Alexander Ilyich Besymensky

Alexander Ilyich Besymenski ( Russian Александр Ильич Безыменский ; born January 6 ^{. Jul} / 18th January  1898 ^greg. In Zhytomyr ; † 26. June 1973 in Moscow ) was a Russian poet.

Life

Alexander Besymensky, the son of a Jewish craftsman from Zhytomyr, published his first poems in 1918. In 1922 he belonged to the writers 'groups "Junge Garde" and "Oktober", later to the leadership of the Soviet Writers' Union. Yuri Slezkine counts him among the Komsomol poets and describes him as one of the most uncompromising crusaders against outdated and degenerate art. After Stalin came to power, he initially supported the Left Opposition , but then turned away and later condemned (and in part mocked) the victims of the Moscow trials in poetry.

In 1924 (according to other sources in 1926) Besymenski wrote the text of the song Вперёд, Краснофлотцы ( Forward, Red Fleet ), which set a monument to the Kronstadt sailors. For this purpose he used as a template, the Polish revolutionary song Gdy naród do boju wystąpił ( The people went to fight ) from the year 1831. In the published 1929 transfer of Helmut Schinkel ( trickled the night and the morning awakening ) was the song as Kronstadt sailors or Known as the Red Fleet March throughout Germany.

Works

• Selected poems , translated by Georg Luft, Nemgosisdat Verlag, Pokrowsk 1926.
• Poems of Wrath , translated by Gerty Rath, Cartea Rusa publishing house, Bucharest 1950.
• To October . The poem glorifies Lenin as the savior of the Russian people. Dmitri Shostakovich set it to music in the choir finale of his 2nd symphony in 1927 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Yuri Slezkine: The Jewish century . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2004, ISBN 0-691-11995-3 , p. 225, citation p. 228: "uncompromising crusaders against old age and degenerate art".

Web links

• Encyclopedia of Soviet Writers: Bezymensky, Aleksandr Ilych (English)