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Biography of George Soros

Commentary by Dr. Ursula A. Falk

     

George Soros:  Philanthropist, Refugee, Self Hater

 

George Soros was born on August 12, 1930  (as Gyorgy Schwartz) in Hungary of two Jewish parents. This name change was made because of  anti-semitic persecutions. His father Tivadar Soros was a prisoner of war during and after World War I and eventually escaped from Russia to rejoin his family in Budapest. In his teens, after escaping the Holocaust and the Nazis, George fled Communist Hungary and eventually landed in England.  Like other refugees, he was impoverished but somehow was able to attend the London School of Economics.  He took whatever menial job he could get while studying philosophy and finance.  Among other “charitable” agencies, he approached a Jewish institution to see him through hard times.  They refused to give him anything and asked endless questions to prove that he “really, really” needed the help.  This made such a poor impression on him that he did not find it in his heart to contribute to Jewish causes once he was very much able to do so.  Instead he concentrated his philanthropic contributions on other often very questionable causes, supporting groups which had pseudo hidden anti-semitic flavors.  On the other hand he was extremely sensitive to any anti open anti-semitic verbiage.  On the whole, he did not agree with agencies that were overly bureaucratic, inquisitive of the poor and fault finding.  He was extremely liberal in his political outlook and because of this, possibly inadvertently “helped” groups that were against his Jewish brethren.  He supported black causes whose principals were known to treat the Jewish population with hatred, in spite of the fact that Jews were major protectors of impoverished blacks.  Politically, he gave large amounts to enable  Democratic politicians to win elections.

Ultimately George landed in New York.  He sent for his parents, and supported them.  Like many Europeans, they lived very simply and did not demand anything from their two sons.  Eventually he and his brother moved to New York. He made his fortune from there but built his fortune as a brilliant financier, knowledgeable beyond imagination.  Today at age seventy-nine he is the owner of eleven billion dollars.  He has contributed six billion to the causes that he finds worthwhile. 

Soros (the name means next in line - designated successor - in Hungarian, and in Esperanto it means “will soar”)  The name certainly befits his personality.  George was taught Esperanto from birth by his father.  There is an older brother Paul, a private investor and philanthropist who is a retired engineer, who headed Soros Associates, an international engineering firm based in New York, who established the Paul and Daisy Soros  Fellowships for Young Americans.

George Soros has been married and divorced twice, to Annaliese Witschak and Susan Weber Soros.  He has five children, three by his first wife and two with Susan.

There are many quotes from George Soros and two will be quoted here:  Stock market bubbles don’t grow out of thin air.  They have a solid basis in reality, but reality as distorted by a misconception.

I’m not doing my philanthropic work, out of any kind of guilt, or any need to create good public relations.  I’m doing it because I can afford to do it, and I believe in it.

Lehitraot. 

Dr. Ursula A. Falk is a psychotherapist in private practice and the co-author, with Dr. Gerhard Falk, of  Deviant Nurses & Improper Patient Care (2006).

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