Jenő Rejtő

Jenő Rejtő (born Jenő Reich) was a prolific Hungarian journalist, novelist and playwright. He is best known for his books published under the pen name "P. Howard," many of them set in the 1930s French Foreign Legion. For that reason, Rejtő is often remembered as the immortal legionnaire. He was born in Budapest, then Austria-Hungary, on March 29, 1905. During World War II, after being exposed as a Jew by a Nazi newspaper, he was drafted to the Hungarian Army's labor service and dispatched to the eastern front in November, of 1942. He died on January 1, 1943 in Evdakovo, Russia (then under occupation by Axis forces) due to typhus infection. Although he had been initially dismissed as a pulp fiction writer, his books have survived the test of time. He is still one of the most widely read Hungarian authors who is popular among all age groups from preteens to the elderly. The staying power of his novels is primarily due to his memorable characters and offbeat humor.