Early life Máté Zalka (born as Béla Frankl), was a Hungarian Jew born on April 23, 1896, in
Tunyogmatolcs, Austria-Hungary. He received his education at Polgári Iskola, a high school located in
Mátészalka, where he later adopted his new name. Zalka was the natural son of Zsigmond Szalkay of Mateszalka.
Hungary in World War I Zalka lied about his age to volunteer in the
Royal Hungarian Honvéd at the age of 18 and fought in Italy and on the
Russian front during World War I, where he was taken prisoner by the Russians in 1917. Subsequently, he came under the influence of
Bolshevism and fought during the Russian Civil War against the White formations.
Russian Civil War Zalka formed an international group of
Red Guards in
Khabarovsk in February 1918 during the
Russian Civil War and fought against the
White formations in Siberia. Zalka also participated in the
Turkish War of Independence under the pseudonym "General Lukács." While he was a prisoner of war, he organized the prisoners' theater. He was director of the "
Theatre of Revolution" (now called the "
Mayakovsky Theatre") in
Moscow (1925–1928).
Spanish Civil War Zalka moved to
Spain in 1936 and joined the
International Brigades to fight in the
Spanish Civil War in November of that year. Under the assumed name of Pál Lukács and with the rank of General, he initially commanded the
XII International Brigade and later the
45th Division. In 1937, he was killed near
Huesca when his car was hit by artillery fire. Zalka is mentioned in a number of works by Hemingway. His remains were originally buried in the south of Spain. However, decades after his death, Zalka's nephew (who also fought in the Spanish Civil War) was invited by the
Spanish royal family to a ceremony celebrating the end of the civil war. He was able to carry Zalka's remains to Hungary, where they were buried in the
Kerepesi Cemetery in
Budapest along with other high-ranking Hungarian military officers. == References ==