Alexander Lenard (Budapest, Hungary 1910 - Don Emma, Brazil 1972) wrote some good books - in German and Hungarian - about a village in Brazil populated by German settlers (Valley of the Latin Bear, One Day in the Invisible House). Beside writing of his experiences in Rome under fascism and during the Second World War, he also produced a Roman Cookbook. It was he who translated Winnie the Pooh into Latin, and won a quiz series on Bach in Sáo Paulo. He taught Latin and ancient Greek in Charleston and produced studies in linguistics in various languages as well as translating German writers into Hungarian. His essays on Hungary - in German - were addressed to his elder son, and he dictated his childhood experiences - in Italian - for the younger. He studied medicine in Vienna and worked as a chemist in his little Brazilian village. He played the piano and tended his garden. He spent his whole life fleeing the Nazis and the Fascists, finding shelter in dead languages and chamber music. He was convinced that the Brazilian jungle was the only place that would be spared by nuclear war. In 1968, he was accused of being none other than Dr Josef Mengele, the 'Angel of Death' in Auschwitz. This slander was picked up by the world's press and though noted writers and scientists protested against it, a year later and could no longer find employment in the United States and Brazil. The anxiety was too much for he died. - Gyöngy Spiró
