Abraham Sutzkever (997009327407205171) (cropped)

Abraham Sutzkever ( yi, אַבֿרהם סוצקעווער, Avrom Sutskever; he, אברהם סוצקבר; July 15, 1913 – January 20, 2010) was an acclaimed

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 ve ...

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 ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet of

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 Europ ...

Biography

Abraham (Avrom) Sutzkever was born on July 15, 1913, in Smorgon,

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate (1795–1915; also known as Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate from 1801 until 1840; russian: Виленская губерния, ''Vilenskaya guberniya'', lt, Vilniaus gubernija, pl, gubernia wileńska) or Government of V ...

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 Smarhon’,

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 ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, his family moved to Omsk, Siberia, where his father, Hertz Sutzkever, died. In 1921, his mother, Rayne (née Fainberg), moved the family to

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 urba ...

, where Sutzkever attended

cheder A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room"; Yiddish pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th ...

. Sutzkever attended the Polish Jewish high school Herzliah, audited university classes in Polish literature, and was introduced by a friend to Russian poetry. His earliest poems were written in Hebrew. In 1930 Sutzkever joined the Jewish

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth Social movement, movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hik ...

organization, Bin ("Bee"), in whose magazine he published his first piece. There he also met with wife Freydke. In 1933, he became part of the writers’ and artists’ group Yung-Vilne, along with fellow poets

Shmerke Kaczerginski Shmaryahu "Shmerke" Kaczerginski ( yi, שמערקע קאַטשערגינסקי; October 28 1908 – April 23 1954) was a Yiddish-speaking poet, musician, writer and cultural activist. Born to a poor family in Vilna and orphaned at a young age, Kac ...

Chaim Grade Chaim Grade ( yi, חיים גראַדע) (April 4, 1910 – June 26, 1982) was one of the leading Yiddish writers of the twentieth century. Grade was born in Vilnius, Russian Empire and died in The Bronx, New York. He is buried in Riverside Cemet ...

, and

Leyzer Volf Leyzer Volf (Yiddish: לייזער וואָלף; ; born Eliezer Mekler; 1910, in Šnipiškės, Vilnius – April 1943, in Shakhrisabz) was a Yiddish poet and writer of the Yung-Vilne movement, best remembered for his poems ''Black Pearls'' (19 ...

. He married Freydke in 1939, a day before the start of

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1941, following the Nazi occupation of Vilnius, Sutzkever and his wife were sent to the Vilna Ghetto. Sutzkever and his friends hid a diary by

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern po ...

, drawings by

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

and

Alexander Bogen Alexander Bogen ( he, אלכסנדר בוגן; born 24 January 1916 – 20 October 2010) was a Polish- Israeli visual artist, a decorated leader of partisans during World War II, a key player in 20th century Yiddish culture, and one of the trail ...

, and other treasured works behind plaster and brick walls in the ghetto. His mother and newborn son were murdered by the Nazis. On September 12, 1943, he and his wife escaped to the forests, and together with fellow Yiddish poet

, he fought the occupying forces as a partisan. Sutzkever joined a Jewish unit and was smuggled into the Soviet Union. Sutzkever's 1943 narrative poem, ''Kol Nidre'', reached the

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, ''Yevreysky antifashistsky komitet'' yi, יידישער אנטי פאשיסטישער קאמיטעט, ''Yidisher anti fashistisher komitet''., abbreviated as JAC, ''YeAK'', was an organization that was created i ...

in Moscow, whose members included

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

and

Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...

