Debora Vaarandi

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Debora Vaarandi (born October 1, 1916 in Võru , Russian Empire , † April 28, 2007 in Tallinn ) was an Estonian poet and translator .

Life

Debora Vaarandi was born the daughter of a postal worker in southern Estonia. She spent most of her childhood on the island of Saaremaa and also in Tallinn . She graduated from high school in Kuressaare in 1935 . After their marriage to the left-minded teacher and later writer Aadu Hint , the couple moved to Tartu . She studied at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Tartu from 1936 to 1940. In 1939 the marriage was divorced.

During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Debora Vaarandi worked for the communist newspaper Rahva Hääl ("Volksstimme") from 1940 . From 1940 she was editor of the paper Sirp ja Vasar ("Hammer and Sickle"). There she met the editor-in-chief Anton Vaarandi, whom she later married. She is said to have joined the Communist Party of Estonia even before the Second World War . During the German occupation of Estonia, she fled to Moscow and Leningrad and returned to the editorial staff of the newspaper in Estonia from 1944 to 1946. Her second marriage failed during the war.

From 1946 Debora Vaarandi settled down as a freelance writer. In 1952 she married the communist writer Juhan Smuul . She became one of the most famous and popular poets in the country. In 1971 she was awarded the title "People's Writer of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic ".

Lyrical creation

Debora Vaarandi made her debut in 1936 with the poem Udus ("In the Fog"). Other lyrical works were published by various Estonian newspapers between 1936 and 1940. In 1945 she published her volume of poetry Põleva laotuse all , which was a success. In it she describes homesickness and a feeling for nature in the Soviet Union during the expulsion by the Second World War. Her actual literary breakthrough came with the volume of poetry Unistaja aknal in 1959. Her lyrical work became increasingly apolitical and focused on nature and love.

Debora Vaarandi also wrote the text for the most famous Estonian hit, the Saaremaa valss ("Saaremaa Waltz") based on the music of Raimond Valgre , which was popularized beyond Estonia by the singer Georg Ots .

Volumes of poetry

  • "Põleva laotuse all" (1945)
  • "Kohav rand" (1948)
  • "Selgel hommikul" (1950)
  • "Unistaja aknal" (1959)
  • "Rannalageda leib" (1965)
  • "Tuule valgel" (1977)
  • "See kauge hääl" (2000)

translator

Debora Vaarandi was also one of the most important translators of poems from German , Finnish and Russian into Estonian . She transferred, among others, Bertolt Brecht , Alfred Adler , Georg Trakl , Eino Leino , Aleksis Kivi , Maxim Gorki , Anna Achmatowa and Alexei Tolstoy .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vaarandi, Debora
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian poet
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Võru
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 2007
Place of death Tallinn