Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov (russian: Анато́лий Нау́мович Рыбако́в; – 23 December 1998) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Ukrainian writer, the author of the anti-

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

Children of the Arbat ''Children of the Arbat'' (russian: Дети Арбата) is a semi-autobiographical historical novel by Anatoly Rybakov set during the era of Stalin. Premise It recounts the era in the Soviet Union of the build-up to the Congress of the Vict ...

''trilogy, the novel ''Heavy Sand'', and many popular children books including ''Adventures of Krosh'', ''Dirk'' and ''Bronze Bird''. One of the last of his works was his memoir ''The Novel of Memoirs'' (Роман-Воспоминание) telling about all the different people (from

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

and

Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

, to

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (russian: link=no, Булат Шалвович Окуджава; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; hy, Բուլատ Օկուջավա; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musici ...

and Tendryakov) he met during his long life. Writer Maria Rybakova is his granddaughter.

Biography

Rybakov (the birth family name Aronov) was born in the city of Chernigov,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Chernihiv Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) in a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish family. In 1934 he was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

for three years. After the end of his exile, he worked as a transport worker. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was a tank commander. In 1948, he wrote the popular children's book ''Dirk'' (''Кортик''). In 1950, he published the novel ''Drivers'' (''Водители''), then in 1979, the novel '' Heavy Sand'' (''Тяжёлый Песок'') about the fate of a

ish family under

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation. ''Heavy Sand'' is an epic story of four generations of a Jewish family living in Communist Russia and its life in a

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

during the Nazi occupation, culminating in their participation in a ghetto uprising. Though the story of the ghetto uprising is fictional, some details of it seem to be based on the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. It is believed that the novel is based on numerous stories collected by Rybakov from people who survived Nazi occupation of Ukraine. This story was dubbed the "first Russian Holocaust novel" by one of the Western newspapers of the time. The book became a television series in 2008. His most popular novel, ''

'', was written and distributed via

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

in the 1960s, but was not published until 1987 despite having been officially announced for publication in 1966 and 1978 (in both cases publication was canceled at the very last moment by the Soviet government). The eventual publication of the novel and its 2 sequels – ''1935 and Other Years'' (''Тридцать пятый и другие годы'') (Book I of ''Fear'') (1989), ''Fear'' (''Страх'') (Books I and II) (1990) and ''Dust & Ashes'' (''Прах и пепел'') (1994) – were considered a landmark of the nascent glasnost, as the first in the trilogy was one of the earliest publications of previously forbidden anti-Stalin literature. Rybakov was a laureate of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

state awards. He was awarded the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

in 1948 and 1951. He received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. Almost all his books have been made into movies. Rybakov’s books have been published in 52 countries, with overall distribution exceeding 20 million copies.

Marina Goldovskaya Marina Yevseyevna Goldovskaya (russian: Марина Евсеевна Голдо́вская; July 15, 1941 – March 20, 2022) was a Russian-American documentary film maker known for her candid portrayal of people. Family Her father worked with ...

, a Russian-born documentary filmmaker, forged a deep friendship with Rybakov after meeting him at the French Consulate in Moscow. Goldovskaya filmed Rybakov for over a decade; In 2006, seven years after his death, she released her film, a documentary titled '' Anatoliy Rybakov: The Russian Story'' (''Анатолий Рыбаков: Послесловие'').

Awards

, 2nd class (1951) - for his novel "Truckers" (1950) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

, 1st class, twice (1985), and 2nd class *

Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR The Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR was an annual State Prize established by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in 1965. Three Vasilyev Brothers prizes were awarded annually from 1966 until 1990 for cinematographic works of all kinds ( ...

(1973) - for the screenplay of the film "Silent" (1971) *

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

English translations

*''The Bronze Bird'', Progress Publishers, 1975, and Fredonia Books, 2002. *''Heavy Sand'', translated by

Harold Shukman Harold Shukman (23 March 1931 – 11 July 2012) was a British historian, specialising in the history of Russia. Shukman was born in London to a family of Jewish immigrants escaping from the Russian Empire. His father, David Shukman, whose first n ...

, Viking Press, 1981. *''

'', translated by

, Little, Brown & Company, 1988. *''Fear'', translated by

Antonina W. Bouis Antonina W. Bouis is a German literary translator from Russian to English. She has been called "the best literary translator from Russian" by ''Publishers Weekly''. Life Born in West Germany, Bouis was educated in the United States. She has degre ...

, Little, Brown & Company, 1992. *''Dust and Ashes'', translated by

, Little, Brown & Company, 1996. *''The Dirk'', Fredonia Books, 2001.

References

External links

Writer Anatoli Rybakov: Records of Youthful Heroic Dreams

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rybakov, Anatoly 1911 births 1998 deaths People from Chernigov Governorate Ukrainian Jews Soviet novelists Soviet male writers 20th-century male writers Russian-language writers Russian male novelists Soviet Jews Jewish novelists Soviet military personnel of World War II Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery