Difference between revisions of "Ilya Ehrenburg" - New World Encyclopedia
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| − | '''Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg''' ({{lang-ru|Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг}}, {{IPA-ru|ɪˈlʲja grʲɪˈgorʲɪvɪtɕ ɪrʲɪnˈburk}}), {{OldStyleDate|January 27|1891|January 15}} ([[Kiev]], [[Russian Empire]]) – | + | '''Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg''' ({{lang-ru|Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг}}, {{IPA-ru|ɪˈlʲja grʲɪˈgorʲɪvɪtɕ ɪrʲɪnˈburk}}), {{OldStyleDate|January 27|1891|January 15}} ([[Kiev]], [[Russian Empire]]) – August 31, 1967 ([[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]) was a Soviet [[writer]], [[journalist]] and [[propagandist]], whose 1954 novel ''The Thaw'' gave its name to the [[Khrushchev Thaw]]. |
==Life and work== | ==Life and work== | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
===Wartime Propaganda=== | ===Wartime Propaganda=== | ||
| − | Later he returned to Russia where he was hired to write [[Soviet propaganda]], while occasionally defending his views with boldness against [[Stalin]] or government mouthpieces. Ehrenburg was one of many Soviet writers, along with [[Konstantin Simonov]] and [[Aleksey Surkov]], who "lent their literary talents to the [[Anti-German sentiment|hate campaign" against Germans]] during [[World War II]] <ref name="Figes"> [[Orlando Figes]] ''The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia'', 2007, ISBN 0-08050-7461-9, page 414. </ref>. His article ''"Kill the German"'' published in | + | Later he returned to Russia where he was hired to write [[Soviet propaganda]], while occasionally defending his views with boldness against [[Stalin]] or government mouthpieces. Ehrenburg was one of many Soviet writers, along with [[Konstantin Simonov]] and [[Aleksey Surkov]], who "lent their literary talents to the [[Anti-German sentiment|hate campaign" against Germans]] during [[World War II]] <ref name="Figes"> [[Orlando Figes]] ''The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia'', 2007, ISBN 0-08050-7461-9, page 414. </ref>. His article ''"Kill the German"'' published in 1942—when German troops were deeply within Soviet territory -became a widely publicized example of this campaign, along with poem ''"Kill him!"'' by Simonov. The article declared that Germans "are not humans" <ref>[http://www.sovlit.com/bios/ehrenburg.html sovlit.com]</ref><ref>[http://militera.lib.ru/prose/russian/erenburg_ig3/091.html Original text in Russian]</ref><ref> It also included the following: "If you did not kill a German today, your day is wasted. ... Nothing makes us happier than dead German bodies... Do not count the days [remaining to the end of the war]. Do not count the miles. Count only Germans killed by you..."</ref>. Soviet Officers like [[Lev Kopelev]], who opposed such rhetoric, were accused of opposing Ehrenburg and "compassion towards the enemy"<ref>Lev Kopelev, To Be Preserved Forever ("Хранить вечно"), 1976</ref>. Ehrenburg himself was criticised by [[Georgy Aleksandrov]] in a [[Pravda]] article in April 1945<ref>[http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/PAPERS/HISTORY/ERENBURG/GFA.HTM Article in Russian original]</ref>, who called his views towards the Germans simplificating and an "exaggaration" as it has never been the purpose of Soviet policy to wipe out the German people.<ref>[http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/PAPERS/HISTORY/ERENBURG/EHRESTAL.HTM Ehrenburg's answer (Russian)]</ref>. When Ehrenburg received letters from frontline soldiers accusing him of having |
changed his position and of standing for softness towards Germans, he replied he had not changed his position, as he had always stood for "justice, not revenge".<ref>Carola Tischler: Die Vereinfachungen des Genossen Erenburg. Eine Endkriegs- und eine Nachkriegskontroverse. In: Elke Scherstjanoi (Hrsg.): Rotarmisten schreiben aus Deutschland. Briefe von der Front (1945) und historische Analysen. Texte und Materialien zur Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 14. K.G. Saur, München 2004, S. 326–339, ISBN 3-598-11656-X, p. 336-</ref> . | changed his position and of standing for softness towards Germans, he replied he had not changed his position, as he had always stood for "justice, not revenge".<ref>Carola Tischler: Die Vereinfachungen des Genossen Erenburg. Eine Endkriegs- und eine Nachkriegskontroverse. In: Elke Scherstjanoi (Hrsg.): Rotarmisten schreiben aus Deutschland. Briefe von der Front (1945) und historische Analysen. Texte und Materialien zur Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 14. K.G. Saur, München 2004, S. 326–339, ISBN 3-598-11656-X, p. 336-</ref> . | ||
| − | Ehrenburg a was prominent member of the [[Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee]]. | + | Ehrenburg a was prominent member of the [[Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee]]. Ehrenburg fell in disgrace at that time and it is estimated, that Aleksandrov's article was a signal of change in Stalin's policy towards Germany<ref>Joshua Rubenstein: Tangled Loyalties. The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg. 1st Paperback Ed., University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa (Alabama/USA) 1999 (= Judaic Studies Series), ISBN 0-8173-0963-2</ref> |
