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Lot 249

Ginen-geveb – Yiddish Poems by David Hofstein – Kiev, 1921 – Illustration by Joseph Chaikov

Ginen-geveb, by David Hofstein. Kiev: Melukhe-farlag (on title page: Kultur-lige, Kiev, Kleyne Bibliotek 'Lirik'), 1921. Yiddish. Ginen-geveb, book of poems by David Hofstein. Front cover illustration by Joseph Chaikov. David Hofstein (1889-1952), Jewish-Ukranian poet and author; leading member of the "Kiev Group" during the golden age of Yiddish literature in Soviet Russia, and one of thirteen Jewish intellectuals killed during the "Night of the Murdered Poets", on the order of Stalin. Hofstein wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew, and was thoroughly engaged in promoting Jewish cultural activities in Russia. In the early 1920s he was among the founders of the "Lirik" series of poetry books, which included the present volume. Hofstein was forced to leave the USSR after being persecuted by the Yevsektsiya (the Jewish section of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) for his cultural activities. He spent several years in Berlin and immigrated to Palestine, where he resided for about a year; in the second half of the 1920s he returned to the USSR and settled in Kiev. Adhering to the "official party line", his writing gained some recognition from the regime. In September 1948 he was arrested by the secret police, charged for Jewish nationalism, espionage and other false accusations. This arrest came as part of a general increase in antisemitism in Stalinist Soviet Russia. On the night of August 12th, 1952, he was executed, during what came to be known as the "Night of the Murdered Poets". Hofstein was posthumously rehabilitated in 1958. 16 pp., 14 cm. Good condition. Creases. Minor damages. Cover slightly worn and stained. Signature on front cover and p. 3.