langx|he|אפרים קישון}}; August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-born Israeli author, [[dramatist]], [[screenwriter]], and [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-nominated [[film director]]. He was one of the most widely read contemporary [[satire|satirist]]s in Israel and was also particularly popular in German-speaking countries.<ref name=NYTimes>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-kish.html Ephraim Kishon, 80, Holocaust Survivor Who Became Satirist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806214817/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/middleeast/ephraim-kishon-80-holocaust-survivor-who-became.html |date=2019-08-06 }} *The New York Times*, 30 January 2005</ref><ref name=Guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/01/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries Obituaries: Ephraim Kishon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903091105/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/01/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries |date=2020-09-03 }} *The Guardian*, 1 February 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.ephraimkishon.de/en/biography_of_ephraim_kishon.htm The life of Ephraim Kishon (1924-2005)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106232705/http://www.ephraimkishon.de/en/biography_of_ephraim_kishon.htm |date=2020-11-06 }}, ephraimkishon.de</ref>

== Biography ==
Ephraim Kishon was born on August 23, 1924, by the name of '''Ferenc Hoffmann''' into a middle-class Jewish family in [[Budapest]], Hungary. In his youth he knew neither [[Hebrew]] nor [[Yiddish]]. His father worked as a bank manager and his mother was a former secretary. Kishon also had a sister who was a writer.

His writing talent became evident in his youth. In 1940 he won his first prize for writing a novel for high school students. Due to the racial laws applied in Hungary during World War II, he was not allowed to continue his studies at the university and therefore he began to study [[jewelry making]] in 1942.

During [[World War II]] the [[Nazism|Nazis]] imprisoned him in several [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]]. At one camp his [[chess]] talent helped him survive, as he played chess with the guards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/254249/remembering-the-greatest-jewish-writer-you-may-not-have-even-heard-of|title=Remembering the Greatest Jewish Writer You May Not Have Even Heard Of|date=2018-01-29|website=Tablet Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-03-26}}</ref> In another camp, the Germans lined up the inmates and shot every tenth person, but passed him by. He later wrote in his book ''The Scapegoat'', "They made a mistake—they left one satirist alive". He eventually managed to escape the concentration camps while being transported to the [[Sobibor extermination camp]] in Nazi German Occupied Poland, and hid the remainder of the war disguised as "Stanko Andras", a Slovak laborer.
[[File: Ephraim Kishon, drawing by Chaim Topol.JPG|thumb|Drawing of Kishon by [[Chaim Topol]]]]
After the war when he returned to Budapest he discovered that his parents and sister had survived, but many other family members had been murdered in the [[gas chambers]] at [[Auschwitz]]. In 1945, he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont<!--sic--> and returned to Hungary, where he continued to study art and writing. In 1948 he completed his studies in metal sculpturing and art history and began publishing humorous articles under the name Franz Kishunt.

In 1949 he [[Aliyah|immigrated]] to the newly founded state of Israel, together with his first wife Eva (Chawa) Klamer, to escape the [[Communism|Communist]] regime. When arriving in Israel an immigration officer officially [[wikt:Hebraize|Hebraicized]] his name to "Ephraim Kishon". According to Kishon, the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] clerk asked him for his name and when he answered "Ferenc" the clerk said: There is no such thing, and wrote "Ephraim", and afterwards he went ahead and Hebraicized his family name as well, Kishon being a river near Haifa, the Israeli city on  [[Mount Carmel]].

His first marriage to Eva (Chawa) Klamer in 1946 ended in [[divorce]]. In 1959, he married [[Sara Kishon|Sara]] (''née'' Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003, he married the Austrian writer Lisa Witasek. Kishon had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1963), and Renana (b. 1968).

In 1981, Kishon established a second home in the rural Swiss canton of [[Appenzell]] as he felt unwelcome in Israel due to his status as an immigrant.<ref name=NYTimes/>
Being a popular Israeli writer, he still felt he was getting negative treatment from the Israeli media due to the fact he was rather [[right wing]] in his political views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jpress.org.il/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Skin=TAUHe&BaseHref=MAR/1979/05/18&EntityId=Ar01402&ViewMode=HTML |title=חלון כתבה |publisher=Jpress.org.il |access-date=2013-04-17}}</ref>
[[File:Kishon Rabin Shemi.jpg|thumb|Kishon talking with Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]], 1992]]
Kishon died on January 29, 2005, at his home in Switzerland at the age of 80 following a [[cardiac arrest]]. His body was flown to Israel and he was buried at the [[Trumpeldor Cemetery]] in Tel Aviv.

