| Zalka Mate |
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Zalka Mate was born in Matolcs, Hungary around 1898 His real name was Bela Fankl. He attended Polgari Iskola high school in Matezsalka, which was later renamed in his honour. (The name was later changed again when communism became unpopular). He lied about his age to get into the Hungarian army when he was 18 years old. Zalka fought in Italy which later became the subject of his book Doberdo. He went to battle on the Russian front in 1917 and ended up in a Russian prisoner of war camp. While he was in the war camp he organized the prisoners´ theatre and after his release he worked as a theatre director in Moscow. In Russia, Zalka was introduced to communism and when the war ended, instead of returning to Hungary he decided to stay in Russia where he met his wife Vera. They had one daughter, Talocska, who later died due to complications from the accident at Chernobyl). At some point he fought in a war of liberation for Turkey under the assumed name of Lukacs Tabornok (General Lukacs), and for hi efforts was honoured with a statue of his likeness in Istanbul. In 1930´s he joined the international brigade and led the 12th division against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. In 1937, his car was attacked and he was killed in Huesca, Spain. Some say that the attack was arranged by Josef Stalin, because Stalin was becoming jealous of his international popularity and fame. Zalka is mentioned by Hemmingway in one of his novels about the Spanish Civil War. His remains were originally buried in the south of Spain but decades after his death, Zalka´s nephew (who also fought in the Spanish war) was invited by the Spanish royal family to a ceremony celebrating the end of the civil war. At this point he was able to carry Zalka´s remains to Hungary where they were buried in a military cemetery in Budapest along with other high-ranking Hungarian military heroes. REFERENCES |