Personal archives of the Yiddish writer, Yiehiel (Ikhil) Shraybman

Yiehiel Shraybman (1913-2005), one of the most prominent Yiddish writers, was born in Rashkov (now Vadul-Rashkov) in Bessarabia. He received a traditional Jewish education and also attended Jewish Teaching Seminary in Chernovtsy (Cernauti, Czernowitz). His first literary works were published before WWII in Romania. In 1940, after Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union, Yiehiel Shraybman moved to Kishinev (Chisinau) where, with the exception of his wartime years, he spent all of his life. From 1940 to 1950, Yiehiel Shraybman published his short stories in the Yiddish journal Shtern (Star) as well as the newspaper Eynikayt (Unity), the official organ of the Jewish Anti- Fascist Committee in Moscow. With the opening of the monthly Soviet Yiddish journal Sovetish Geymland (Soviet Motherland), in 1961 Yiehiel Shraybman also became a member of the editorial board and one of the most active contributors to this publication for more than thirty years. Beginning in the early 1990s, Yiehiel Shraybman also published his works in several American and Israeli Yiddish publications, including Forverts (Forward), Di Tsukunft (Future), Yiddishe Kultur (Yiddish Culture), Naye Vegn (New Ways), etc. He died in 2005 in Chisinau, Moldova. The bulk of the collection consist of letters received by the writer from Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union, Poland, Israel, United States, and France, as well as from readers of his books. This collection also includes letters received by Yiehiel Shraybman from various Jewish cultural institutions and Yiddish periodicals.