, as well as the exiled future president of Soviet

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, Justas Paleckis. They implored the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

to rescue him. So an aircraft located Sutzkever and Freydke in March 1944, and flew them to Moscow, where their daughter, Rina, was born. In February 1946, he was called up as a

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

at the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

, testifying against Franz Murer, the murderer of his mother and son. After a brief sojourn in Poland and Paris, he emigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, arriving in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in 1947. In 1947, his family arrived in Tel Aviv. Within two years, Sutzkever founded ''Di goldene keyt'' (The Golden Chain). Sutzkever was a keen traveller, touring South American jungles and African savannahs, where the sight of elephants and the song of a

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

chief inspired more Yiddish verse. Belatedly, in 1985 Sutzkever became the first Yiddish writer to win the prestigious

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

for his literature. An English compendium appeared in 1991. Freydke died in 2003. Rina and another daughter, Mira, survive him, along with two grandchildren. Abraham Sutzkever died on January 20, 2010, in Tel Aviv at the age of 96.

Literary career

Sutzkever wrote poetry from an early age, initially in

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 ...

. He published his first poem in ''Bin'', the Jewish scouts magazine. Sutzkever was among the Modernist writers and artists of the ''Yung Vilne'' ("Young Vilna") group in the early 1930s. In 1937, his first volume of Yiddish poetry, ''Lider'' (Songs), was published by the Yiddish

PEN International 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 Internatio ...

Club; a second, ''Valdiks'' (Of the Forest; 1940), appeared after he moved from Warsaw, during the interval of Lithuanian autonomy. In Moscow, he wrote a chronicle of his experiences in the Vilna ghetto (''Fun vilner geto'',1946), a poetry collection ''Lider fun geto'' (1946; “Songs from the Ghetto”) and began ''Geheymshtot'' ("Secret City",1948), an epic poem about Jews hiding in the sewers of Vilna.

Works

*''Di festung'' (1945; “The Fortress”) *About a Herring (1946) *''Yidishe gas'' (1948; “Jewish Street”) *''Sibir'' (1953; "Siberia") *''In midber Sinai'' (1957; "In the Sinai Desert") *''Di fidlroyz'' (1974; "The Fiddle Rose: Poems 1970–1972") *''Griner akvaryum'' (1975; “Green Aquarium”) *''Fun alte un yunge ksav-yadn'' (1982; "Laughter Beneath the Forest: Poems from Old and New Manuscripts") In 1949, Sutzkever founded the Yiddish literary quarterly '' Di goldene keyt'' (The Golden Chain), Israel's only Yiddish literary quarterly, which he edited until its demise in 1995. Sutzkever resuscitated the careers of Yiddish writers from Europe, the Americas, the Soviet Union and Israel. Official Zionism, however, dismissed Yiddish as a defeatist diaspora argot. "They will not uproot my tongue," he retorted. "I shall wake all generations with my roar." Sutzkever's poetry was translated into Hebrew by

Nathan Alterman Nathan Alterman ( he, נתן אלתרמן, August 14, 1910 – March 28, 1970) was an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Though never holding any elected office, Alterman was highly influential in Socialist Zionist politics, ...

Avraham Shlonsky Avraham Shlonsky (March 6, 1900 – May 18, 1973; he, אברהם שלונסקי; russian: Авраам Шлёнский) was a significant and dynamic Israeli poet and editor born in the Russian Empire. He was influential in the development of ...

and Leah Goldberg. In the 1930s, his work was translated into Russian by

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

Works in English translation

* ''Siberia: A Poem'', translated by Jacob Sonntag in 1961, part of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. * ''Burnt Pearls : Ghetto Poems of Abraham Sutzkever'', translated from the Yiddish by Seymour Mayne; introduction by Ruth R. Wisse. Oakville, Ont.: Mosaic Press, 1981. * ''The Fiddle Rose: Poems, 1970-1972, Abraham Sutzkever''; selected and translated by Ruth Whitman; drawings by

; introduction by Ruth R. Wisse. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. * ''A. Sutzkever: Selected Poetry and Prose'', translated from the Yiddish by Barbara and Benjamin Harshav; with an introduction by Benjamin Harshav. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. * ''Laughter Beneath the Forest : Poems from Old and Recent Manuscripts by Abraham Sutzkever''; translated from the Yiddish by Barnett Zumoff; with an introductory essay by Emanuel S. Goldsmith. Hoboken, NJ: KTAV Publishing, 1996. * ''Sutzkever Essential Prose''; translated from the Yiddish by Zackary Sholem Berger (A Yiddish Book Center Translation); with an introduction by Heather Valencia. Amherst, MA: White Goat Press, 2020.

