Mathwar/Turan Paul
Paul Turan
Paul Turan (* August 28th in Budapest, † September 26th 1976 in Budapest)
Life
If times had been extremely hard for Turán up to 1938, then any appearance that they were about to get better was short lived for soon they became far worse. Turán had grown up during the years of World War I which had proved a time of great hardship. After the war ended, the Treaty of Trianon of 1921 saw Hungary's territory reduced to about one third of its previous size. As events moved towards World War II, Hungarian foreign policy looked towards Germany and Italy as allies who could help them to restore their lost territory. After the German invasion of Poland which began World War II, Hungary was not involved at first but was still greatly influenced by Nazi policies. In 1940 Turán was sent to a labour camp, and he was in and out of various forced labour camps throughout the war. This proved an horrific experience but, as we remark below, perhaps in the end his life was saved because of it.