Literary archives of Mikhail Yakovlevich Pinchevskiy

Copyright Holder: Center for the Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry (Judaica Center) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine Contains poetry, tales, and theatrical plays. Some of the poetry originally was written in Yiddish and translated into Russian. Most of the poetry is dedicated to the Jewish life in Bessarabia (now part of Moldova) and Ukraine (see poems: Bessarabia, Doyna and Zhok, poetry: Broha, Sidur, etc.) and to the heroism of Jewish soldiers during World War II. Mikhail Pinchevskiy was born in 1894 in Telenesti, Bessarabia (Moldova), and received a traditional Jewish education. In 1913 he discontinued his studies in the Odessa Yeshiva and left for Argentina. His first book of poetry was published in Yiddish in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1918. He left Argentina for the Soviet Union in 1926 and settled in Kharkov (now Kahrkiv), Ukraine, where he published several poems, including "Bessarabia" and "Doyna." Mikhail Pinchevskiy was arrested in 1938 as a "spy" and spent 11 months in prison. In 1951 Pinchevskiy was again arrested. He was released in 1954 and died in 1955 in Kiev, Ukraine.