===Postwar writings=== | ===Postwar writings=== | ||
| − | In 1954, Ehrenburg published a novel titled ''The Thaw'' that tested limits of censorship in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. It described a corrupted and despotic factory boss (a "little Stalin"). The boss's wife could not bear to stay with him and left the despot during the spring ''thaw'' that gave her the courage. | + | In 1954, Ehrenburg published a novel titled ''The Thaw'' that tested limits of censorship in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. It described a corrupted and despotic factory boss (a "little Stalin"). The boss's wife could not bear to stay with him and left the despot during the spring ''thaw'' that gave her the courage. In August 1954, [[Konstantin Simonov]] attacked ''The Thaw'' in articles published in [[Literaturnaya gazeta]], arguing that such writings are too dark and do not serve the Soviet state <ref name="Figes"> [[Orlando Figes]] ''The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia'', 2007, ISBN 0-08050-7461-9, pages 590-591. </ref>. The novel gave its name to [[Khrushchev Thaw]]. |
Ehrenburg is well known for his writing, especially his memoirs, which contain many portraits of interest to literary historians and biographers. Together with [[Vasily Grossman]], Ehrenburg edited The ''[[Black Book (World War II)|Black Book]]'' that contains documentary accounts by Jewish survivors of [[the Holocaust]] in the Soviet Union and Poland. | Ehrenburg is well known for his writing, especially his memoirs, which contain many portraits of interest to literary historians and biographers. Together with [[Vasily Grossman]], Ehrenburg edited The ''[[Black Book (World War II)|Black Book]]'' that contains documentary accounts by Jewish survivors of [[the Holocaust]] in the Soviet Union and Poland. | ||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
==Literary References== | ==Literary References== | ||
| − | [[Alan Furst]] - considered by many America's premier writer of espionage fiction - found much of Ehrenburg's life and work so riveting that he modeled the central character in his 1991 novel ''Dark Star'' ISBN 0375759999 on the Russian writer. Addressing the degree to which fact and fiction sometimes overlap, Furst said, "(a particular character) was modeled on a number of people, although I've written about many people who did exist. Andre Szara in ''Dark Star'', for example, is based on the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg" (''[[Boston Globe]]'' interview, | + | [[Alan Furst]] - considered by many America's premier writer of espionage fiction - found much of Ehrenburg's life and work so riveting that he modeled the central character in his 1991 novel ''Dark Star'' ISBN 0375759999 on the Russian writer. Addressing the degree to which fact and fiction sometimes overlap, Furst said, "(a particular character) was modeled on a number of people, although I've written about many people who did exist. Andre Szara in ''Dark Star'', for example, is based on the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg" (''[[Boston Globe]]'' interview, June 4, 2006). Six weeks later, in another interview, his comments were rather more qualified: "None of my characters are meant to be representations of real people. But in fact, in ''Dark Star'' the lead character is a Russified Polish Jew, a foreign correspondent for ''[[Pravda]]''. So are we talking about Ilya Ehrenburg? Not really. But he's like that." Finally, we're left to decide if that's a yes or a no. |
[[Vladimir Nabokov]] wrote of him: "As a writer he doesn't exist, Ehrenburg. He is a journalist. He was always corrupt".<ref>{{cite book |author=Field, Andrew |title=The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov |publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc, New York (1977), ISBN 0-517-56113-1}}</ref> | [[Vladimir Nabokov]] wrote of him: "As a writer he doesn't exist, Ehrenburg. He is a journalist. He was always corrupt".<ref>{{cite book |author=Field, Andrew |title=The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov |publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc, New York (1977), ISBN 0-517-56113-1}}</ref> | ||
Revision as of 03:10, 31 December 2008
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (Russian: Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, Russian pronunciation: [ɪˈlʲja grʲɪˈgorʲɪvɪtɕ ɪrʲɪnˈburk]), January 27 [O.S. January 15] 1891 (Kiev, Russian Empire) – August 31, 1967 (Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Soviet writer, journalist and propagandist, whose 1954 novel The Thaw gave its name to the Khrushchev Thaw.
Life and work
Ehrenburg was a revolutionary as a teenager, a disenchanted poet in his youth, writing Catholic poems despite his Jewish background, a follower of Lenin on arrival in Paris, who then became an anti-Bolshevik and sensitive journalist.
