Lahola was born into a Jewish family on January 30th 1918 in Prešov. His real name was Leopold Arje Friedmann.
He grew up in Orava where his family had moved to. He graduated from high school in Bratislava and signed up to study at the Faculty of Arts there. He was, however, unable to finish his studies due to the racist laws of the pro-Nazi regime that was in power in Slovakia from 1939 to 1945. He joined the Slovak army as a soldier and later volunteered for the labor camp at Nováky in order to follow his mother and brother. When the Slovak National Uprising began and the camp had been destroyed, he joined the battles of the Uprising. After he got wounded, he served as an army correspondent. After the war he became the editor in chief of the magazine Bojovník. In 1946 he left the editorial staff to devote himself to writing. In 1949, after his play Assassination Attempt received severe ideologically-motivated criticism, he emigrated to Israel. He didn't remain in Israel, but returned to Europe and settled in Germany where he worked as a screenplay writer and film director. Due to the fact that he hadn't become politically involved during his emigration he was allowed to return (in the second half of the 1960's) to Czechoslovakia and continue his film work. While shooting the film The Sweet Time of Kalimagdora Lahola died suddenly on January 12th 1968 in Bratislava.
