Sholem Aleichem’s Works to Be Published in Moscow in Russian, Not Yiddish

Obviously attempting to counter-act criticism against official anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, the USSR delegation here today distributed information about plans being made now in Russia to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sholom Aleichem, famed Yiddish writer, next year.

Observers here noted particularly that the original article announcing the Sholom Aleichem anniversary plans appeared in a Communist propaganda organ, “Soviet Weekly, ” published in English by the Russian embassy in London. Prof. Hyman Levy, of London, a well-known mathematician and formerly one of the leading Jewish Communists in England, quit the Communist Party this year after visiting the Soviet Union, where he found anti-Semitism rampart in official circles.

The article in “Soviet Weekly” announces that, last year, a Russian language edition of 165,000 copies of Sholom Aleichem’s “From the Market Place” was sold out “within a few days.” Next year, the USSR’s embassy publication declares, the Russian State Publishing House will issue in Russian a six-volume edition of selected works from the writings of the famous Yiddish writer. “Well-known translators,” states the announcement, “are working on new translations.”

The anniversary publications will also include works by “Soviet Jewish writers and critics, ” among these a number of essays on Sholom Aleichem, a novel based on the life of Sholom Aleichem by Abram Kagan, and a biographical novel “by the late Soviet Jewish writer Uriya Finkel.” These works planned in memory of one of the greatest Yiddish writers will be in the Russian language, and not in Yiddish. The publication of Yiddish books has practically been banned in the USSR since the liquidation of all Jewish cultural institutions.