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Ilya Grigorievich Erenburg (January 14 (26), 1891, Kyiv - August 31, 1967, Moscow) - Russian prose writer, poet, publicist, translator from French and Spanish, photographer and public figure.

In 1908, he was arrested for participating in the work of the Bolshevik organization; in December he emigrated to Paris, where he retired from political activity and took up literary work and published the first collections of poems: “I Live” (1911), “Everyday Life” (1913), “Children's” (1914), etc. In 1915-1917. - war correspondent for a number of Russian newspapers. In 1916, he published the collection "Poems about the eve", riddled with rejection of "perishing Europe" and the world war. After the February Revolution of 1917 he returned to Russia. He accepted the October Revolution of 1917 with caution, experiencing both "delight and horror" (collection of poems "Prayer for Russia", 1918).

The barbarians, who are now thinking about war, are ready to kill the future of mankind, because this is not their future.

Ehrenburg Ilya Grigorievich

He went abroad again, in Berlin he published the collection Eve (1921) and the first novel, The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Disciples... (1922). While in Germany in 1921-1924. contributed to the journals Russian Book (1921) and New Russian Book (1921-1923), writing articles on contemporary Russian art. Published a book of short stories "Thirteen Pipes" (1923). In 1924-1926. created the socio-psychological novels Rvach (1925) and In the Flowing Lane (1927).

In the 1930s lived abroad, often coming to the USSR. In 1936-1939. worked in Spain as a correspondent for the Izvestia newspaper. Based on his impressions of the Spanish Civil War, he created an anti-fascist nonfiction book (The Spanish Temper, 1938). Participated in international congresses in defense of culture (1935, 1937).

In the 1940s wrote epic novels The Fall of Paris (1941) and The Tempest (1946-1947) about the reasons for the defeat of France by the German occupiers at the beginning of World War II 1939-1945. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. acted with journalistic articles in the newspapers Pravda, Izvestia, Krasnaya Zvezda, collected in the book War (vols. 1-3, 1942-1944).

Writer, poet, translator, journalist, public figure Ilya Grigoryevich (Girshevich) Ehrenburg was born on January 27 (January 14 according to the old style), 1891 in Kyiv. In 1895, the family moved to Moscow, where his father served for some time as director of the Khamovniki brewery.

Ilya Erenburg studied at the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, from the sixth grade of which he was expelled for revolutionary activities. For participation in the work of the revolutionary organization of the Bolsheviks in January 1908, he was arrested, and in August of the same year he was released pending trial under police supervision.

In December 1908, Ehrenburg emigrated to Paris, where he continued his revolutionary work, then retired from political life and took up literary activity.

When the First World War began, Ehrenburg tried to join the French army as a foreign volunteer, but was declared unfit for health reasons.

In 1914-1917. he was a correspondent for Russian newspapers on the Western Front. Military correspondence of these years became the beginning of his journalistic work.

In 1915-1916. he published articles and essays in the newspaper Morning of Russia (Moscow), and in 1916-1917. - in the newspaper "Birzhevye Vedomosti" (Petrograd).

In July 1917, Ilya Ehrenburg returned to Russia, but at first he did not accept the October Revolution, which was reflected in the book of poems Prayer for Russia (1918).

After a short arrest in September 1918, he left for Kyiv, then for Koktebel. In the autumn of 1920 he returned to Moscow, where he was arrested, but soon released.

In Moscow, Ilya Erenburg worked as head of the children's section of the Theater Department of the People's Commissariat for Education, which was led by Vsevolod Meyerhold.

In 1918-1923. he created collections of poems "Fire" (1919), "Eve" (1921), "Reflections" (1921), "Foreign Reflections", "Desolating Love" (both - 1922), "Animal Warmth" (1923), etc. .

In March 1921, having received permission to travel abroad, he left for Paris with his wife, keeping his Soviet passport. In Paris, he met and became friends with figures of French culture - Picasso, Eluard, Aragon, and others.

From that moment on, Ilya Ehrenburg lived most of the time in the West.

Shortly after his arrival, he was expelled from France for pro-Soviet propaganda. In the summer of 1921, while in Belgium, he wrote his first work in prose - the novel The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Disciples... (1922).

In 1955-1957. Ehrenburg wrote a number of literary-critical essays on French art under the general title "French Notebooks". In 1956, he secured the first exhibition of Pablo Picasso in Moscow.

Ehrenburg was married twice. For some time he lived in a civil marriage with Ekaterina Schmidt, they had a daughter, Irina (Irina Ehrenburg, 1911-1997, writer, translator).

The second time he married the artist Lyubov Kozintseva (sister of director Grigory Kozintsev), with whom he lived until the end of his life.

