Sandor Berger

Sandor Berger (1925-2006) was an outsider writer born in Hungary in 1925.

Berger was taken to Auschwitz concentration camp with his family in 1944, and later to Ohrdruf concentration camp, a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. He was liberated in 1946 and returned to Hungary before moving to Germany. In 1949 he moved to Australia.

In the early 1950s Berger moved to Sydney. He worked at many jobs, but was driven to self-publish many books and booklets of poetry, as well as his letters to newspaper editors.

In 1964 Berger featured in a television documentary The Glittering Mile.

Berger had life-long battles with the authorities and served time in prison. It is uncertain what medical diagnoses were made, but he appears to have suffered from a persecution complex for much of his life in Australia. He was a well-known sight on Sydney streets, wearing a placards and handing out leaflets with the message ‘Psychiatry is Evil’.

Sandor Berger died in 2006.