EZRA FININBERG (November 17,
1899-November 22, 1946)
He was a poet,
prose author, playwright, essayist, and translator, born in Uman (Uman'), Kiev district, Ukraine. His paternal grandfather was a ritual
slaughterer, and his maternal grandfather an itinerant schoolteacher. Fininberg
studied in a “cheder metukan” (reformed religious elementary school), where for
speaking Yiddish one would get smacked. At age fourteen he was already
well-read in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian, as well as in European literature. In
1917 he was a cofounder of the Zionist socialist organization (later, known as
Fareynikte, or United [socialist parties]) in Uman. He remained a teacher until
1922. From 1923 he became completely dedicated to literature, having begun to
write at the age of twelve in Hebrew. He later switched to both Russian and Yiddish.
In 1917 he debuted in print in the Russian provincial press. From 1920 he lived
mainly in Kiev, and there, together with Moyshe Khashtshevatski, he edited for
a short period of time Litbletl
(Literary pages), a weekly supplement to the newspaper Komfon (Communist banner). His first collection of poetry, Otem (Breath) (1922), was very warmly
received by Yiddish critics in the Soviet Union, who remarked on his flaming
temperament and fine workmanship. His second collection, Lider (Poems) (1925), further fortified his place as one of the
best young representatives of contemporary Soviet Yiddish poetry, both because
of his form and because of his motifs, mainly those of the shtetl and
conditions in light of the new social spirit and also motifs based on the great
events of the time. The 1926 publication of his story Galop (Gallop) demonstrated that he was also a highly talented
prose writer. In these years the principal themes of his works were the civil
war, the pogroms against the Jews, and the shtetl in the first years of Soviet
authority. For his despairing pogrom motifs and for his inclination toward symbolism,
he took a beating from the vulgar sociological critics. Fininberg was a member
of the Kiev writers’ group Vidervuks (Renaissance) and later of the group
“Antene” (Antenna), also in Kiev, and he was one of the initiators (together
with Nokhum Oyslender, Lipe Reznik, and others) of the literary association
“Boy” (Construction), which he cofounded in Kiev in 1925, as well as secretary
and a member of the editorial board of the journal Di royte velt (The red world). In his play Yungen (Youth), staged at the time of the tenth anniversary of the
October Revolution at the Kiev Yiddish State Theater, he dramatized a series of
moments from the Russian Revolution, beginning in the year 1905. Aside from
articles, translations, and reviews (using such pen names as H. Soyfer, Fin, F.
Shtiler, and A. Miramin), in subsequent years he published poems, essays, prose
works, stories, translations, and dramas in such anthologies, almanacs, and
periodicals as: Shtern (Star), Di royte velt, Freyd (Joy), Shlakhtn
(Battles), Ukrayine (Ukraine), Farmest (Competition), Af barikadn (At the barricades), and In fayerdikn doyer, zamlung fun revolutsyonere
lirik, in di nayer yidisher dikhtung (In fiery duration, a collection of
revolutionary lyrics in the new Yiddish poetry) (Kiev: State Publ., 1921),
among others, in Kiev and Kharkov; Pyoner
(Pioneer), Komyug (Communist youth), Farn heymland (For the homeland), In shlakht (In battle), Yungvald (Young forest), Far der bine (For the stage), Sovetishe dikhtung (Soviet poetry), Shtrom (Current), Deklamatsye far der sovetisher literatur (Declamation for Soviet
literature), Tsum zig (To victory)
(Moscow: Emes, 1944), Heymland
(Homeland), and Emes (Truth), in
Moscow. He also co-edited
a variety of anthologies. Together with N. Oyslender, Noyekh Lurye, and others,
he put together a reader of Yiddish literature for school use. His articles concerned
such writers as Sholem-Aleichem, Yoysef Bovshover, Henekh Shvedik, and others. Following
the Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, he volunteered to be mobilized
into the Soviet army, took part in battles on various fronts against the
Germans, and was severely wounded. He died in Moscow from the wounds received
at the front within a year of victory in the war.