Ilya Ehrenburg died after a long illness on August 31, 1967 in Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. A year later, a monument was erected on the grave, on which Ehrenburg's profile was carved according to the drawing of his friend Pablo Picasso.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Ilya Grigorievich (Girshevich) Ehrenburg(January 14 (27), 1891, Kyiv - August 31, 1967, Moscow) - Soviet writer, poet, translator from French and Spanish, publicist and public figure, vice-president of the Higher Council of Youth, deputy of the USSR Supreme Council since 1950, twice winner of the Stalin Prize first degree (1942, 1948); laureate of the International Stalin Prize "For strengthening peace among peoples" (1952).

Biography

The revolution. Emigration. Homecoming

During the Great Patriotic War, he was a correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, wrote for other newspapers and for the Soviet Information Bureau. He became famous for his anti-fascist propaganda articles and works. A significant part of these articles, which were constantly published in the newspapers Pravda, Izvestia, and Krasnaya Zvezda, were collected in the three-volume journalism Voina (1942-44). Since 1942, he joined the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and was active in collecting and publishing materials about the Holocaust.

However, after the article “Enough!” in April 1945, Pravda published an article by the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, G. F. Aleksandrov, “Comrade Ehrenburg simplifies.”

Together with Vasily Grossman, he created the famous Black Book about the Holocaust in the USSR.

Post-war period of creativity

After the war, he published the novel The Tempest (1946-1947; Stalin Prize of the first degree; 1948).

In 1948, Hollywood releases the film The Iron Curtain (directed by William Wellman, about the escape of GRU cipher Igor Gouzenko and Soviet espionage). On February 21 of the same year, Ehrenburg published the article “Film Provocateurs” in the newspaper “Culture and Life”, written on the instructions of the Minister of Cinematography I. G. Bolshakov.

Ehrenburg's position among Soviet writers was peculiar - on the one hand, he received material benefits, often traveled abroad, on the other hand, he was under the control of special services and often even received reprimands. The attitude of the authorities towards Ehrenburg in the era of Khrushchev and Brezhnev was just as ambivalent. After Stalin's death, he wrote the story The Thaw (1954), which gave its name to an entire era of Soviet history. In 1957, "French Notebooks" came out - an essay on French literature, painting and translations from Du Bellay. He is the author of the memoirs People, Years, Life, which were very popular among the Soviet intelligentsia in the 1960s and 1970s.

He died after a long illness on August 31, 1967. About 15,000 people came to say goodbye to the writer.

He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Compositions

The collected works of Ilya Ehrenburg in 5 volumes were published in 1952 by the State Publishing House of Fiction.

The next collection, more complete, in nine volumes, was released by the same publishing house in 1962-1966.

Family

First wife (1910-1913) - Katerina (Ekaterina) Ottovna Schmidt(1889-1977) (in Sorokin's second marriage), translator.
Their daughter - Irina Ilyinichna Ehrenburg(1911-1997), translator of French literature, was married to the writer Boris Matveyevich Lapin (1905-1941).
After the tragic death of her husband, she adopted and raised a girl:

He brought the girl Fanya from the war, in front of whom the Germans shot her parents and sisters in Vinnitsa. The older brothers served in the Polish army. Some old man managed to hide Fanya, but since it was associated with great risk, he ordered her: "Run, look for the partisans." And Fanya ran.
Ehrenburg brought this girl to Moscow precisely in the hope of distracting Irina from her grief. And she adopted Fanya. At first, everything was quite difficult, because the girl did not speak Russian well. She spoke in some monstrous mixture of languages. But then she quickly mastered Russian and even became an excellent student.
Irina and Fanya lived in Lavrushinsky; the poet Stepan Shchipachev lived there with his son Viktor. Fanya met Victor back in the writer's pioneer camp; the semi-childish romance continued in Moscow and ended in marriage. Mom entered the philological faculty at Moscow State University, but quickly realized that it was not hers, and, having entered the medical school, she became a doctor. The marriage did not last long - three years. But I still managed to be born.

