ABSTRACT
In the mid-autumn of 1936, the official Soviet Arts Committee commissioned Peretz Markish to write a patriotic play about Soviet Jewish autonomy in Birobidzhan, which in May 1934 began to be called the ‘Jewish Autonomous Region’ (JAR). Markish’s literary engagement with Birobidzhan was not accidental. It was part of Birobidzhan’s ‘upgrading’, initiated by the central Soviet authorities in the second half of 1936. On 29 August 1936 the Soviet government issued a statement declaring that the establishing of the JAR ‘has justified itself completely and fully’. Critical readings of Ovadis did not only come from Mikhoels and his daughter, who clearly also had political motivations. In addition, there also seemed to be the problem of having selected a lesser talent like Norvid to direct in Birobidzhan GOSET what was supposed to be Markish’s homage to Birobidzhan.
