Shifra Kholodenko

Shifra Kholodenko (Russian: Шифра Наумовна Холоденко, Yiddish: שפרה כאלאדענקא) (1909-1974) was a Russian- and Yiddish-language poet, writer and translator from the Soviet Union.

Biography

She was born in 1909 as Shifra Hofshteyn (Yiddish: שפרה האָפשטיין, Russian: Шифра Наумовна Гофштейн) in Bartkova Rudniya, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire (today Bartukha, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine; Ukrainian: Бартуха).[1][2][3] Her father, Nechemya Menakhem Hofshteyn, was in the timber trade.[3][4] Her mother, Alte Chasya (née Kholodenko) was descended from A. M. Kholodenko, a famous Klezmer violin virtuoso, and it was that name that she would later use as her pen name.[5][4] Her brother, Dovid Hofshteyn, also became a well-known Yiddish poet and literary figure later in life.[5][6] Her primary education was received in Yasnohorod, Volhynian Governate.[4] After that she received a degree in Mathematics from Moscow State University.

Her first poems were published in 1922 in the Yiddish-language literary magazine Shtrom, which was edited by her brother Dovid.[4] Among the topics she developed in her poetry were themes about the natural world and biology, including Menstruation and its link to the cycles of nature.[7]

For a time she was also a Yiddish-language teacher with Yaacov Reznik, a Yiddish-language pedagogue in Kyiv.[8]

In 1940 she became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers. During the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, her mother, father and brothers (excepting Dovid) were killed at Babi Yar.[9][10][11][12][13]

Vera Inber translated her poems into Russian.[14]

In 1952 Dovid Hofshteyn was killed by Soviet authorities in the Night of the Murdered Poets. The death of her last brother was very difficult on her and greatly affected her work.[3] She continued to live in Moscow in the 1960s.[2]

She died in Moscow in July 1974.[1]

Selected works
  • Lebn (1937)[3]
  • Lider (poems, 1940)[3][1]
  • Gants fri (short stories, 1940)[3]
  • Undzer kraft (1941)[3][1]
  • Blizkiy chelovek: Stikhi (1960)[15]
  • Dos vort (also known as Slovo) (1974)[16][1]

References
  1. Kagan, Berl (1986). Leḳsiḳon fun Yidish-shraybers : miṭ hesofes̀ un tiḳunim tsum Leḳsiḳon fun der nayer Yidisher liṭeraṭur, un 5,800 pseṿdonimen (in Yiddish). New York: R. Ilman-Kohen. pp. 313–4.
  2. Vergelis, Arn (1965). Horizonṭn fun der haynṭtsayṭiḳer Soṿeṭisher Yidisher dikhṭung (in Yiddish). Moscow: Soṿeṭsḳi pisaṭel. p. 531.
  3. Fogel, Joshua (2017-01-25). "SHIFRE KHOLODENKO". Yiddish Leksikon. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  4. Korman, Ezra (1928). Yidishe dikhṭerins anṭologye (in Yiddish). Chicago: L.M.Shtayn. p. 346.
  5. Estraikh, Gennady. "Hofshteyn, Dovid". YIVO encyclopedia. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  6. Shemen, N. (1977). Ḳdushe in Yidishn familye-lebn loyṭ Tanakh, Talmud, Yaades̀ un liṭerarishe shṭudyes (in Yiddish). Tel Aviv: Farlag Y.L. Perets. pp. 314–5.
  7. Burstin, Hinde Ena (2020). "On the Other Side: Dina Lipkis, Yiddish Poet of 1920s Kyiv". Cossacks in Jamaica, Ukraine at the Antipodes. Academic Studies Press. pp. 454–5. doi:10.1515/9781644693025-030. ISBN 978-1-64469-302-5. S2CID 234715324.
  8. Lipshitz, Manya (1977). Bleṭlekh fun a shṭurmisher tsayṭ (in Yiddish). Downsview, ON: Sam Lipshitz, Diversified Publicity Bureau. p. 122.
  9. "GRIGORI GOFSHTEIN KHOLODENKO". The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  10. "ALTA GOFSHTEYN GOPSHTEIN". The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  11. "KIVA GOFSHTEYN GOPSHTEIN". The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  12. "ГОФШТЕЙН (ГОВШТЕЙН) / ХОЛОДЕНКО АЛТА КИВОВНА". babynyar.org. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  13. "ГОФШТЕЙН (ГОВШТЕЙН) КИВА (АКИВА) НАУМОВИЧ (НЕХЕМИЕВИЧ)". Babyn Yar. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  14. "Инбер Вера". Электронная еврейская энциклопедия ОРТ (in Russian). Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  15. Близкий человек. Стихи. Авторизованный перевод с еврейского (in Russian). 1960. OCLC 828977831. Retrieved 28 May 2021 – via WorldCat.
  16. Slovo (in Hebrew). 1974. OCLC 220863955. Retrieved 28 May 2021 – via WorldCat.
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