Ferenc Andai is one of approximately 6,000 Jewish Hungarian men conscripted to work as forced labourers in the copper mines of Bor, Serbia, between 1943 and 1944. Subject to the whims of cruel Hungarian commanders and German overseers, the men are forced to work to exhaustion while they subsist on a starvation diet. For nineteen-year old Ferenc, the only relief from his harsh reality is his company — an artistic and literary circle of men that includes the inspirational poet Miklós Radnóti.

Ferenc Andai (1925–2013) was born in Budapest, Hungary. He arrived in Canada in 1957, where he obtained an MA in Slavic Studies from the Université de Montréal and a teaching diploma from McGill University. He also earned his PhD in history (summa cum laude) from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Ferenc was a history teacher and then head of a high school social science department. His book Mint tanu szólni: bori történet (To Bear Witness: A Story of Bor) was published by Ab Ovo in 2003 and awarded the Radnóti Miklós National Prize in 2004.

Ferenc Andai's profile page