Second wife since 1919 - Lyubov Mikhailovna Kozintseva(1900-1970), artist, student of Alexandra Exter (Kyiv, 1921), in Moscow at VKHUTEMAS with Robert Falk, Alexander Rodchenko, sister of film director Grigory Mikhailovich Kozintsev. Since 1922 participant of exhibitions in Berlin, Paris, Prague, Amsterdam. About 90 of her paintings and drawings are kept in the Department of Private Collections of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin.

famous words

I. Ehrenburg owns the famous words: "See Paris and die."

"evil cosmopolitan"

A bloody struggle against cosmopolitanism began in the USSR. Ehrenburg also fell into the stream of "revelation" ...
I managed to infiltrate the "historical" writers' meeting and save the transcript of the speeches.
The speakers spoke viciously and unscrupulously. The writers of the "middle" generation were especially out of their skin: Sofronov, Gribachev, Surov3, V. Kozhevnikov; critic Yermilov.
On the podium with pomaded hair Anatoly Surov:
"I propose that Comrade Ehrenburg be expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers for the cosmopolitanism in his works."
Nikolay Gribachev:
“Comrades, a lot has been said here about Ehrenburg as a prominent and almost outstanding publicist. Yes, I agree, during World War II he wrote the articles necessary for the front and rear. But in his multifaceted novel The Tempest, he buried not only the main character Sergei Vlakhov, but took the life of all Russian people - positive heroes. The writer deliberately gave preference to the Frenchwoman Mado. The conclusion involuntarily suggests itself: let the Russian people die, and the French enjoy life? I support comrades Surov, Yermilov, Sofronov, what a citizen Ehrenburg, who despises everything Russian, cannot have a place in the ranks of "engineers of human souls," as the brilliant leader and wise teacher Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin called us."
On the podium is another "spiritual engineer", "cannibal of the century" - Mikhail Sholokhov:
"Ehrenburg is a Jew! The Russian people are alien to him in spirit, their aspirations and hopes are absolutely indifferent to him. He does not love and never loved Russia. The pernicious West, mired in vomit, is closer to him. I think that Ehrenburg is unjustifiably praised for the journalism of the war years. Weeds and mugs in the truest sense of the word are not needed by combat, Soviet literature ... "
I've been watching I.G. Ehrenburg. He sat quietly in the far corner of the hall. His gray eyes were half closed, it seemed that he was dozing. The presiding, subtle virtuoso of verbal battles, Alexei Surkov, gives the floor to the writer for "repentance".
Ilya Grigorievich slowly walked towards the stage. He slowly took a sip of the cold tea. With short-sighted eyes he looked around the room in which his former "comrades" were. Tousling his ash-gray hair, bending slightly, he quietly but distinctly said: “You just condemned to death not only my novel The Tempest, but made an attempt to ash all my work. Once in Sevastopol, a Russian officer approached me. He said: "Why are the Jews so cunning, for example, before the war, Levitan painted landscapes, sold them to museums and private owners for a lot of money, and during the war, instead of the front got a job as an announcer on the Moscow radio? "In the footsteps of an uncultured chauvinist officer, an uncultured academician-teacher wanders. Undoubtedly, every reader has the right to accept this or that book, or to reject it. Let me give a few reader reviews. I'm not talking about them to beg forgiveness from you, but in order to teach you not to throw clods of dirt into human faces.Here are the lines from the letter of the teacher Nikolaevskaya from distant Verkhoyansk: "In the war My husband and three sons died. I was left alone. Can you imagine how deep my grief is? I have read your novel "The Tempest". This book, dear Ilya Grigorievich, helped me a lot. Believe me, I'm not at the age to lavish compliments. Thank you for writing such wonderful works." And here are the lines from Alexander Pozdnyakov's letter: "I am a disabled person of the first group. In his native St. Petersburg, he survived the blockade. In 1944 he was admitted to the hospital. The legs were amputated there. I'm on prosthetics. At first it was difficult. He returned to the Kirov Plant, where he began working as a teenager. Your "Storm" was read aloud in the evenings, during lunch breaks and smoke breaks. Some pages were read twice. "The Tempest" is an honest, truthful novel. There are workers at the factory who fought against fascism in the ranks of the heroic French Resistance. You wrote what was, and for this we bow to you." After a meaningful pause, Ehrenburg said: "Let me finish my speech by reading one more letter, the most expensive of all reader reviews I have received over the past thirty years. It is concise and takes very little of your time.
There was silence. The most zealous fell silent. Photojournalists who illegally entered the hall prepared their cameras. They stopped paying attention. There was a sensation in the air. Suppressing a sly smile, Ehrenburg slowly began to read:
"Dear Ilya Grigoryevich! I have just read your wonderful The Tempest. Thank you for it. With respect, I. Stalin."
What was happening in the hall! Those same writers, "engineers-cannibals" who had just scolded Ehrenburg with the last words and were ready to unanimously vote for his expulsion, now applauded him without any shame. By nature, the writer was not one of those people who allow themselves to step on their heels.
On the podium Alexei Surkov:
"Comrades! Summing up this important and instructive meeting for all of us, I must say with all frankness and frankness that the writer and outstanding journalist Ilya Grigorievich Ehrenburg really wrote a wonderful book. He has always been at the forefront of our fronts in the struggle for socialist realism. We we are obliged to condemn the speakers here with you. Ehrenburg's "Storm" is the conscience of the time, the conscience of our generation, the conscience and sign of the era ... "
For the novel "The Tempest" Ilya Ehrenburg received the Stalin Prize of the first degree. For life, the writer remained faithful to Stalin ...

