«Jewish Observer»
BOOK REVIEW
6/25
March 2002
5762 Nisan

80 YEARS LATER
NINA BELITSKAYA
Main page To print

At the end of 2001 Poltava marked 80 years since Vladimir Korolenko's death. His contemporaries called him the Great Righteous Man, "the society's consciousness". The writer-publicist takes a special place in the hearts of the Jews. "Beilis' case" noted for its grievous results, prevention of pogroms in Poltava, care for the poor and miserable. ... These are only few things in the list of his activities that encouraged the Jewish Council of Ukraine to award Korolenko the title of the Righteous Man. Lyobov Geistor, the former Director of Korolenko's Museum and the author of the book "Close to Korolenko", was intimate with his daughter Sofia Vladimirovna. She knew his close relatives and associated with them for many years. The book is unique as it is based upon the facts confirmed by documents and has never been published before. She collected the reminiscences piece by piece and they give a very vivid and tangible idea of V.Korolenko, his family, friends, relatives, his activity both literary and social. The book is written in a very sophisticated way, with an amazing tact and taste, it is permeated with love and admiration for the great humanist.

The Jews are particularly pleased that the book includes the chapter "Korolenko and the Jews". In 1994 L.Geistor read a lecture for the representatives of the Jewish community in Poltava. The lecture gave rise to this chapter.

Geistor L. Close to Korolenko. - Poltava, 2001.

Top

«Jewish Observer» - obozrevatel@jewukr.org
© 2002 Jewish Confederation of Ukraine - www.jewukr.org