Letters of Jewish writer Isaak Nukhimovich Kipnis from Gulag
Extent and Medium
folder
1
410 digital images, PDF
Creator(s)
- Isaak Nukhimovich Kipnis
Biographical History
Isaak Nukhimovich Kipnis (1894-1974) was a prominent Soviet Jewish writer, member of the Union of Ukrainian writers. He was arrested in 1949 and accused of the “Nationalist ( Zionist) and Anti-Soviet activities”. The main evidence incriminated against Kipnis were his literary activities before and after WWII, especially his short article “ On khokhmes, on kheshiboynes” published in 1947 in the Polish Yiddish newspaper “ Naye Lebn” where he suggested that Soviet Jews have to proudly wear Yellow Stars next to the military decorations received on the battle fields. Isaak Kipnis’s works has been widely published before his arrest in the Soviet Union and recently in Israel and USA.
Archival History
Center for the Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry (Judaica Center) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine
Acquisition
Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Source of acquisition is the Center for the Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry (Judaica Center) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection from the Judaica Center via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in Jan. 2011 and accretion in June 2017.
Scope and Content
Consist of 62 letters written by Isaak Kipnis to his relatives from a gulag in 1952-1953 as well as appeals to the Soviet government and judicial authorities to review his case. The correspondence provides information about his imprisonment, describes circumstances of Kipnis’s arrest and attempts of his relatives to free him from the imprisonment.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Center for the Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry (Judaica Center) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine
People
- Kipnis, I.N. (Isaak Nukhimovich), 1894-1974.
Subjects
- Ukrainian literature--Jewish authors.
- Concentration camps--Soviet Union.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Russian.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
- Prisons.
- World War, 1939-1945--Evacuation of civilians--Ukraine--Kyïv.
- Soviet Union
Genre
- Letters.
- Document
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Instytut i︠u︡daïky