KopÁCsi, Sandor 1922-2001

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KOPÁCSI, Sandor 1922-2001

PERSONAL:

Born March 5, 1922, in Miskolc, Hungary; died March 2, 2001, in Toronto, Canada; immigrated to Canada, 1975; son of Joseph and Ilona (Simon) Kopácsi; married Ibolya (a clerk; December 28, 1944; children: Judy Kopácsi Gelberger. Education:University of Budapest, graduated; University in Political Science and Law, Ph.D. (cum laude), 1969. Religion: Presbyterian. Hobbies and other interests: Swimming, cross-country skiing, photography, and travel.

CAREER:

Writer and journalist. Lathe operator and draftsman, Diosjyor, Hungary, 1940-45; police officer, Miskolc-Budapest, Hungary, 1945-56; imprisoned in Hungary, 1956-63; safety officer, Solymar, Hungary, 1963-75; janitor, Toronto, Canada, 1975-87.

MEMBER:

International P.E.N. Club Center for Writers in Exile, American branch.

WRITINGS:

Au nom de la classe ouvriere kes mémoires du pret de police de Budapest en 1956, R. Laffont (Paris, France), 1979, translation by Daniel and Judy Stoffman published as In the Name of the Working Class: The Inside Story of the Hungarian Revolution, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1986.

Die Ungarische Tragödie, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (Stuttgart, Germany), 1979.

Az 1956-os magyar forradalom &eaucute;s a Nagy Imre per (title means "The Hungarian Revolution and the Imre Nagy Trial"), Magyar Öregdík Szövetség (New Brunswick, NJ), 1979.

Wegry 1956: 13 dni nadziei, Wydawnicza (Warsaw, Poland), 1982.

1984 Kalendarz entuzjastow, Wydawnicza (Warsaw, Poland), 1984.

(With Tibor Tardos) Életfogytiglan, Biblioteka (Budapest, Hungary), 1989.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and journalist Sándor Kopácsi was born in Miskolc, Hungary in 1922. He worked as a lathe operator and draftsman and then as a police officer until the mid-1950s. From 1956 until 1963, he was imprisoned. After his release, he worked as a safety officer in Solymar, Hungary until he immigrated to Canada in 1975. He worked as a janitor in Toronto from 1975 until 1987.

A member of the International P.E.N. Club Center for Writers in Exile, Kopácsi has written a number of books concerning the Hungarian Revolution. In the Name of the Working Class: The Inside Story of the Hungarian Revolution is one such book. Charles Gati, a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, called the book "eminently readable." As the only survivor of the Imre Nagy political group living in the West, Kopácsi, Gati noted, "offer[s] …new information about the secret trial of the Nagy group in 1958." In the Name of the Working Class "recounts Mr. Kopácsi's experiences within the party and the role he played in the events of 1956." Gati called the book "a timely and disturbing reminder of the events" it covers. Carlo Gebler, a reviewer in Books, called the book "fascinating." A contributor to Foreign Affairs noted the book's "swiftly moving narrative studded with vivid encounters." Ferenc Feher, in a review for the Los Angeles Times Book Review, stated that "Kopácsi's memoirs alone remain a singularly important document of modern political history."