Born in Budapest shortly before World War II, György Pauk suffered the loss of both parents in the Holocaust. He spent the remaining years of the War in the care of his grandmother in the Spartan confines of the Budapest Ghetto. Showing extraordinary musical talent from an early age, he began to learn the violin and was admitted to the Liszt Academy at the age of 13.

After winning several international violin competitions, Pauk defected from the Soviet-controlled Hungary, claiming asylum in Paris and becoming a ‘stateless person’ at the age of 22. He met and married his young Hungarian wife in Amsterdam. The couple moved to London on the advice of Yehudi Menuhin, gaining British citizenship in 1967.

Alongside his perpetual globe-trotting, Pauk has been a devoted husband (for more than 60 years), father and grandfather, and retains friendships across the world stretching back as far as the 1940s.

Published by GP publications, London, the book is available to purchase here, and all proceeds will be donated to young musicians’ charities.