Overview
- Description
- The Mikhail Lev collection consists of the writings, research materials, and correspondence of the Yiddish language author Mikhail Lev. The collection also includes items from the personal archives of Josef Rabin, Yaakov Shternberg, Moini Shulman, and Aharon Yeyman, as well as the diary of Mendel Rosengauz; literary works by Girsch Dobin (1905-2001), a survivor of the Minsk ghetto; and photocopies of drawings from the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
The collection consists of Mikhail Lev’s correspondence with readers, colleagues, friends, Holocaust survivors, other Yiddish writers, publishing houses, and literary journals related to the research and publication of his works. Also included are manuscripts, research materials, and newspaper clippings of Mikhail Lev’s writing related to the Holocaust, the heroism of the Jewish people during World War II, the history of the Sobibór concentration camp, and the Sobibór uprising.
The collection also consists of materials relating to Alexsander Pechersky, the leader of the Sobibór uprising, and several other survivors from Sobibór concentration camp. These materials include correspondence, personal documents, and writings, both published and unpublished, relating to the Sobibór concentration camp. Also included are materials relating to Valentin Tomin, a Soviet historian and journalist, who wrote a book about Sobibór published in the Soviet Union in 1964; M. Shulman and letters from Soviet Yiddish writers; Yaakov Shterbnerg (1890 -1973), a Jewish poet; the personal diary of Mendel Rosengauz (1901-1982), a specialist in literature and culture in Yiddish; and the literary work in Yiddish of Girsch Dobin (1905-2001), a survivor of Minsk ghetto. - Date
-
inclusive:
1940-2008
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
- Collection Creator
- Mikhail Lev
- Biography
-
Mikhail (Michael) Lev was born on July 3, 1917 in the town of Pogrebichshe, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine. His family moved to Krivoy Rog (now Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine) where they joined the newly established Jewish agricultural colony in 1926. In 1935, Lev entered a Jewish teacher’s college in Moscow and started working at the Jewish Central Library of the Jewish publishing house, Der Emes (Truth). In 1941, Mikhail Lev joined the Red Army. He was wounded, captured by the Germans, and survived for a year in a prisoner of war camp before escaping. After his escape, he joined the partisans in Belarus where he served as a commander of the intelligence unit and then as a chief of staff of a partisan brigade. After the war, Lev returned to Moscow and continued his work at Der Emes. He also wrote articles for Eynikayt a newspaper published by the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Following the establishment of the monthly Yiddish journal Sovietishe Geymland (Soviet Motherland), Lev became one of its major contributors and a member of its editorial board. Mikhail Lev published 11 books in Yiddish and Russian, as well as articles and essays. In 1996, Lev immigrated to Israel and died there on May 23, 2013.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Correspondence. Diary. Manuscripts. Negatives. Newspaper clippings. Notebooks. Photographs. Poetry.
- Extent
-
7 boxes
19 oversize folders
- System of Arrangement
- The Mikhail Lev collection is arranged in six series.
Series 1. Correspondence, 1944-2007
Sub-series A: To/From Mikhail Lev, 1944-2007
Sub-series B: Alexander Pecherski, 1962-2007
Series 2. Manuscripts, 1974-1994, undated
Series 3. Research Materials, circa 1940s-1990s, undated
Sub-series A: General, circa 1940s-1990s, undated
Sub-series B: Materials from the archive of Josef Rabin, 1946-1978
Sub-series C: Materials from the archive of Yaakov Shternberg archive, 1956-1973, undated
Sub-series D: Materials from the archive of Moini Shulman, 1968-1981
Sub-series E: Materials from the archive of Aharon Yeyman, 1969-1993, undated
Series 4. Printed Materials, 1924-2008
Series 5. Notebooks, undated
Series 6. Photographs, circa 1930s-2008
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp escapes--Poland--Sobibór. Concentration camp inmates. Concentration camps--Soviet Union. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust survivors--Minsk ghetto. Holocaust survivors--Sobibor concentration camp. Holocaust victims. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature--Ukraine. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Sobibór. Literary work in Yiddish--Ukraine. Ukrainian literature--Jewish authors. World War, 1939-1945--Jewish resistance. World War, 1939-1945--Ukraine--Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Geographic Name
- Germany. Israel. Minsk (Belarus)--History--20th century. Poland. Ravensbrück (Germany) Sobibór (Poland)
- Personal Name
- Aliumini, Myeer. Bayder, Haim. Belenki, Moyshe, 1910-1995. Belou, A. Ben-Dov, Yaakov. Ben-Zvi, Rahel Yanai. Blatt, Thomas, 1927-2015. Breyer, Dunja. Burg, Josef, 1912-2009. Demjanjuk, John, 1920-2012. Diamant, Lev. Dobin, Girsch, 1905-2001. Dunec, Josef. Edwards, Eric. Einstein, Ruvim. Franz Wagner, Gustav, 1911-1980. Friedman, Lue. Gilbert, Martin. Gordin, Jacob, 1853-1909. Greve, Dorothea. Ivanova, Elena. Kaplan, Alan. Karsel, Gezek. Keysweet, Curtis. Khaikina-Shmider, Sonia. Lev, Mikhail, 1917-2013. Lichtenstein, Otilyia. Lizen, Alexander. Neuerstern, Avraham. Novich, Miriam. Oransky, Peter. Ozeshkova, Aliza. Pechersky, Alexander, 1909-1990. Peretz, Isaac Leib, 1852-1915. Polyanker, Hershl. Rabin, Josef. Rashke, Richard, 1936- Razumniy, Mark. Romanovich, Waldu. Rozengaus, Mendel. Sandler, Boris, 1950- Senel’nikov, Aleksander. Shlonsky, Avraham, 1900-1973. Shreibman, Yehiel. Shternberg, Yakov, 1890-1973. Shulman, Moini. Soroka, Gregory. Teyman, Aharon. Tobin, Hirsh. Tomin, Valentin. Tomin, Wald. Vaispapir, A. M. Van Albaba, Robert. Van Dam, Max, 1910-1943. Vaytsin, A. Von den Bergh, Lily. Weinberg, Selma. Winer, Gershon. Yanai Ben-Zvi, Rahel, 1886-1979. Zibukski, Boris.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired the Mikhail Lev collection in 2011 via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Project.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2022-07-28 17:50:07
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn42502
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Also in Mikhail Lev collection
The collection contains the literary archives of Soviet Yiddish writer and journalist Mikhail Lev.
Video recordings of the Mikail Lev collection
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