Elena Meerovna Akselrod ( rus, Еле́на Ме́еровна Аксельро́д, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə ˈmʲejɪrəvnə ɐksʲɪlʲˈrot, a=Elena Meerovna Akselrod.ru.oga; be, Алена Меераўна Аксельрод; born 1932 in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) is a Russian poet and translator. She is the daughter of noted artist

Meer Akselrod Meer Moiseevich Akselrod, also Meyer Axelrod (1902–1970) (Russified form of the first name Mark) was a Belarusian Painting, painter best known for his watercolor paintings of Jewish life in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Life Akse ...

, and wrote a monograph about her father.Elena Akselrod. ''Meer Akselrod'', tr. Amanda Calvert, Jerusalem, Mesilot, 1993, , 248p.

Biography

Akselrod was born in Minsk in 1932. Her father was the artist

and her mother was the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

poet, Riva Rubina. Her uncle Zelik Akserlod was also a Yiddish poet; he tried to protest against closure of Yiddish schools in

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 was arrested and eventually executed during the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

retreat from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

in 1941. Elena Akselrod graduated from the literary department of Moskovsky Pedagogichesky Institute (Moscow Pedagogical Institute) in 1954, and made her début as a translator in 1955. She published her first book of poetry for children in 1961 - since then she has written a further seven books of poetry. During Soviet times she worked as translator, translating from Yiddish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, English, and other languages. She translated the works of her mother Riva Rubina. Since 1991 Akselrod has lived in Israel, where she has written books and translated others from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Her work is published in Israel, the United States, and Russia. She wrote a study on the art of her father Meer Akselrod, which made him known outside of Russia. In 2008, her book of memoirs ''A Yard on Barrikadny street'' was published.russian: Двор на Баррикадной. Елена Аксельрод
. Дата выхода: 2008. Издательство: М: Новое литературное обозрение Her son is Russian-Israeli artist Michael Yachilevich.

References

Sources

Стихи Елены Аксельрод
Poetry of Elena Akselrod * Ю. Герчук Меер Аксельрод («Общая тетрадь. Три поколения семьи Аксельрод. (Т. 1: Меер Аксельрод. Графика. Зелик Аксельрод. Стихи. Т. 2: Михаил Яхилевич. Живопись. Елена Аксельрод. Стихи.)») Москва. ГМИИ им. Пушкина. (Three generations of Akselrod family. Pushkin Museum in Moscow)
Иерусалимская антология, «Имена: Елена Аксельрод»
Jerusalem anthology. Names: Elena Akselrod {{DEFAULTSORT:Akselrod, Elena 1932 births Living people Writers from Minsk Belarusian Jews Russian women poets Soviet women poets Soviet poets 20th-century Russian women writers Belarusian women writers 20th-century Belarusian writers