Moysey (Moses) Abramovich Fishbein ( uk, Мойсей Абрамович Фішбейн; 1 December 1946 – 26 May 2020) was an influential
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
and
translator
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
of
Jewish
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""The ...
origin.
[
]
Biography
Moysey Fishbein was born on 1 December 1946 in Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the u ...
(then a city in the Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
).[ He graduated in ]philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
in 1976 from Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
Pedagogical Institute.[ He later was an editor at the ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia''. The early works of the young poet were noted and supported by famous Ukrainian author ]Mykola Bazhan
Mykola Platonovych Bazhan (; – 23 November 1983) was a Soviet Ukrainian writer, poet, highly decorated political and public figure. He was an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1951), Merited Science Specialist o ...
, who played a significant role in promoting Fishbein's first publications.
In 1979 Fishbein was forced to make ''Aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...
'' to the State of Israel, for his role as a Soviet dissident
Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until ...
. The limited opportunities for an author of Ukrainian poetry
Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language.
Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...
in Israel caused him to make ''Yerida
Yerida ( he, ירידה ''yerida'', "descent") is emigration by Jews from the State of Israel (or in religious texts, Land of Israel). Yerida is the opposite of aliyah (, lit. "ascent"), which is immigration by Jews to Israel. Zionists are gener ...
'' to West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1982.[ There Fishbein worked as a journalist at the ]Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora comprises Ukrainians and their descendants who live outside Ukraine around the world, especially those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Uk ...
magazine ''Suchasnist'' ("Our Times"), as well as giving Ukrainian and Russian broadcasts of Radio Liberty
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
between 1982 and 1995.[''Краткая еврейская энциклопедия, том 9, кол. 196–197'', (Jewish Encyclopedia, Society for Research on Jewish Communities, in Russian)]
After the collapse 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 ...
, the poet returned to Ukraine in 2003.[
Moysey Fishbein considered himself a ]Ukrainian nationalist
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and it also refers to the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The nation building that arose as nationalism grew following the French Revol ...
and took an active part in the social and political life of Ukraine. His speech on the requiem-meeting about the Holodomor tragedy in 2006 was often cited among the Ukrainians. In March 2008, the poet received a special award from Head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
, native_name_lang = uk
, caption_background =
, image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG
, imagewidth =
, type = Particular church (sui iuris)
, alt =
, caption = St. George's ...
for "zeal for God’s Glory and his great contribution in informing the public of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky
Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; uk, Митрополит Андрей Шептицький; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure span ...
i’s and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church clergy’s sacrificial efforts to rescue Jews
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""The ...
during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
."
The author was a member of the Writer's Union of Ukraine
The National Writers' Union of Ukraine ( uk, Національна спілка письменників України) (''НСПУ'') is a voluntary social-creative association of professional writers, poets, prose writers, playwrights, crit ...
and Ukrainian center of International PEN Club
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...
.[
According to the '' Jewish Encyclopedia'', Fishbein helped to organize medical treatment in Israel and later in West Germany for the Ukrainian children injured by the Chernobyl disaster.]
Fishbein died on 26 May 2020, aged 73.[Ukrainian writer Moysey Fishbein has died]
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...
(26 May 2020) He was survived by his wife Olena. Also his 4 granddaughters and his daughters Aviva and Maria from his first marriage to Ludmila.[
]
Works
* "Ranniy Ray" ("Early Paradise") – collected works.
* "Zbirka Bez Nazvy" ("An Untitled Compilation")
One of the many books of poems and poetical translations of Fishbein was published in the "Suchasnist" publishing house in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1984.
The poet was one of the few Ukrainian authors, presented in the world anthology "Stanzas of the century" published in Russia at the end of 20th century.
Several of Fishbein's poems were translated into English by Roman Turovsky
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer, .
References
External links
Fishbein poetry in English
Fishbein poetry in Ukrainian
MOSES FISHBEIN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishbein, Moysey
Soviet dissidents
Writers from Chernivtsi
Bukovina Jews
1946 births
2020 deaths
Jewish Ukrainian poets
Ukrainian translators
Ukrainian poets
Ukrainian nationalists
Recipients of the Vasyl Stus Prize
20th-century translators