YEKHIEL FALIKMAN (December 31, 1911-June 10 [or May 9?], 1977)
He was a prose
author, born in the town of Lubar (Lyubar), Zhytomyr district, Ukraine, to a farming
family. From an early age, he demonstrated a penchant for painting and wrote
poetry as well. He completed a seven-year school in Lyubar. He went on to study
at the Kiev Art School from 1928. He did not graduate but went to work at a
steel foundry in the “Bolshevik” machine-manufacturing factory in Kiev. His
literary activity began in 1931 in Kiev, when he debuted in print in the
Kharkov journal Di royte velt (The
red world) with a story entitled “Di stepes shitn zikh” (The steppes are
crumbling). This piece provided early evidence of his later style: a talent for
broad epic description, complex subject matter, realistic imagery, and romantic
pathos. The editor of Di royte velt,
Henekh Kazakevitsh, welcomed this young writer’s debut with a congratulatory
note. Kazakevitsh was then appointed editor-in-chief of Birobidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star), and he summoned Falikman
to join him there. He spent 1932-1933 in Birobidzhan as a contributor to the
newspaper. As a result of his time spent in Birobidzhan, he brought out his
first book: Tsvishn spokes, dertseylungen
(Amid the hills, stories) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers
for National Minorities, 1937), 277 pp., second edition
(Minsk, 1938), 280 pp.; a later book also concerned Birobidzhan, Onheyb friling, dertseylungen un noveln
(Beginning of spring, stories and novellas) (Kiev-Lvov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1940), 267 pp. During the years of WWII, he worked as a military
correspondent for various army newspapers at the Russian front. He composed a
series of war stories which were compiled in his book, Libe un fayer, front-dertseylungen (Love and fire, stories of the
front) (Moscow: Emes, 1943), 88 pp. From that point, his basic work was
dedicated to the war, the tragic fate that millions of people faced, the
Holocaust of the Jewish people, and the heroism of its best sons and daughters.
For his military distinctions at various fronts against the Germans, he was
awarded medals and the rank of major of the guard. His novels—Di shayn kumt fun mizrekh, roman (The
light comes from the East, a novel) (Moscow: Emes, 1948), 538 pp., second
edition (Buenos Aires: IKUF, 1951), 472 pp.; Der shvartser vint (The black wind); Der urteyl iz oysgefilt (Judgment fulfilled); and Fayer un ash (Fire and ash)—formed a
tetralogy, in which Falikman reached an extraordinary level of depiction. Together
with these works, he published a series of other prose writings, originals and
translations into Russian and Ukrainian. The critics noted that it was
characteristic of Falikman to have a profound understanding of the historical
background, embodied in his writings. In the Yiddish literature of his day, he
was distinguished for the historical quality of his writings. About those
things which he should not have addressed in his writing—village life, the
shtetl, the city, the Taiga in the distant east—everywhere he described the fighting
strength, the struggle of good and evil, and the triumph of the good over the
malevolent. Already advised against war novels, which were not only for him a
socio-political and socio-historical theme, but also an ethnic one, it was the history
of the dreadful catastrophe of the Jewish people. He published stories in: Der shtern (The star) in Kiev; Tsum zig (To victory), Heymland (Homeland), and Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) in
Moscow; Af naye vegn (Along new
roads), Almanakh (Almanac), and Ikuf (IKUF [= Jewish Cultural
Association]) in New York (1948); and Folksshtime
(Voice of the people) in Warsaw; among others.
Among his other works: Mentshn fun mayn land, dertseylungen (Men of my country, stories)
(Moscow: Emes, 1945), 166 pp. He also translated by himself into Russian his
work Der geviter in tishaish (The tempest
at Tishaish [original: Groza nad
Tishaishei]) (Kiev: Radians'skii pis'mennik,
1957), 243 pp.—it also appeared in Ukrainian. He was a member of the editorial
collective of Sovetish heymland. He
was one of the most important Soviet Yiddish prose writers whom the
liquidations of 1948-1952 managed to avoid. Together with Note Lurye and Elye
Shekhtman, among others (from the generation of writers on the eve of WWII),
Falikman created the backbone of contemporary Soviet Yiddish prose. He died in
Kiev.
Sources: A. Velednitski, in Sovetishe
literatur (Kiev) (February 1938); Y. Nusinov, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (August 5, 1942); A. Kushnirov, in Naye prese (Paris) (July 27, 1945); A.
Kipnis, in Eynikeyt (Moscow)
(September 27, 1945); Yisroel Serebriani, in Eynikeyt (November 20, 1945); Noyekh Lurye, in Eynikeyt (April 20, 1946); N. Y. Gotlib, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (March 30, 1953); N. Mayzil, Dos yidishe shafn un der yidisher shrayber
in sovetn-farband (Jewish creation and the Jewish writer in the Soviet
Union) (New York, 1959); Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications
in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index; Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn
un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and
heroism) (New York, 1962); A. Heldes, in Sovetish
heymland (Moscow) (March-April 1962).
Benyomen
Elis
[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical
dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and
Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp.
288-89.]
