Imre Kertész Biography: Wife, Height, Age, Net Worth, Nationality, Ethnicity, Religion, Parents, Death

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Imre Kertész was a Hungarian author and the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded “for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history.”

He was the first Hungarian to win the Nobel in Literature. His works primarily explore themes related to the Holocaust (having been a survivor of Nazi concentration and death camps), dictatorship, and the quest for personal freedom.

Profile

• Full Name: Imre Kertész
• Stage Name: Imre Kertész
• Born: 9 November 1929
• Death date: 31 March 2016
• Age: 86 years old
• Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
• Nationality: Hungarian
• Occupation: Hungarian author
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Aranka Jakab and László Kertész
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Magda Kertész (m. 1996–2016), Albina Vas (m. ?–1995)
• Children: Unknown
• Relationship: Married
• Net Worth: $1 million

Early Life And Education

Imre Kertész was born on November 9, 1929, in Budapest, Hungary, to a middle-class Jewish family. His parents, Aranka Jakab and László Kertész, separated when he was around five years old.

While it is unclear if Kertész had any siblings, there are no known details about them. He attended a boarding school and, in 1940, began secondary school at Madách Imre Secondary School, where he was placed in a special class for Jewish students.

In 1944, Kertész was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and later to Buchenwald, where he survived the horrors of the Holocaust. After being liberated in 1945, he returned to Hungary, where he completed his A-levels in 1948. Kertész was of Hungarian ethnicity and practiced Judaism throughout his life.

Career

Imre Kertész’s early career was shaped by the challenges he faced as a Holocaust survivor and the political climate in Hungary. After surviving Auschwitz and Buchenwald, he returned to Hungary, where he worked as a journalist for the newspaper Világosság.

However, due to the paper’s shift toward communism, he was dismissed in 1951. He briefly worked in a factory and then in the press department of the Ministry of Heavy Industry before transitioning to freelance journalism.

In the 1950s, Kertész began translating works by authors like Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Elias Canetti into Hungarian. His most famous work, Fatelessness (Sorstalanság), was written between 1969 and 1973.

The novel, which recounts the experience of 15-year-old György Köves in concentration camps, was initially rejected by Hungary’s communist regime but was eventually published in 1975. While some critics viewed it as autobiographical, Kertész denied a strong biographical connection.

Fatelessness became a key text in Hungarian literature, even appearing in high school curricula. In 2005, a film adaptation of the novel, which Kertész wrote the script for, was released.

Though the film shared the same title, some reviewers noted its more autobiographical nature compared to the novel. Following Fatelessness, Kertész wrote Fiasco (1988) and Kaddish for an Unborn Child (1990), completing his Holocaust trilogy.

Despite the impact of his works, Kertész faced limited appreciation in Hungary and eventually moved to Germany, where he found more support from publishers, critics, and readers.

In Germany, he continued his work as a translator, focusing on German writers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Arthur Schnitzler, while also producing his own fiction. However, it wasn’t until the late 1980s that he published another novel.

In his later years, Kertész struggled with various health issues, including Parkinson’s disease and recurring depression, which he had also explored in his writing. His 2003 novel Liquidation centers on a character who commits suicide after battling depression.

Despite these personal challenges, Kertész remained active in his writing and continued to receive recognition for his literary contributions, particularly after his move to Germany.

Kertész’s work, including his exploration of the Holocaust and personal freedom, earned him the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature. As the first Hungarian to win this prestigious honor, Kertész’s legacy as a writer who upheld the individual against the forces of history remains significant in global literature.

Social Media

Imre Kertész does not have any active social media accounts.

Personal Life

Imre Kertész was married twice in his life. His first wife, Albina Vas, whom he married in 1960, passed away in 1995 from cancer. The couple remained childless, as Albina was unable to have children.

In 1996, Kertész married Magda Sass, who was often his translator and a devoted partner in his later years. The couple moved to Berlin in 2003, where they remained married until Kertész’s death in 2016. Throughout his life, Kertész did not have any children.

Net Worth

Imre Kertész, the Hungarian Nobel Prize-winning author, had an estimated net worth of around $1 million at the time of his death in 2016.

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Throughout his life, his financial situation remained modest. He primarily relied on income from translations and journalism before gaining widespread recognition for his literary works, especially Fatelessness.

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