(Ferenc Hoffmann), (born Aug. 23, 1924, Budapest, Hung.—died Jan. 29, 2005, Appenzell, Switz.), Hungarian-born Israeli satirist who after surviving the Holocaust and immigrating to Israel, wrote prolifically and gained a large and appreciative audience, notably in Israel and Germany. Kishon was imprisoned in a Nazi forced-labour camp in 1944 but escaped while being transported to a death camp. He moved from Hungary to Israel in 1949, changing his name on arrival. Kishon learned Hebrew and by 1952 had a weekly column of social satire in the newspaper Ma’ariv. He wrote more than 50 well-received and widely translated books, as well as plays and motion pictures. Two of Kishon’s movies, which he also directed, won Golden Globe Awards for best foreign-language film: Sallah Shabati (1964) and Ha-Shoter Azulai (1970; The Policeman). Both of these films were also nominated for Academy Awards. Kishon was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement in 2002.