== Literary career==
Kishon initially lived in the "Sha'ar Ha'Aliyah" transit camp near Haifa, and soon afterwards moved to Kibbutz [[Kfar Hahoresh]], in which he worked as a nurse while learning the Hebrew language during his free time with the help of his neighbor Joseph Bilitzer. During this period he wrote several humorous lists for the Hungarian newspaper "[[Új Kelet]]". Afterwards Kishon moved to a housing project. He studied Hebrew at the [[Ulpan]] "Etzion" in Jerusalem, and soon became proficient in the language. Nevertheless, his heavy Hungarian accent accompanied him throughout his life.

Mastering the Hebrew language with remarkable speed, in 1951 Kishon began writing a satirical column in the easy-Hebrew daily, ''Omer'', after only two years in the country. Later on Kishon began writing for the newspaper "[[Davar]]" (which was very influential at the time) in which he published a satire called "The Blaumilch Canal". That same year he published his first book in Israel "Ha-ole Ha-Yored le-Chayenu"- "The Pestering Immigrant", (a pun on the Hebrew word for "Immigrant") which was written in Hungarian and translated into Hebrew by [[Avigdor Hameiri]]. The book was mostly about the life experiences of new immigrants in Israel during the 1950s.

In 1952 Kishon began writing a regular satirical column called "Had Gadya" ("One Young Goat" in Aramaic, taken from the [[Passover Seder|Passover]] [[Haggadah|Seder]] liturgy) in the daily Hebrew tabloid "[[Ma'ariv]]". Kishon kept writing the column for about 30 years, while in the first two decades he published a new column almost every day. Within a few years after launching his writing career in Israel Kishon became one of the most prominent humorists and satirists in the country.
[[File:Orden wider den tierischen Ernst 1978.jpg|thumb|Kishon at the [[Aachen]] carnival in [[West Germany]], 1978|260px]]
Kishon's extraordinary linguistic inventiveness and flair for creating characters was carried over into his work for the theater. Collections of his humorous writings have appeared in Hebrew and in translation. Among the English translations are ''Look Back Mrs. Lot'' (1960), ''Noah's Ark, Tourist Class'' (1962), ''The Seasick Whale'' (1965), and two books on the [[Six-Day War]] and its aftermath, ''So Sorry We Won'' (1967), and ''Woe to the Victors'' (1969). Two collections of his plays have also appeared in Hebrew: ''Shemo Holekh Lefanav'' (1953) and ''Ma´arkhonim'' (1959).
[[File:Ephraim Kishon 2001 Dortmund.jpg|thumb|left|Ephraim Kishon at a simultaneous game of chess by [[Vladimir Kramnik]], Dortmund 2001, left at the back of Kishon the President of the German Chess Federation ({{Interlanguage link|Alfred Schlya|de}}).]]
Kishon's books have been translated into 37 languages and sold particularly well in  Germany. Kishon rejected the idea of universal guilt for the [[Holocaust]]. He said: “It gives me great satisfaction to see the grandchildren of my executioners queuing up to buy my books.”<ref>{{cite web |date=2018 |title=Ephraim Kishon 1924 - 2005 |url=https://www.ephraimkishon.com/bio |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Ephraim Kishon: Official website |publisher=}}</ref> Until his death in 1979, [[Friedrich Torberg]] translated his work into German. Thereafter Kishon did the German translations himself.

== Chess ==
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 50017 ephraim kishon.jpg|thumb]]
Kishon was a lifelong chess enthusiast, and took an early interest in [[computer chess|chess-playing computers]]. In 1990, German chess computer manufacturer Hegener & Glaser together with Fidelity produced the ''Kishon Chesster'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~tluif/chescom/EngKishChster.html |title=Kishon Chesster |publisher=Xs4all.nl |access-date=2013-04-17}}</ref> a chess computer distinguished by the spoken comments it would make during a game. Kishon wrote the comments to be humorous, but were also carefully chosen to be relevant to chess and the position in the game.<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2175 Ephraim Kishon (Chessbase.com news)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050910100010/http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2175 |date=2005-09-10 }}— biography and involvement with chess computers</ref>

==Books, plays, and films==
===Books===
[[File:אפרים קישון משחק קופסה.jpg|thumb|{{Interlanguage link|A package arrived!|he|חבילה הגיעה}}, a board game made to poke fun at the extreme, [[Kafkaesque]] bureaucracy one can encounter in Israel.]]

