Rejtő Jenő (1905–1943)

Jenő Rejtő (Hungarian usage Rejtő Jenő) was the pen name of Jenő Reich, born to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. His parents were Áron Lipót Reich, a paper merchant, and Ilona Wolf. His brothers were Lajos Reich, later Lajos Egri, and Gyula Reich, later Dr. Gyula Révai. He attended elementary school and then a commercial high school, but left before obtaining his diploma. Being tall and muscular, he trained as a boxer. In 1924, age 19, he studied acting at the drama school of Szidi Rákosi. His first written works intended for publication were poems published under his pen name at about this time. After completing his studies, he traveled extensively in western Europe, living on odd jobs. Returning to Hungary in 1930, he edited a single-issue tabloid newspaper, Nagykörút, and then began to write numerous successful cabaret skits, farces, parodies, operetta librettos, and plays. He also published dozens of short adventure novels based on his travels and experiences abroad and American-style cowboy and detective novels. He also worked as a translator for the Nova publishing house, translating works from German and French, and wrote screenplays for several films. After the start of World War II, Rejtő published under various pseudonyms, but as a Jew could no longer work in film or stage productions. In October 1942, an article in the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross Party’s newspaper reported that he had not been called up for the labor service compulsory for all Jewish men of military age. Although he was seriously ill by this time, he was taken from the hospital to do slave labor on the Eastern front, into the USSR, where he died in early 1943. His writings were re-discovered in the 1960s and today are still highly popular with the Hungarian public and appreciated by literary critics. Many of his works have been reprinted individually or in collections, including manuscripts unpublished at his death.