SOLOMON POLYAKOV-LITOVTSEV

SOLOMON POLYAKOV-LITOVTSEV (June 14, 1857-November 2, 1945)

            He was born in Mohilev Province, Russia.  He studied at St. Petersburg University.  From his youth he was active in the socialist movement.  Until 1921 he was living in Moscow, later in Berlin and Paris.  In 1940 he came to the United States.  For many years he contributed to the liberal Russian press.  He was the parliamentary correspondent for the Russian publications Rech’ (Speech) and Den’ (Day), among others, in St. Petersburg, and he also wrote for: Sotsialisticheskii vestnik (Socialist herald) in Paris and New York.  Over the years 1930-1939, he published articles and translations from Russian in Parizer haynt (Paris today) and also wrote for: Tog (Day), Forverts (Forward), and Novoe Russkoe Slovo (New Russian word) in New York.  Of his writings, the drama Labirint (Labyrinth) received the Ostrovsky Prize in St. Petersburg.  His Russian-language novel about Shabatai Tsvi, Messiia bez naroda (Messiah without a people), was translated into a number of languages.

Sources: Tsukunft (New York) (December 1945); Hadoar (New York) (November 9, 1945 [p. 42]; May 23, 1947); Jewish Book Annual 5707 (1946/1947), vol. 5, p. 103; Russian Jewry 1687-1917 (New York, 1966).

Khayim Leyb Fuks