Kaganov, Isaac Borisovich

Childhood and adolescence

Father - Berl-Dov, a native of the village of Petrovichi, Mogilev Province (now Shumyatsky District, Smolensk Region, Russia) is the owner of a small mill, his mother is Miriam. Parents gave Yitzhak a traditional religious education, the family spoke Yiddish and Hebrew. Itzhak studied first with his grandfather Rabbi, then in cheder and the Highlander Talmud-tore . In his youth he was fascinated by the ideas of Zionism and participated in the first He-Halutz conference in Kharkov (January 15-18, 1918). At the end of 1918, Aguddat no'ar Leummit Ha-Thiya (the National Jewish Youth Organization Revival) was created in Gorki.

Creativity of the 20s-30s in Hebrew, Yiddish, work in theaters

In 1921 he entered the University of Petrograd , where he studied for two years. He was fascinated by Hebrew poetry, to which he decided to devote his whole life. During his studies, he joined the Association of Socialist Writers "Braishit" ("In the Beginning") under the society "He-Khalutz" (All-Russian Jewish Labor Organization). In the first and last collection that this society published in 1926, his poem appeared ( "From the side, from the edge" - "Mi-ever mi-katse (Collection" Braishit "). It is interesting that the collection was published in Berlin, although the output reads: Moscow and Leningrad. The poem was dedicated to the mission of the poet, who, donating himself, illuminates the path of earthly life. The author anticipates and predicts the tragedy of holy She was working as a teacher in a Jewish village school in the village of Vereshchaki, Gorki district. At that time, he began to write poems in Yiddish and in the fall of 1925 his first poems in Yiddish appeared in the newspaper Der Veker (“Alarm clock”), and during the year about twenty poems were printed. It was peasant lyricism, full of the joy of working on the land. In 1926-1928 he served in the Red Army. At that time he temporarily withdrew from poetry. From 1930 to 1933. studied at the Moscow State Jewish Theater Studio (had the status of a school) at the State Jewish Theater in Moscow, led by People's Artist of the USSR Solomon Mikhoels . In 1934-1941 worked as a director of Jewish theaters in Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk , then worked in Russian theaters.

Participation in the Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War met in Ulyanovsk . In the early days of the war, he called his parents who lived in Simferopol to come to him, to Ulyanovsk, but it was a pity for the parents to leave the farm. Mother Miryam and father Berl-Dov were killed by the Nazis in 1941, along with 16,000 Jews of Simferopol. From the first days on the front, commanded batteries 76 - 122 mm guns. From the documents that are posted on the website “ Feat of the People ” (portal of the Archive of the Ministry of Defense of Russia) it is clear that he served in 1943 in the 202nd Red Banner Light Artillery Regiment of the 50th rifle division . And the documents show: Isaak Borisovich Kaganov (as he was recorded in military documents) “From May to December. 1943 fought in the area of ​​Izyum, Barvenko, Lozovaya, Slavgorod, Zaporozhye, Apostolovo consisting of 202 artillery regiment of the 50th rifle division. Participated in forcing the Dnieper River. “Concused in battles near the village of Aleksandrovka, Dnepropetrovsk region, on December 5, 1943.” He was treated for two months in a military hospital, and since during a contusion he lost hearing and speaking, on April 27, 1944, the garrison military-medical commission recognized him as disabled. Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 21, 1945 were awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree. From 23.U.I.1944 he worked in the Ulyanovsk Regional Philharmonic as an author and director - director. Then he headed the Philharmonic in Tambov , Vladimir , and in 1947 he returned to Simferopol.

Arrests in 1949-1953 and creativity in Hebrew and Russian

In Simferopol again returns to literary work in Hebrew. He began to study Torah and began to write an autobiographical novel "Tahat Shamaim Ahurim" ("Under the dark skies"). Since it was impossible to publish it in the USSR, he attempted to forward the manuscript to Israel. On September 12, 1948, he was arrested in Simferopol and soon found himself in Lefortovo prison. Together with the writers who wrote in Hebrew — Ts. Plotkin and Ts. Preigerzon and M. Baazov, the investigators combined them into a fictional “anti-Soviet Zionist nationalist group”. In the prison cell, he began to repeat the Hebrew dictionary, and then compose verses and memorize them. It is known that from December 12 to December 23, he will write his first ten poems in the dungeons of the Lefortovo prison. During the whole period of prison and camp imprisonment, he composed and remembered 480 poems. It took him 3 days to repeat them. On January 5, 1950, the Special Meeting sentenced him to 10 years in camps for "participating in an anti-Soviet nationalist Zionist organization in the USSR and for distributing illegal manuscripts." The conclusion was serving in Karaganda, in the Peschany strict-regime camp for political prisoners. In the beginning, despite the heavy contusion, he worked at logging, and then he was appointed to the cultural and educational part (EHF). In the camp, Kaganov decided to write a historical-philosophical book “Torat ha-Tamir” - reflections on the fate and revival of the Jewish people. Realizing that in the conclusion of this book does not create, and if he writes it, it will not publish, he decided to join the uprising in the camp and run. And he made a mistake, as he told one of the prisoners about the almost finished book of poems, and about the escape plan. A traitor was found, and after the defeat of the uprising, on March 2, 1953, Kaganov was arrested again. Required to issue a manuscript. He understood that the investigators would not believe that the manuscript was in my head. And he said: “Yes, the manuscript was, but I burned it! But it did not save from the new sentence. On September 18, 1953, the military tribunal of the camp was sentenced to death by article 58-10, 58-14, to death. Lagernyi sentence The ITL court demanded the approval of the Higher Military Tribunal in Moscow. On April 12, 1954, it was reported that the death penalty was replaced by 25 years of imprisonment. camp near Vologda, where he again went to the cultural and educational part. In October 1955, the medical commission decided to release him for health reasons. Soon he was rehabilitated (for lack of corpus delicti) on the first charge (on the second - only in 1989). worked in the philharmonic societies of Tomsk, Khabarovsk and other cities of the USSR.

Repatriation to Israel

In 1976, I. Kaganov, together with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Elima, actress and her husband Alexander, theater artist, repatriated to Israel and settled in Ashdod. A year later, a poems collection Be-Kol Shofar (Voice of the Shofar, Tel Aviv: 1977) was published in Israel, which consisted of ten notebooks, each with an indication of the place of writing: Moscow, Lefortovo Prison; Karaganda, death row; Tayshet; Ozerlalag, etc. “My books,” wrote I. Kaganov in a brief preface to the “Voice of the Shofar,” “came to light as a revelation, as a miracle, at the same time as the creation of the State of Israel, which I dreamed and dreamed of.” In Israel, he began to subscribe "Yitzhak bin Dov ha-Cohen" - Yitzhak son of Dov Cohen. In 1978, the book “Torat ha-Tamir” (“The Teaching of the Secret”, Tel Aviv: 1978) was published, consisting of three parts. In this book there are many deep thoughts and philosophical generalizations regarding the fate of mankind in general, Jews and Israel in particular. I. Kaganov until the last days worked on the memoir book “Shvilin nekhirin” (“Explored paths”; not yet published). He died on May 3, 1978 and was buried in the city of Ashdod.

Wife - Elizabeth Sukhernik (1909 −1991), actress. Children: Daughter - Elima (born 1933), artist.

• Order of the Patriotic War II degree.
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

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• Be-shol Shofar “Voice of the Shofar” - Tel Aviv: - 1977.
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