Shmuel Halkin

Shmuel Zalmanovich Halkin (Yiddish: שמואל האַלקין; Belarusian: Самуіл Залманавіч Галкін, romanized: Samuil Zalmanavič Halkin; Russian: Самуил Залманович Галкин, romanized: Samuil Zalmanovich Galkin; December 5, 1897 – September 21, 1960), also known as Samuil Galkin, was a Soviet poet who wrote lyric poetry and translated many writers into Yiddish.

Shmuel Halkin
שמואל האַלקין
Halkin's grave with sculptural likeness in Novodevichy Cemetery
Born	Shmuel Zalmanovich Halkin (1897-12-05)December 5, 1897 Rahachow, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died	September 21, 1960(1960-09-21) (aged 62) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Resting place	Novodevichy Cemetery
Other names	Samuil Zalmanovich Galkin
Occupation	Poet
Relatives	Abraham Halkin (cousin) Simon Halkin (cousin)

Biography

Halkin was born in Rahachow, in what was then the Russian Empire (now Belarus) on December 5, 1897.^[1][2][3] He was the youngest of nine children in a Hasidic, Jewish household and a cousin of Simon and Abraham Halkin.^[4][5]

Halkin was interested in Jewish culture as a child, later as a young man he would become interested in painting and literature before ultimately deciding to become a poet.^[5][6] In his youth he wrote his poetry in Hebrew, but from 1921 onwards he wrote in Yiddish.^[7]

Halkin's first poems were published in 1917 in an anthology. He would then move to Moscow in 1922, after having lived in Kiyv for a year, where he published his debut collection Lider (Songs) with the help of David Hofstein.^[6][8][9] This would not only be the foundation of his career, but part of the foundation of Soviet Jewish poetry.^[10] These and his later works would earn his lyric poetry acclaim.^[11][2]

During World War II Halkin was a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and served on the editorial board of its journal Eynikayt, during which he wrote about the Shoah.^[1][8] Halkin would develop a cordial relationship with fellow committee member and neighbor Peretz Markish.^[12] He was arrested in 1949 alongside other members of the committee but was spared execution alongside them in 1952, likely due to a heart attack he suffered while imprisoned that hospitalized him. He would go on to be released in 1955.^[8][13]

Along with his original works, Halkin was known for translating the poems of Pushkin, Yesenin, Blok, Mayakovsky, Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear into Yiddish.^[1][8] The last of which was directed by Sergei Radlov and produced at the Moscow State Jewish Theatre.^[14]

Halkin supported zionism, and would be criticized for his advocacy of Jewish nationalism.^[9]

Halkin died in Moscow, Soviet Union on September 21, 1960, on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.^[1][15] He was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.

Following his death more of Halkin's works would be posthumously released, notably his work on the chorus of Mieczysław Weinberg's sixth symphony.^[16]

Musical settings

• Mieczyslaw Weinberg: 6 Jewish Songs op.17 1944, in Yiddish.

References

1. "Еврейский поэт Самуил Галкин". www.languages-study.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-12-08.
2. Jews and the Jewish People. Vol. 1–2. Contemporary Jewish Library. 1960.
3. Prokhorov, Aleksandr Mikhaĭlovich (1973). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Macmillan.
4. Krutikov, Mikhail (October 27, 2010). "Halkin, Shmuel". yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
5. Rubin, Dominic (2013). The Life and Thought of Lev Karsavin: "Strength made perfect in weakness...". Rodopi. ISBN 978-94-012-0914-4.
6. Gutsche, George J. (1989). "The" Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet Literatures: Including Non-Russian and Emigre Literatures. Academic International Press. ISBN 978-0-87569-038-4.
7. Branover, Herman; Berlin, Isaiah; Wagner, Zeev (1998). The Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry: Biographies, A-I. Jason Aronson. ISBN 978-0-7657-9981-4.
8. Ozerov, Lev (2018-12-04). Portraits without Frames. New York Review of Books. ISBN 978-1-68137-269-3.
9. Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (2010-01-07). Dictionary of Jewish Biography. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4411-9784-9.
10. סאָוועטיש היימלאנד (in Yiddish). סוָועטסקי פיסאטעל. 1987.
11. Rukhadze, Avtandil, ed. (1975). Jews in the USSR: A Collection of Articles. Novosti Press Agency Publishing House.
12. Markish, Esther (1978). The Long Return. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-24803-9.
13. Gromova, Natalia (2018-01-01). Moscow in the 1930s: A Novel from the Archives. Glagoslav Publications. ISBN 978-1-78437-973-5.
14. Zolotnistky, David (2021-08-29). Sergei Radlov: The Shakespearian Fate of a Soviet Director. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-36073-4.
15. "Shmuel Halkin, Prominent Jewish Writer, Dies in Moscow; Was 61". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1960-09-27. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
16. Schoenbaum, David (2013). The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-08440-5.