EMANUEL KAZAKEVITSH (EMMANUIL KAZAKEVICH)

EMANUEL KAZAKEVITSH (EMMANUIL KAZAKEVICH) (February 24, 1913-September 22, 1962)

            He was Yiddish and Russian poet and novelist, born in Kremenchug, Ukraine, the son of Henekh Kazakevitsh. He graduated from the Kharkov machine-building polytechnic in 1930. He began writing while still in his student years. In 1931 he traveled with his parents to Birobidzhan where he worked as chairman of a collective farm and managed a construction project. He was a cofounder and director of the Yiddish theater in Birobidzhan and a member of the editorial board of Birobidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star). He published his first collection while in Birobidzhan, generally believed to be the first book published there. During the mass arrests of the late 1930s, he fled from Birobidzhan in 1937 and hid out in the Moscow environs, working on new writing. Ignoring his poor health, he succeeded in during WWII in reaching the rank of commander of an intelligence division, and he received commendations for heroism. Early on he began writing in Yiddish. His contributions to Yiddish literature, especially poetry, were truly significant. The theme of Birobidzhan was distinctively present in his work. In the 1930s, he published several collections, and the Birobidzhan theater staged his play Milkh un honik (Milk and honey). He contributed work to Forpost (Outpost) in Birobidzhan, and his poetry appeared as well in: Birebidzhan (Birobidzhan) (Moscow, 1936); Farn heymland in shlakht (For the homeland in battle) (Moscow: Emes, 1941); and Af naye vegn (On new roads); among others. His works would include: Birobidzhanboy (Construction of Birobidzhan), poetry (Birobidzhan: Gezerd, 1932), 62 pp.; Groyse velt, lider, poemes, un geshikhtes (Wide world, poetry and stories) (Moscow: Emes, 1939),134 pp.; Der veg keyn birobidzhan, rayze-bilder (The road to Birobidzhan, travel images) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 28 pp.; Sholem un khave, roman in ferzn (Sholem and Eve, a novel in verse) (Moscow: Emes, 1941), 205 pp.; Grine shotns (Green shadows), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1947), 129 pp., second edition (Warsaw, 1954), published in Russian as Zvezda (The star)—winner of the Stalin Prize of 1948; Birobidzhan, an algemeyne iberzikhṭ fun der idisher avtonomer gegnt (Birobidzhan, a general overview of the Jewish Autonomous Region), with Dovid Bergelson (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 39 pp.—the first edition is in standard Yiddish spelling, the second (same year) in Soviet Yiddish. He translated the majority of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Oysgeveylte verk (Selected works) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 158 pp., with a lengthy introduction; he also translated works by Pushkin and Lermontov. From 1945 he switched entirely into Russian and became known as a first-rate Russian novelist. Into Yiddish were translated his Russian novels: Vesna na Odere (Springtime on the Oder, 1949) as Friling afn taykh oder (Montevideo: Unzer fraynt, 1950), 478 pp.; Dom na ploshchadi (The house on the square, 1957) as Dos hoyz afn shtot-plats, trans. P. Kats (Buenos Aires: Heymland, 1957), 372 pp. Other Russian-language novels include: Dvoe v stepi (Two on the Steppe, 1949); Serdtse druga (The heart of a friend, 1953); Pri svete dnia (The light of day, 1961); and Siniaia tetrad' (The blue notebook, 1961). He died in Moscow. “Almost all of his poems,” noted Nakhmen Mayzil, “like his novels, possess autobiographical tendencies. Nature depictions of Birobidzhan are mixed in continuously with deep intimacy and motifs of heartfelt love.” Kazakevitsh’s postwar work was primarily built upon his experiences during WWII. Jewish typology is almost altogether avoided in these writings.

Sources: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index; Nakhmen Mayzil, in Yidishe kultur (New York) 8 (1950); A. Bik, Vort un tsayt, eseyen (Word and time, essays) (Buenos Aires: IKUF, 1951), pp. 216-17; Yidishe shriftn (Warsaw) (October 1962); Y. Emyot, In mitele yorn, eseyen, dertseylungen, lider (In middle age, essays, stories, poems) (Rochester: Jewish Community Council, 1963), pp. 20-24; H. Smolyar, Vu bistu khaver sidorov? (Where are you, Comrade Sidorov?) (Tel Aviv, 1975), pp. 265-71; M. Altshuler, Yahadut berit-hamoatsot baaspaklarya shel itonut yidish bepolin, bibliyografya 1945-1970 (The Jews of the Soviet Union from the perspective of the Yiddish press in Poland, bibliography) (Jerusalem, 1975), pp. 815-16; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Dr. Eugene Orenstein

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 470; 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. 312-13.]