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2010-09-02

Suckever's elephants

Dr Karolina Szymaniak

The admirers of Abraham Suckewer’s poetry discovered more about his inspiration during this year’s Singer’s Festival. A lecture titled “Słonie Suckewera lub zmysłowe fascynacje poety” („Suckewer’s Elephants or the Poet’s Sensual Fascinations”) was given by Karolina Szymaniak in Próżna-Hoiz restaurant, on September 1, 2010.

Doctor Karolina Szymaniak is an expert in Yiddish literature and the author of a book about the literary work of Debora Vogel. She is also an editor of ”Cwiszn” quarterly.

The subject of the lecture was Suckewer’s post war poetry, which appeared in volumes "Ode to the pigeon" (“Ode cu der tojb”), “Elephants at night” and "Green aquarium" (“Griner akwarium”). The volume “Elephants at night”, which was published after the poet’s journey to Africa, won wide recognition among the critics. In his poems, Suckewer used original similes. African motifs were used as a metaphorical illustration of his life in the Vilna Ghetto. The motif of transition from an animal into human being seems to be especially interesting. In his works, Suckewer employs biblical allusions to the history of Moses (the poem “On the Nile”). Drawing attention to such motifs, Doctor Szymaniak introduced an innovative interpretation of Suckewer’s poems. The lecture was accompanied by a poetic recitation delivered by an actress from The Jewish Theater in Warsaw.

The actress reading Suckever's poems

Abraham (Awrom) Suckewer was born in Smorgonie, in 1913. During World War I, his family escaped to Siberia. Young Abraham was brought up among Kyrgyzs. Memories of his happy childhood were reflected in his later literary works. In 1920, Abraham and his mother moved to Vilna, where Abraham attended Cheder, and later a Polish-Hebrew high school. With Michał Czenichow and Szmerke Kaczerginski, who were also later to become poets, he was a member of a Jewish scout organization Bin (Bee).

Abraham’s literary debut took place in the 1930s. His poem “Mascarade” appeared in the Warsaw weekly "Wochnszrift far literature”, and his other poem “Under the rain” in the Vilna daily "Der Wilner Tog". His works gained recognition from other poets and writers such as Julian Tuwim. Suckewer became friends with Joseph Roth, who helped him to publish his first volume of verse titled “Lider”. With Chaim Grade and Szmerke Kaczergiński, he was a member of the literary group Jung Vilne.

In the fall of 1941, Suckewer was imprisoned in the Vilna Ghetto. Despite his situation, he did not stop writing poetry. At the end of 1941, his poem ”Child of the grave” ("Dos Kejwer kind") won the first prize in a literary contest organized by Związek Literatów i Dziennikarzy Żydowskich (The Association of Jewish Writers and Journalists). In 1942, the Nazis ordered that the YIVO collection be catalogued and that the more valuable materials be sent to Germany. Suckewer was among the Jews who were to complete this task. With the help of Zeligi Kalmanowicz, Herman Kruk, Szmerk Kaczergińsk and Rachel Kryńska, he saved many works and documents, taking them out of the YIVO library building in his pockets. Later these works were buried in cellars or smuggled outside the ghetto.

In September 1947, Suckewer left for Palestine. He wanted to defend the Yiddish language, which was being eliminated by Hebrew. He became a leader of a group of young artists who wrote in Yiddish. They were called Jung Israel. For many years he was a publisher of the magazine “Di Golden Kejt”. Suckewer died in 2010.

A portrait of Suckewer and his artistic work is sketched in the latest issue of the magazine Cwiszn.

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