George Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire

Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire

<File:GeorgeSorosBookCover.png> First edition cover
Author	Michael T. Kaufman
Illustrator
Country	New York, USA
Language	English
Subject	The life, work, and philanthropy of George Soros
Genre	Nonfiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	2002
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	344
ISBN	0-375-70549-X Search this book on .

George Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire is a non-fiction book by Michael T. Kaufman, released by Random House in 2002, that illuminates the early life, work, and philanthropy of one of the most enigmatic and globally influential financiers of our era.

Synopsys

A poor immigrant who made an immense fortune and became one of the greatest philanthropists of the twentieth century, George Soros has led a singularly exceptional life. As the first biography of Soros, and written with remarkable depth due to his cooperation, Kaufman's work begins with Soros's childhood as a Jew in his birthplace of Budapest during both the German and Russian occupation in World War II. It follows him through his education at the London School of Economics, to his unprecedented success on Wall Street after his move to America, and details his reasons for establishing his philanthropic Open Society foundations. The novel provides exclusive insights into the life of a man formerly mysterious and misunderstood, whose desperate struggle to escape the Nazis and survive their occupation, created an unwavering belief that the people of the world are entitled to live without the fear of oppression.

Outspoken, sometimes appearing contradictory, Soros has become one of the most globally influential men of our era. In his well researched and deeply insightful work, Michael T. Kauman, cast a broad light on a formerly mysterious life, and reveals both Soros's motivations, and his considerable contributions to the world.

The novel describes Soros's difficult times as an outsider in London after fleeing Budapest. Though he received an exceptional education at the London School of Economics, as a non-resident he was required to partially finance his education through odd jobs. While there, he was briefly mentored by Karl Popper who made a lifelong impression. His work as a London salesman, and stock trader, is detailed before his fortuitous move to New York where between 1967 and 1997 he began his own hedge fund. Eventually named the Quantum Fund, it became the most successful of its kind in history. His Theory of Reflexivity, borrowed from Popper, states that a person cannot fully know reality, as his own actions continuously alter it. The same concept is applied to his investment theory and he advises investors to strongly consider how other investors and outside influences affect the market and cause market trends which must be carefully analyzed. His personal life and his efforts to further human rights in Hungary, China, and Russia, complete the final section of Kaufman's autobiography.

Debunking Nazi collaborator theory

Kaufman debunks the frequently cited conspiracy theory that Soros collaborated with the Nazis during his youth in Budapest. As Kaufman noted, Soros once briefly worked as a courier for the Jewish Council, an organization set up by the Nazis that exclusively used young Jewish boys to distribute messages. One day George was required to distribute what appeared to be summonses to the homes of several lawyers that instructed them to report to the "rabbinical seminary on Rok Szilard Street" and to bring food for two days. The ultimate destination of those who received the messages was unknown to the recipients, and certainly unknown to the thirteen year old Soros. George's father Tividar allowed him to deliver the messages only once, but to warn the recipients that if they followed the instruction "they may be deported". Soros's father then convinced his son that he should quit working at the council and advised Soros that some rules should not be followed, even if it risked the horrific retribution of their Nazi occupiers.

60 Minutes interview

In another instance, which was the subject of a December 1998 interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" with Steve Kroft, George's father Tividar had George stay with a man named Baumbach while George posed as a Christian named Sandor Kiss. As an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Baumbach was one day tasked with assessing the "artworks, furnishings and other property", of Mor Kornfield, a wealthy aristocrat of Jewish origin and decided to take George with him rather than leave him alone for several days. Kornfield had formerly been able to leave Germany and flee to Lisbon. Kroft, in his "60 minutes" interview, inaccurately stated that Soros's father had "bribed a government official" to swear George was his godson, and than dramatically and deceptively added the narrative line that "as hundreds of thousands of Jews were being shipped off to the Nazi death camps, a thirteen year old George Soros accompanied his phony Godfather on his rounds, confiscating property from the Jews". Baumbach, working in an economy with few choices, only inventoried the property, and thirteen year old George had little knowledge that the Nazis might later confiscate it. George's father Tividar, upon hearing the story, removed George from Baumbach's care and attempted to hide his son elsewhere. In contrast to the horrifically misleading image of Soros's family provided by the 60 Minutes interview, according to Kaufman, George's father Tividar labored part-time selling false identity and visa papers to Jews that might allow them to flee Germany. It should also be noted that Tivadar Soros, as did Erzebet recorded their recollections of George's life well before the 60 minutes interview, and Tivadar died in February 1968, ten months before the interview aired on CBS. The Washington Post has written that Kroft's interview led to the "ugliest conspiracy theory about Soros", as it was reprised later in harsher form by Glen Beck for Fox News and was later expanded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to include the number of Jews supposedly killed by Soros.

Critical reviews

Anthony Gottlieb, writing in the New York Times Book Review gave a highly positive review, noting that while writing about such an unusually strong, unique, and deep personality as Soros, that Kaufman did far more than write a simple homage to a one dimensional saintlike hero. He concludes that "Thanks to this we have an extraordinarily vivid and colorful portrait of one of the most interesting and farsighted figures of our time-a man who through his achievements showed that one can build and use a fortune to help others live better and more wisely."

References

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