Ivan Moscovich: Difference between revisions

'''Ivan Moscovich''' (14 June 1926 – 21 April 2023) was a Yugoslav-Hungarian inventor, designer and commercial developer of puzzles, games, toys, and educational aids.<ref>[https://www.jta.org/2022/03/01/culture/art-science-survival-at-a-mathematical-art-exhibit-by-a-jewish-inventor-it-all-adds-up Art, science, survival? At an exhibit of mathematical drawings by a Jewish inventor, it all adds up] By Lisa Keys, New York Jewish Week, 1 March 2022</ref> He wrote many books and was internationally recognized in the toy industry as an innovative inventor.<ref>[https://www.chitag.com/single-post/2019/04/09/ivan-moscovich-survivor-inventor-artist-and-inspiration Ivan Moscovich—Survivor, Inventor, Artist and Inspiration] People of Play Pop</ref>

 

Ivan Moscovich was born to [[Jews|Jewish]] [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] parents on 14 June 1926 in Novi Sad in the [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] province of [[Vojvodina]] and had a sheltered, middle class childhood.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-3865258083|title=The Puzzleman - der Rätselmann |last1=Moscovich |first1=Ivan |year=2018 }}</ref> His father, a professional painter, escaped into Yugoslavia after [[World War I]] and opened a photographic studio there which he named ''Photo Ivan'' after his son.<ref name=survives>{{Cite web|url=https://igorgoldkind.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/the-holocaust-survives/|title=The Holocaust Survives|date=13 April 2018}}</ref><ref name=survives2>[https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/fileadmin/user%20upload/aktuelles/2017/2017.05.03%20Reden%20Neuengamme%20eng.pdf Commemorative Ceremony on the Occasion of the 72nd Anniversary of the End of the Second World War and the Liberation of Concentration Camps] Reden Neuengamme, 3 May 2017</ref>

 

In 1941, [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia surrendered unconditionally]] to the [[Axis powers]] during [[World War II]]. Hungary occupied [[Vojvodina]]. In January 1942, Moscovich's 44 year old father was a victim of the [[Novi Sad raid|Novi Sad massacre]].<ref name=survives2/><ref name=wallpaper>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/art/cybernetic-art-at-the-hospital-club|title = On paper, Ivan Moscovich's cybernetic art is a bonafide modernist's delight|date = 25 September 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2002-05/master-mysteries Master of Mysteries: Ivan Moscovich likes nothing better than a riddle wrapped inside an enigma] By Charles Hirshberg, Popular Science,, 6 May 2002</ref> In 1943, Hungary started secret armistice negotiations with the Allied Powers which was discovered by Germany resulting in the German occupation of Vojvodina. Soon after, at the age of 17, Moscovich was taken to the concentration camp at [[Auschwitz]] with his grandfather, grandmother, and mother.<ref name=survives/> His grandparents were immediately taken to the [[crematoria]] and were killed.<ref name=survives/> While his mother remained imprisoned at Auschwitz, Moscovich was sent to [[Głuszyca|Wustegiersdorf]], one of the surrounding work camps, and put to work laying rail lines.<ref name=survives/><ref name=survives2/>

 

British soldiers liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yoz.com/wired/2.09/features/moscovich.html|title=WIRED 2.09: Master of Puzzles|website=yoz.com}}</ref> Moscovich, who had endured four concentration camps and two forced work camps, was sent to Sweden for recuperation, and while there he was reunited with his mother who had been liberated from [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex|Mauthausen]] by American troops.<ref name=survives2/>

 

Moscovich got his first job in [[Yugoslavia]] when a friend in Tito’s Ministry of Transport offered him a position repairing Yugoslavia’s railway system which had been damaged during the war.<ref name=survives2/> The job required a large, untested German machine using high electrical wattage to weld rail lines. By 1947, Moscovich reported directly to the deputy minister.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

 

During the time he worked the position, he received a medal from Tito himself.<ref name=survives/>

 

After finishing his university studies in mechanical engineering at the [[University of Belgrade]],{{when|date=May 2023}} Moscovich emigrated to Israel, where he initially worked as a research scientist involved in the design of teaching materials, educational aids, and educational games.<ref name=bigthink>[https://bigthink.com/people/ivanmoscovich/ Ivan Moscovich: Puzzle Master and Inventor] [[Big Think]]</ref>