Career
He is perhaps best known for being the father of businessman, investor, and philanthropist George Soros, and engineer Paul Soros. Soros fought in World War I and spent years in a prison camp in Siberia before escaping. He founded the Esperanto literary magazine Literatura Mondo (Literary World) in 1922 and edited it until 1924.
He wrote the short novel Modernaj Robinzonoj (Modern Robinsons) (1923), and ĉirkaŭ la morto (Masquerade (dance) around death), published 1965, an autobiographical novel about his experience during the Nazi occupation of Budapest, Hungary. has been translated into English, Russian, German, Turkish, and Hungarian.
He also wrote under the name Teo Melas ("Melas" is Greek for "black", just as "schwarz" is in German). His book ĉirkaŭ la morto details his struggles to survive the fascist invasion of Hungary.
Soros "masqueraded" to survive, adopting a fake name and using his connections, wealth, and skill to aid the flight of many people. He charged high fees to the rich in exchange for forged documentation they would need to escape the country.
He used this money in turn to provide materials to poor clients for free or for very small fees.