According to news reports of the time, Simon Perris (also known as Ali Mahmud) was born in either Congo or Senegal and came to Hungary when he was a little boy. Originally he was a servant for a Turkish man who lived in Budapest.
After his master’s death, he worked as a porter at a cinema in Nagyvárad (now Oradea) and spoke fluently Hungarian, reportedly very skillful at using colorful insults. While certainly a curiosity in early 20th century Hungary, he was apparently well-liked in the city for his good humor and he was also very patriotic and proud about Hungary.
Ali Mahmud applied to join the Austro-Hungarian army but was rejected because he was a foreign national. But he didn’t give up. He repeatedly tried to apply again, even going to the Secretary of Defense. According to a news article of the time, he declared “I am very ashamed that as a Hungarian I have to sit at home when others can fight. I want to fight for my homeland.”
Eventually, he was accepted into the army and fought on the Russian front in 1915, earning several military awards and was promoted to corporal.
It was during this time that this photo made it to the front page of various newspapers. They wrote: “a man with a completely black face is walking down the streets of Budapest in Hungarian military uniform”. He was described as a szerecsen (Saracen).
When an officer asked him why he wanted to become a soldier, Ali Mahmud replied “because I want to merit a Hungarian girl!”. Sadly there are no later records of him, whether he survived or married someone. Hopefully, he found a Hungarian woman and lived a happy life.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/only-black-soldier-of-austro-hungarian-empire/
One expects that, lacking records of death or survival, death is more likely in WW1 - but I too hope he found his nice Hungarian girl and settled down!
Austro-Hungary is a bit of an odd one here, because unlike most of the other major European powers of the time, it had no colonial holdings in Africa - so Mr. Perris/Mahmud’s presence and upbringing in Hungary was rather exceptional and unusual.
Also “reportedly very skillful at using colorful insults” is when you know you’ve achieved true fluency in a language
