Literary archives of poet Riva Naumovna Balyasnaya

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 Contains selected records related to Riva Balyasnaya, Jewish Soviet poet. Incudes copies of her personal papers, poems, a biography, and critical reviews of her poetry. Includes also materials of criminal investigated case related to Balyasnaya‘s poetry; an interrogation in 1952; a review of her poetry by three philologists that indicates her ”anti-Soviet activity”; a statement from the hospital about her mental condition in 1954; and related materials. Riva Balyasnaya's poetry includes poems written during WWII and dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and to Jewish resistance. Riva Balyasnaya was a Jewish Soviet poet (1910-1980). Riva Balayasnya was born in 1910, in Radomyshl, Zhitomir Region of Ukraine. Author of 15 poetry books published between 1934-1980 in Yiddish, Ukrainian in Russian.Riva Balyasnaya was arrested in 1952 for promoting “Jewish Nationalist and Zionist” ideas in her poetry and literary works. She was released from prison in 1954 and continued her literary work in Kyiv until her death in 1980.