Soviet literature

Ilya Grigorievich Ehrenburg

Biography

Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich (1891−1967) was born into a Jewish family (father is an engineer); spent his childhood in Kyiv, studied at the 1st Moscow Gymnasium, was expelled from the 6th grade for participating in a revolutionary circle. In 1908 he was arrested, released on bail and, without waiting for the trial, fled to France.

Disillusioned with the ideas of Bolshevism, he switched to literary studies. He made his debut in 1910 with a small book, Poems, published in Paris (according to M. Voloshin, works “skillful, but tasteless, with a clear bias towards aesthetic blasphemy”), and then almost every year he published collections in Paris in small editions at his own expense and sent them to Russia to acquaintances (“I live”, 1911; “Dandelions”, 1912; “Everyday life”, 1913; “Children's”, 1914).

Subsequently, he considered Poems about the Eves, 1916, to be the first "real" book. V. Bryusov, N. Gumilyov, S. Gorodetsky paid attention to the poems, they caused a lot of responses in criticism. A. Blok in 1918 in the article "Russian dandies" already mentions the "fashion for Ehrenburg."

During these years, I. Ehrenburg translated French and Spanish poetry, entered the circles of artistic bohemia in Paris (P. Picasso, A. Modigliani, M. Chagall, etc.). After the February Revolution, he returned to Russia, but met the October Revolution with hostility (the collection of poems Prayer for Russia, 1918, which reflected the then mood of the writer, was withdrawn from Soviet libraries).

He lived first in Moscow, then wandered around the south of the country, tried to earn a living by journalism (he wrote articles both friendly towards the revolution and counter-revolutionary).

In 1921, he went on a “creative business trip” to Berlin, keeping his Soviet passport, and most of his most significant prose works were created during the years of “semi-emigration” (“The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Students ...”, the novel “Rvach”, the melodrama “Love Jeanne Ney", historical novel "Conspiracy of Equals", collection of short stories "Thirteen Pipes" and many others).

I. Ehrenburg's books were published simultaneously both abroad and at home. A long stay in Germany and France in such an exceptional position led to the fact that Ehrenburg was not fully considered “one of his own” either in the emigrant environment or in Soviet Russia.

In 1918-1923, small poetry books by Ehrenburg continued to be published, but they did not arouse interest among critics and readers. I. Ehrenburg returned to writing poetry at the end of his life (part of his poetic heritage was published posthumously), and Ehrenburg was known to his contemporaries mainly as a brilliant publicist, novelist, author of the memoirs People, Years, Life.

Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg was born in 1891 in the family of an engineer. His childhood was spent in Kyiv, and already while studying at the first Moscow gymnasium, he was expelled from the sixth grade students due to attending a revolutionary circle.

In 1908, Ilya Ehrenburg was arrested and after some time released on bail, but the writer, without waiting for the trial, was forced to leave his homeland and flee to France, due to political persecution.

Abroad, Ehrenburg became completely disillusioned with the Bolshevik ideas and began to write. His first book, Poems, was published in Paris in 1910. The debut was successful, and soon the world saw several collections “I live” - 1911, “Dandelions” - 1912, “Everyday life” - 1913, “Children's” - 1914. The poet sent these publications to his friends in Russia.

Published in 1916, the book of I. G. Ehrenburg "Poems about eve" caused a surge of criticism and reviews. Alexander Blok subsequently wrote in 1918 that there was a "fashion for Ehrenburg".

During this period, the writer began translating Spanish and French poetry into Russian, and also began to appear frequently in the circles of Parisian artistic bohemia. He communicated with P. Picasso, M. Chagall, A. Modigliani.

At the end of the February Revolution, I. Ehrenburg returned to Moscow, but in his collection of poems “Prayer for Russia”, published in 1918, he spoke negatively about the October Revolution.

Ehrenburg I.G. stayed in Russia. not for long, in 1921 he leaves for Berlin, on the so-called "creative business trip". Here his most significant works are published: “The extraordinary adventures of Julio Jurenito and his students ...”, the melodrama “The Love of Jeanne Ney” and others.

Ehrenburg's books were published both abroad and in Russia.

In the last years of his life, Ilya Ehrenburg returned to writing poetry, some publications appeared in the world after his death.

Contemporaries Ehrenburg I.G. remembered as a publicist and novelist. He died in August 1967.