Awards and recognition

* In 1969, Surzkever was awarded the

Itzik Manger Prize The Itzik Manger Prize for outstanding contributions to Yiddish literature was established in 1968, shortly before Itzik Manger's death in 1969. Manger "was and remains one of the best-known twentieth-century Yiddish poets." The Prize has been des ...

for Yiddish literature. * In 1985, Sutzkever was awarded the

for Yiddish literature. Sutkever's poems have been translated into 30 languages.

Recordings

* Hilda Bronstein, ''A Vogn Shikh'', lyrics by Avrom Sutzkever, music by Tomas Novotny Yiddish Songs Old and New, ARC Records *

Karsten Troyke Karsten Troyke (born ''Karsten Bertolt Sellhorn'' on 14 August 1960 in Berlin) is a German singer of Jewish songs, as well as an actor and speaker. Early life Troyke was born to a non-Jewish family, though his father Werner "Josh" Sellhorn ha ...

, ''Leg den Kopf auf meine Knie'', lyrics by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger,

Itzik Manger Itzik Manger (30 May 1901, Czernowitz, then Austrian-Hungarian Empire – 21 February 1969, Gedera, Israel; yi, איציק מאַנגער) was a prominent Yiddish poet and playwright, a self-proclaimed folk bard, visionary, and 'master tailor ...

and Abraham Sutzkever, music by

* Abraham Sutzkever, ''The Poetry of Abraham Sutzkever (Vilno Poet): Read in Yiddish'', produced by Ruth Wise on

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

Compositions

* "The Twin-Sisters" - "Der Tsvilingl", music by Daniel Galay, text by Avrum Sutzkever. Narrator (Yiddish) Michael Ben-Avraham, The Israeli String Quartet for Contemporary Music (Violin, Viola, Cello), percussion, piano. First performance: Tel-Aviv 2/10/2003 on the 90th birthday of Avrum Sutzkever. * "The Seed of Dream", music by

Lori Laitman Lori Laitman is an American composer who has composed multiple operas, choral works, and over 300 songs. Life Laitman was born in Long Beach, New York, in 1955.

, based on poems by Abraham Sutzkever as translated by C.K. Williams and Leonard Wolf. Commissioned by The Music of Remembrance organization in Seattle. First performed in May 2005 at

Benaroya Hall Benaroya Hall is the home of the Seattle Symphony in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It features two auditoria, the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, a 2500-seat performance venue, as well as the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Ha ...

in Seattle by baritone Erich Parce, pianist Mina Miller, and cellist Amos Yang. Recent performance on January 28, 2008, by the Chamber Music Society of Southwest Florida by mezzo-soprano Janelle McCoy, cellist Adam Satinsky and pianist Bella Gutshtein of the Russian Music Salon. * Sutzkever's poem "Poezye" was set to music by composer

Alex Weiser Alex Weiser is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Weiser was born in New York City to a Jewish family. He attended Stuyvesant High School and Yale University, and received a master's degree in Music Theory and Composi ...

as a part of his song cycle "and all the days were purple."

References

External links

Sutskever's work in English translation

Abraham Sutzkever among The Writers and Painters Group "Jung Vilna"

Catherine Madsen on Abraham Sutzkever's life
*
Mati Shemoelof on Abraham Sutzkever's documentary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutzkever, Abraham 1913 births 2010 deaths People from Smarhon’ People from Vilna Governorate Belarusian Jews Jews from the Russian Empire Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Jewish poets Israeli poets Belarusian male poets Israel Prize in literature recipients Israel Prize in Yiddish literature recipients Yiddish-language poets Vilna Ghetto inmates History of YIVO 20th-century poets 20th-century Belarusian poets 20th-century male writers Polish male writers Magazine founders Itzik Manger Prize recipients