{{Div col}} 
* ''Ha-ole Ha-Yored le-Chayenu'' (1951)
* ''Thousand of Gadia and Gadia'' (1954)
* ''Ein Kamonim'' (1955)
* ''Do Not Worry'' (1957)
* ''Sketches'' (1959)
* ''It All Depends'' (1958)
* ''Be-Echad Ha-Emeshim''  (1961)
* ''He and She'' (1963)
* ''Somersaults'' (1964)
* ''Bone in the Throat'' (1966)
* ''So Sorry We Won!'' (1967), with illustrations by [[Kariel Gardosh|Dosh]]
* ''Gomzim Gomzim'' (1969)
* ''For''{{dubious|date=November 2023}} (1970)
* ''Oh, Winners'' (1970)
* ''Department of Ephraim Kishon'' (1972)
* ''Wole{{dubious|date=November 2023}} in the Screen'' (1973)
* ''Partachia my Love'' (1974)
* The Mark of Cain: A Bitter Smile from Besieged Israel (1976)
* ''My Family Right or Wrong'' (1977)
* ''Smile drought'' (1978)
* ''Family Book'' (1980–current)
* ''Jonathan Voyage'' (1981), children book
* ''The Cup is Ours'' (1981), children book
* ''Uncles on the Wires'' (1981), children book
* ''Unfinished Adventure'' (1981), children book
* ''Gum with Stripes'' (1981), children book
* ''Seven Comedies'' (1981)
* ''Satire Book I'' (1981)
* ''Arbinkea'' (1991)
* ''Satire Book II'' (1991)
* ''Satire Book III'' (1992)
* ''58 Sketches'' (1995)
* ''Ants War'' (1995) children books
* ''Hercules and the Seven Midgets'' (1995) children books
* ''The Taming of the Shrew Dog'' (1995) children books
* ''Hairy, Hell'' (1998)
* ''State Protocol'' (1999)
* ''The Redhead with the Key'' (2002) children books
* ''Book of Travels'' (2003)
* ''Partachia'' (2004)
* ''Picasso's Sweet Revenge'' (2004)
 {{Div col end}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 50218 ephraim kishon .jpg|thumb]]

===Plays===
{{Div col}}
* ''His Reputation Precedes Him'' (1953)
* ''Black on White'' (1957)
* ''Ha-Ketubbah'' (1959)
* ''No Word to Morgenstein'' (1960)
* ''Take the Plug Out'' (1968)
* ''Oh, oh, Juliet'' (1972)
* ''Salah Shabati'' the musical  (1988)
* ''Open for Renovation''  (2004) not yet seen
* ''The Policeman'' (2009)
 {{Div col end}}

Kishon's sketches and plays have been translated and performed on stages and television networks worldwide.

===Films===
Kishon expanded into cinema in the early 1960s. He wrote, directed and produced five feature films, all of them comedic /satirical movies. Three movies were nominated for major international awards including the Golden Globe award (two wins) and the Oscar (two nominations):
* ''[[Sallah Shabati]]'' (1964), [[List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film|nominated for Oscar for best foreign language film]]),<ref name="Oscars1965">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1965 |title=The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-11-05|work=oscars.org}}</ref> Israeli comedy film about the chaos of Israeli immigration and resettlement which was critical of the treatment immigrants to Israel received depicting immigrants being vilified by Ashkenazi Israelis.<ref name=Guardian /> This social satire placed the director Ephraim Kishon among the first Israeli filmmakers to achieve international success. It also introduced actor [[Chaim Topol]] (''[[Fiddler on the Roof (film)|Fiddler on the Roof]]'') to audiences worldwide.
* ''[[Ervinka]]'' (1967), written and directed by Kishon. The film, starring Topol, is a comical tale of a con man who falls in love with a police officer.
* ''[[Blaumilch Canal]]'', also known as ''The Big Dig'' (1969, nominated for Golden Globe 1971), an Israeli comedy which depicts the madness of bureaucracy through a municipality's reaction to the actions of a lunatic.
* ''[[The Policeman]]'', original Hebrew title  ''Ha-Shoter Azoulay'' (literally, ''Constable Azoulay'')<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066374/ |title=The Policeman |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=2018-06-29 |archive-date=2021-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111163535/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066374/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1971, [[List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film|nominated for Oscar for best foreign language film]],<ref name="Oscars1972">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1972 |title=The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-11-27 |work=oscars.org}}</ref> awarded [[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film#1970–1979|1972 Golden Globe for best foreign language film]]). It won several other awards, such as best foreign film in the Barcelona film festival and best director in the Monte Carlo festival. In Israel it is considered a cinematic classic.
*  ''[[The Fox in the Chicken Coop]]'' (1978), based on Kishon's satirical book by the same name (Hebrew: Ha Shu'al B'Lool HaTarnegolot), features many prominent Israeli actors of the time, most notably [[Shaike Ophir]] and [[Seffy Rivlin]]. The film takes a satirical, comic look at the old generation of Israeli politicians.

