Itsik Fefer: A Yiddish Wunderkind of the Bolshevik Revolution

Itsik Fefer (1900-1952) was one of the most prominent Soviet Yiddish writers, who perfectly combined the two talents of a poet and an apparatchik. His 1922 poetry collection, Splinters, established him as a rising literary star. The same year he formulated his literary credo of "simple speech," which would become the trademark of his work. By 1924, Fefer already occupied one of the highest places in the hierarchy of Soviet Yiddish literature. In 1927 he was one of the founding members of the Ukrainian Association of Yiddish Revolutionary Writers. He combined editorial positions at both Yiddish literary journals, Prolit (Proletarian Literature) and Di royte velt (Red World), published in Ukraine in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The creation of the Writers' Union increased Fefer's importance. He represented Yiddish literature on the board of the Soviet and Ukrainian's Writers' Unions. During WWII, Fefer became a leading figure in the Jewish Antifascist Committee. In 1943 he, together with Solomon Mikhoels, visited the United States, Canada, Mexico, and England. Fefer finished his life in prison, accused of Jewish nationalism and of spying for the Americans.