HENEKH KOYFMAN (1915-1942)
He was
born in Chernigov, Ukraine. He graduated
from the local seven-year Jewish school, before proceeding to Kiev to continue
his studies. In 1933 he became a student
in the Kharkov Jewish journalists’ technical school. After graduating in 1936 he moved to
Birobidzhan, where he wrote poetry and reportage pieces for the local Birobidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star). He served in the army 1937-1938. In 1940 he moved from Birobidzhan to Kiev and
worked in the editorial office of the newspaper Der shtern (The star). That
same year he brought out a collection that received positive reviews. Much of his poetry concerned Birobidzhan. He belonged to a group of young Soviet
Yiddish poets who died at the front during WWII. He was part of a military division defending
Kiev. He began publishing his poetry in
the anthology for beginning writers, such as Kinder-shafung (Children’s creation) (Kharkov, 1935) and Onheyb (Beginning) (Kiev, 1940). He published poems in: Forpost (Outpost) and Sovetishe
literatur (Soviet literature), among other serials. In Sovetish
heymland (Soviet homeland) (May-June 1963), several of his poems appeared.
Sources: Eynikeyt
(Moscow) (May 17, 1947); A. Pomerants, Di
sovetishe haruge malkhes (The [Jewish writers] murdered by the Soviet
government) (Buenos Aires, 1962), p. 266; Yankev Glatshteyn, Af greyte temes (On ready themes) (New York: CYCO, 1967), p. 204; Yeshurin
archive, YIVO (New York).
Berl Cohen
[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. 329-30.]
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