Born in Budapest, Hungary, on February 10, 1922, Árpád Göncz was an author, translator, anti-communist dissident, and politician who served as Hungary’s first post-Communist-era president. During World War II, he deserted the Nazi-aligned Hungarian military and fought with the resistance. In May 1957, he was arrested for his efforts in the Hungarian uprising of 1956 against Soviet rule and received a life sentence for treason. While in prison, Göncz taught himself English. Freed as part of a nationwide amnesty in 1963, to help earn a living he produced translations of such English-language writers as Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Mary Shelley, J. R. R. Tolkien, Susan Sontag, John Updike, and Alice Walker. His work as a writer includes plays, novels, and short stories, which are often political allegories. He was elected by the Hungarian parliament as president in August 1990 and reelected in 1995. After leaving office in 2000, he dedicated himself to charitable work. Göncz died on October 6, 2015.