| Count Laszlo Almasy |
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Count Laszlo Almasy, born 1895 in Borostyánkö, Hungary (now Bernstein, in Austria), was the loose inspiration for the character of the same name portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in the movie ' The English Patient '. During the 1920's and 30's, Almasy spent much of his time in North Africa mapping and exploring the desert, sometimes in conjunction with members of the Royal Geographical Society from England. At the outbreak of WWII, the knowledge of the desert he had obtained over the years became vital in terms of intelligence, offering the holder of the information a definite tactical advantage. A reserve officer of the Royal Hungarian Army, prior to the outbreak of the war he offered his services to the English, only to be turned down due to suspicions he was 'pro-Nazi' and possibly a double agent. He later offered himself to the Italians but was turned down again. Eventually he ended up working for the Germans to whom he was seconded by the Hungarians and their intelligence service, the Abwehr, being awarded the rank of Major in the German Air Force. Working with Rommel, Almasy provided the Germans with much needed information on the desert in which they were about to take on the Allies. Several times during the war, Almasy made daring attempts at crossing the desert with German officers in an attempt to establish intelligence centres at various locations. Amazingly these attempts succeeded and were testament to Almasy's ability to navigate the desert. Almasy was consumed with discovering the location of Zerzura - the Shangri-La of desert oases - and was a member of the Zerzura Club. This informal club was made up of members from all walks of life, all sharing a desire to find the same prize - Wadi Zerzura. Some of these members later went on to form one of the most famous military unit of WWII - the Long Range Desert Group, now known as the SAS. In 1936 at a dinner of the Zerzura Club - many of whom were members of Royal Geographical Society - a letter written by Almasy was read to the assembled diners. In this letter, to the surprise of many, Almasy revealed he had found Wadi Zerzura. From the description he gave it had in fact appeared, to those that knew that area of the desert quite well, that he had indeed found the prize so many had sought. The enigmatic, aloof Hungarian, who was a mystery to many of the RGS, had pipped them all at the posts - or so it had seemed. Many started to wonder if Zerzura did in fact exist. How could someone like Almasy - relatively unknown in the world of exploration - find something that had eluded so many for so long? It was later decided that Zerzura was simply a metaphor for a place that existed only in the minds of explorers - that undiscovered place they hope to find before anyone else. Unfortunately the character portrayed by Fiennes in the 'The English Patient' (adapted from Michael Ondaatje 's romantic novel of the same name) shares very few qualities with the real Almasy (see, e.g., Bierman; Totosy de Zepetnek). The count was tall, stooping and had a large hook nose, far from the dashing adventurer Fiennes plays. They did share one common ability though: both the real and fictional characters could fly. Almasy learnt to fly in Hungary during his early years and this ability helped him greatly during the war years as travel in the desert by land was very dangerous and often ended in death. Almasy died in 1951 of dysentery in Salzburg, Austria at the age of 54. He was relatively an unknown when he died. It wasn't until the book and movie ' The English Patient ' were produced did the story of this man begin to interest many. REFERENCES
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