Wartime Propaganda
Later he returned to Russia where he was hired to write Soviet propaganda, while occasionally defending his views with boldness against Stalin or government mouthpieces. Ehrenburg was one of many Soviet writers, along with Konstantin Simonov and Aleksey Surkov, who "lent their literary talents to the hate campaign" against Germans during World War II [1]. His article "Kill the German" published in 1942—when German troops were deeply within Soviet territory -became a widely publicized example of this campaign, along with poem "Kill him!" by Simonov. The article declared that Germans "are not humans" [2][3][4]. Soviet Officers like Lev Kopelev, who opposed such rhetoric, were accused of opposing Ehrenburg and "compassion towards the enemy"[5]. Ehrenburg himself was criticised by Georgy Aleksandrov in a Pravda article in April 1945[6], who called his views towards the Germans simplificating and an "exaggaration" as it has never been the purpose of Soviet policy to wipe out the German people.[7]. When Ehrenburg received letters from frontline soldiers accusing him of having changed his position and of standing for softness towards Germans, he replied he had not changed his position, as he had always stood for "justice, not revenge".[8] .
Ehrenburg a was prominent member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Ehrenburg fell in disgrace at that time and it is estimated, that Aleksandrov's article was a signal of change in Stalin's policy towards Germany[9]
Postwar writings
In 1954, Ehrenburg published a novel titled The Thaw that tested limits of censorship in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. It described a corrupted and despotic factory boss (a "little Stalin"). The boss's wife could not bear to stay with him and left the despot during the spring thaw that gave her the courage. In August 1954, Konstantin Simonov attacked The Thaw in articles published in Literaturnaya gazeta, arguing that such writings are too dark and do not serve the Soviet state [1]. The novel gave its name to Khrushchev Thaw.
Ehrenburg is well known for his writing, especially his memoirs, which contain many portraits of interest to literary historians and biographers. Together with Vasily Grossman, Ehrenburg edited The Black Book that contains documentary accounts by Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Poland.
Death
Ehrenburg died in 1967 of prostate and bladder cancer, and was interred in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, where his gravestone is adorned with a reproduction of his portrait drawn by his friend Pablo Picasso.
Literary References
Alan Furst - considered by many America's premier writer of espionage fiction - found much of Ehrenburg's life and work so riveting that he modeled the central character in his 1991 novel Dark Star ISBN 0375759999 on the Russian writer. Addressing the degree to which fact and fiction sometimes overlap, Furst said, "(a particular character) was modeled on a number of people, although I've written about many people who did exist. Andre Szara in Dark Star, for example, is based on the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg" (Boston Globe interview, June 4, 2006). Six weeks later, in another interview, his comments were rather more qualified: "None of my characters are meant to be representations of real people. But in fact, in Dark Star the lead character is a Russified Polish Jew, a foreign correspondent for Pravda. So are we talking about Ilya Ehrenburg? Not really. But he's like that." Finally, we're left to decide if that's a yes or a no.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote of him: "As a writer he doesn't exist, Ehrenburg. He is a journalist. He was always corrupt".[10]
In Ilya Ehrenburg, Shneiderman described the threefold division of that great writer's identity: Jew, Russian writer, and man of Western European culture.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Orlando Figes The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, 2007, ISBN 0-08050-7461-9, page 414. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Figes" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ sovlit.com
- ↑ Original text in Russian
- ↑ It also included the following: "If you did not kill a German today, your day is wasted. ... Nothing makes us happier than dead German bodies... Do not count the days [remaining to the end of the war]. Do not count the miles. Count only Germans killed by you..."
- ↑ Lev Kopelev, To Be Preserved Forever ("Хранить вечно"), 1976
- ↑ Article in Russian original
- ↑ Ehrenburg's answer (Russian)
- ↑ Carola Tischler: Die Vereinfachungen des Genossen Erenburg. Eine Endkriegs- und eine Nachkriegskontroverse. In: Elke Scherstjanoi (Hrsg.): Rotarmisten schreiben aus Deutschland. Briefe von der Front (1945) und historische Analysen. Texte und Materialien zur Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 14. K.G. Saur, München 2004, S. 326–339, ISBN 3-598-11656-X, p. 336-
- ↑ Joshua Rubenstein: Tangled Loyalties. The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg. 1st Paperback Ed., University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa (Alabama/USA) 1999 (= Judaic Studies Series), ISBN 0-8173-0963-2
- ↑ Field, Andrew. The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov. Crown Publishers, Inc, New York (1977), ISBN 0-517-56113-1.
External links
- The Black Book at jewishgen.org
- Tangled Loyalties, the 'definitive' Ehrenburg biography by Joshua Rubenstein at the book's home on the web
- Long biography, includes quote above
- Article in The Columbia Encyclopedia
- Brief page on The Thaw
- Marevna, "Homage to Friends from Montparnasse" (1962) Top left to right: Diego Rivera, Ilya Ehrenburg, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, his wife Jeanne Hébuterne, Max Jacob, gallery owner Leopold Zborowski[1] [2]. Bottom left to right: Marevna, hers and Diego Rivera's daughter Marika, (Amedeo Modigliani), Moise Kisling.
- Read Ehrenburg's interview with The Paris Review
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