In book form: Otem (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1922), 31 pp.; Lider (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1925), 73 pp.;
Galop (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1926), 70
pp.; Bam dnyepr, pyese in 6 bilder
(By the Dnieper [River], a play in six scenes) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1928), 47
pp.; Land un libshaft, lider, 1925-1927
(Land and love, poetry, 1925-1927) (Moscow: Central Publishers, 1928), 125 pp.;
In fri fun yor (In early years)
(Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers, 1929), 172 pp.; Shlek (Nuisances), a revue in four scenes, with Itsik Fefer
(Kharkov, 1930), 142 pp.; Di krign doyern
(The wars continue), poetry (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1930), 239 pp.; Fuftsn lider (Fifteen poems) (Minsk: Byelorussian
State Publishers, 1934), 132 pp.; Shpil
(Play) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers
for National Minorities, 1934), 8 pp.; preface to Shike
Driz, Shtolener koyekh, lider, 1930-1933
(Strength of steel, poems, 1930-1933) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1934), 151 pp.; An erd an
andere, lider, 1930-1933 (Another land, poetry, 1930-1933) (Moscow: Emes,
1934), 204 pp.; Afn roytn plats, lider un
poemes far pyonern (At the red spot, poems for pioneers) (Kiev-Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities,
1936), 161 pp.; Slavik un garik
(Slavik and Garik), children’s stories (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 24 pp.; Zingevdik, 1933-1936 (Melodies,
1933-1936) (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 275 pp.; S’ken
nit zayn, a folks-mayse (It can’t be, a folktale) (Kharkov: Kinder farlag,
1937), 16 pp.; Lider vegn rakhves (Poems about comfort) (Moscow, 1938); Geshikhtes, mayselekh un
poemes (Stories, tales, and poems) (Moscow: Emes,
1939), 183 pp.; Lirik, 1920-1940
(Lyricism, 1920-1940) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 239 pp.; Fun shlakht-feld (From the battlefield) (Moscow: Emes, 1943), 94
pp.; In rizikn fayer (In a massive
fire), poetry (Moscow: Emes, 1946), 142 pp.; Geklibene verk (Selected works) (Moscow: Emes, 1948), 308 pp.
His translations in book form include: Aleksandr Neverov, Tashkent, di broyt-shot (Tashkent, city of bread [original: Tashkent, gorod khlebnyi]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1924), 143 pp.; Victor Hugo, 93er yor (The year 93 [original: Quatrevingt-treize (93)]), abridged translation (Kiev: Sorabkop, 1924), 88 pp.; Mark Twain, Tom soyer (Tom Sawyer) (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1927), 225 pp.; Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Dertseylungen (Stories), translated from Ukrainian (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1928), 167 pp.; Aleksandr Fadeev, Tseklapt, roman (Beaten, a novel [original: Razgrom]) (Kiev: Kultur lige, 1929), 234 pp.; Konstantin Paustovsky, Kara-bugaz (Kara-Bugaz) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1933), 237 pp.; Aleksandr Avdeenko, Ikh hob lib (I love [original: Ya lyublyu]) (Moscow: Emes, 1934), 214 pp.; Aleksandr Pushkin, Mayselekh (Stories) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1936), 89 pp.; Goethe, Faust (Faust), part 1 (Moscow: Emes, 1937); Shota Rustaveli, Der held in der tiger-fel (The hero in the tiger pelt [original: Der Ritter in Tigerfel (The knight in the tiger pelt)]) (Moscow: Emes, 1937), 47 pp.; Vladimir Mayakovsky, Oysgeveylte verk (Selected works) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 158 pp. In 1948 there appeared in Moscow a volume of his poetry in Yiddish and in 1957 a book of poems in Russian [see image below]. In the journal Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) 2 (1963), a part of his unpublished play entitled Nikolay petrovitsh (Nikolai Petrovich), from his posthumously unpublished manuscripts, was published. In manuscript there remains a volume of translations from world poetry and a number of essays.
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