The missing years: Yiddish writers in Soviet Bialystok, 1939–41

Abstract

ABSTRACTFrom September 1939 to June 1941, Bialystok was a Soviet city that housed a group of Yiddish literati, notably refugees from German-occupied areas of Poland. This article describes the process of selecting among them people who professionally and ideologically fit criteria for integration into the Soviet Writers' Union. Special attention is paid to interactions between the refugee writers and their Soviet counterparts. Loyal Soviet citizens prior to their postwar repatriation to Poland and in most cases, sooner or later, emigrants to Israel, Western Europe, or America, these writers often appear in their memoirs to be critics of the Soviet regime. The Bialystok group of refugees included future leaders of central Jewish institutions in post-1945 Poland: Hersh Smolar (1905–93), chair of the Jewish Social–Cultural Association and editor of the Yiddish newspaper Folks-shtime (People's voice), David Sfard (1905–81), director of the publishing house Yidish-bukh (Yiddish Book) and editor of the journal Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), and Ber (Bernard) Mark, director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and editor of its journal Bleter far geshikhte (Folios for history).