==Awards==
* 1953, [[Nordau Prize]] for Literature
* 1958, [[Sokolov Award|Sokolov Prize for Journalism]]
* 1964, Kinor David (David's Harp) Prize
* 1970, [[Herzl Award (Hungarian Jewry)|Herzl Award]] for Hungarian Jewry: for literature
* 1998, co-recipient (jointly with [[Nurit Guvrin]] and [[Aryeh Sivan]]) of the [[Bialik Prize]] for [[Hebrew literature]]<ref name=bialik>{{cite web|title=List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217143811/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archive-date=2007-12-17 }}</ref>
* 2002, [[Israel Prize]] for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society and the State of Israel<ref>{{cite web |title=Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipient's C.V. |url=http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsab/EfraimKishon/KorotHaimEpraimKison.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091019124022/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsab/EfraimKishon/KorotHaimEpraimKison.htm |archive-date=2009-10-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient |url=http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsab/EfraimKishon/NimukeyHashoftim.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091019124027/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsab/EfraimKishon/NimukeyHashoftim.htm |archive-date=2009-10-19 }}</ref> Upon receiving the prize, he remarked: "I've won the Israel Prize, even though I'm pro-Israel. It's almost like a state pardon. They usually give it to one of those liberals who love the [[Palestinians]] and hate [[Israeli settlers|the settlers]]."

Kishon was nominated twice for an [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] and three times for a [[Golden Globe]] Award. He won two Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film Awards, for ''Sallah Shabati'' (1964), and ''[[The Policeman]]'' (1971).

==See also==
*[[Bialik Prize|List of Bialik Prize recipients]]
*[[List of Israel Prize recipients]]
*[[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film#1960s]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}

*[https://www.ephraimkishon.com/home Ephraim Kishon: Official website] 
*[https://dramaisrael.org/en/playwright/kishon/ Ephraim Kishon] at Israeli Dramatists Website
*[http://www.ephraimkishon.de/en/Kishon.htm Ephraim Kishon – Biography, Satires, Obituaries, Photos, Prizes]
*[https://archive.today/20210912010759/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ephraim-kishon-8z2qr0cq0f6 Ephraim Kishon] Obituary, [London], The Times, February 2, 2005
*[https://archive.today/20211227174647/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lives-remembered-6vhcrz0jttf#selection-727.0-727.16 Lives Remembered] Comments by Irene Lancaster  and Victor Ross on the Times obituary. [London], The Times, [February 8, 2005]
*[https://archive.org/details/funniestmaninwor0000kish_m7z0/mode/2up The funniest man in the world: the wild and crazy humor of Ephraim Kishon] at [[Internet Archive]]. 1989 New York, Shapolsky Publishers; London, Prion  
*{{Google books|DWvgtVWvMr0C|More of the Funniest Man in the World: the wild and crazy humor of Ephraim Kishon|page=0}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0457246|name=Ephraim Kishon}}

{{Ephraim Kishon}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kishon, Ephraim}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:Hungarian Jews in Israel]]
[[Category:Hungarian Holocaust survivors]]
[[Category:Hungarian emigrants to Israel]]
[[Category:Israel Prize for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society recipients]]
[[Category:Israeli male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Israeli expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Israeli film directors]]
[[Category:Israeli humorists]]
[[Category:Israeli satirists]]
[[Category:Israeli columnists]]
[[Category:Israeli satirical columnists]]
[[Category:Israeli male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Israeli male journalists]]
[[Category:Satirical film directors]]
[[Category:Israeli satirical novelists]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli screenwriters]]
[[Category:Jewish concentration camp survivors]]
[[Category:Jewish escapees from Nazi concentration camps]]
[[Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Maariv (newspaper) people]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli screenwriters]]
[[Category:Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery]]
[[Category:Sokolov Award recipients]]
[[Category:Bialik Prize recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century Hungarian Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century Hungarian Jews]]