ABSTRACT

This book deals with the work of fifteen young Jewish poets who were killed, died of wounds, or were executed in captivity while serving in the Red Army in the Second World War. All were young, all were poets, most were thoroughly assimilated into Soviet society whilst at the same time being rooted in Jewish culture and traditions. Their poetry, written mostly in Russian, Yiddish, and Ukrainian, was coloured by their backgrounds, by the literary and cultural climate that prevailed in the Soviet Union, and was deeply concerned with their expectation of impending death at the hands of the Nazis.

The book examines the poets’ backgrounds, their lives, their poetry and their deaths. Like the experiences and poetry of the British First World War poets, the lives and poems of these young Jewish poets are extremely interesting and deeply moving.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

Young Jewish poets who fell as Soviet soldiers in the Second World War

chapter 1|23 pages

Jack Althausen (1907–42)

Communist fanaticism against the background of family problems

chapter 2|8 pages

Vladimir Avrushenko (1908–41)

Complex poet and communist warrior

chapter 3|14 pages

Buzi Olevsky (1908–41)

Learned researcher of Yiddish culture, gifted Yiddish writer and poet

chapter 4|28 pages

Elena Shirman (1908–42)

Nothing sweeter than the body of a beloved man

chapter 5|12 pages

Motl Hartzman (1909–41 or 1943)

Dreams of a better life which never came true

chapter 6|15 pages

Leonid Vilkomir (1912–42)

Passionate poetry of work and freedom

chapter 7|17 pages

Hennikh Shvedik (1914–42)

The harsh destiny of the Jewish people and of one of its sons—a Jewish poet

chapter 8|13 pages

Aron Kopshtein (1915–40)

Death of mother as a lifelong trauma

chapter 9|12 pages

Leonid Shersher (1916–42)

Dreaming as a philosophy of life

chapter 10|14 pages

Pavel Kogan (1918–42)

Poet of romantic adventures

chapter 11|17 pages

Pinn Vintman (1918–42)

The poetry of death in war

chapter 12|23 pages

Boris Smolensky (1921–41)

Mature poetry of a young genius

chapter 13|13 pages

Vsevolod Bagritsky (1922–42)

The Second World War as a child's game

chapter 14|10 pages

Zakhar Gorodissky (1923–43)

Valor and hope in the heart of a young man

chapter 15|8 pages

Leonid Rosenberg (1924–44)

Affection for dear Mama as a refuge from death

chapter |11 pages

Conclusion

The genre of “death poetry”