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{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) = Lev Kopelev
| native_name = {{nobold|Лев Копелев}}
| native_name = Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев
| native_name_lang = ru
| image = Lew Kopelew.jpg
| captionimage = Lev Kopelev at a reading in [[Bad Münstereifel]], the= 1980sLew Kopelew.jpg
| caption = Kopelev in the 1980s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|4|9}}
| birth_place = [[KievKyiv]], [[Russian Empire]] (modern [[Ukraine]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|6|18|1912|4|9}}
| death_place = [[Cologne]], Germany
| other_names =
| known_forother_names =
| known_for =
| movement = [[dissident movement in the Soviet Union]]
| alma_mater = [[Kharkov StateNational University of Kharkiv]], [[Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages]]
| occupation = author
| citizenship = [[Soviet Union]]<br/>Germany<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE0D8153EF933A15755C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all New York Times Obituary 20 June 1997]</ref>
| spouse = [[Raisa Orlova]]
}}
 
'''Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev''' ({{lang-ru|Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев}}, [[German language|German]]: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912, [[Kiev]] – 18 June 1997, [[Cologne]]) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] author and dissident.
 
== Early life ==
Kopelev was born in [[KievKyiv]], then [[Russian Empire]], to a middle-class Jewish family. In 1926, his family moved to [[KharkovKharkiv]]. While a student at KharkovKharkiv State University's philosophy faculty, Kopelev began writing in Russian and [[Ukrainian language]]s; some of his articles were published in the ''[[Komsomolskaya Pravda]]'' newspaper.
 
An idealist [[communist]] and active party member, he was first arrested in March 1929 for "consorting with the [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]]ist and [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]]ist [[Opposition (politics)|opposition]]," and spent ten days in prison.
 
==Career==
Later, he worked as an editor of radio news broadcasts at a locomotive factory. In 1932, as a correspondent, Kopelev witnessed the [[NKVD]]'s forced grain requisitioning and the [[dekulakization]]. Later, he described the [[Holodomor]] in his memoirsmemoir ''The Education of a True Believer''. [[Robert Conquest]]'s ''[[The Harvest of Sorrow]]'' later quoted him directly (see also [[Collectivisation in the USSR]]).
 
He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages in 1935 in the German language faculty, and, after 1938, he taught at the {{interlanguage link|Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History|hy|Մոսկվայի փիլիսոփայության, գրականության և պատմության ինստիտուտ|pl|Moskiewski Instytut Filozofii, Literatury i Historii|ru|Московский институт философии, литературы и истории|uk|Московський інститут філософії, літератури та історії}} where he earned a PhD.
 
When the [[German–Soviet War]] broke out in June 1941, he volunteered for the [[Red Army]] and used his knowledge of German to serve as a propaganda officer and an interpreter. He was tasked with subverting and indoctrinating Germans, and on one occasion persuaded the German garrison of [[Graudenz]] (Grudziądz) to mutiny.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dobson |last2=Miller |last3=Payne|first1=Christopher |first2=John |first3=Ronald|title=The Cruellest Night|publisher=Arrow Books|year=1980|location=London|pages=17}}</ref> When he entered [[East Prussia]] with the Red Army throughout the [[East Prussian Offensive]], he sharply criticized the [[Rape during the occupation of Germany|atrocities against the German civilian population]] and was arrested in 1945 and sentenced to a ten-year term in the [[Gulag]] for fostering "[[bourgeois]] humanism" and for "compassion towards the enemy". In the [[sharashka]] Marfino he met [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]]. Kopelev became a prototype for Rubin from ''[[The First Circle]]''.
 
ReleasedHe was released in 1954, and in 1956 he was rehabilitated. Still an optimist and believer in the ideals of communism, during the [[Khrushchev Thaw]] he restored his [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU) membership. From 1957–19691957 to 1969 he taught in the Moscow Institute of Polygraphy and the Institute of History of Arts. It was Kopelev who approached [[Aleksandr Tvardovsky]], editor of the top Soviet literary journal, the ''[[Novy Mir]]'' (New World) to urge publication of Solzhenitsyn's ''[[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]''.
 
From 1968 onward Kopelev actively participated in the human rights and dissident movement. In 1968 he was fired from his job and expelled from the CPSU and the Writers' Union for signing protest letters against the persecution of dissidents, publicly supporting [[Andrei Sinyavsky]] and [[Yuli Daniel]] and actively denouncing the [[Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]]. He also protested Solzhenitsyn's expulsion from the Writers' Union and wrote in defense of dissenting General [[Pyotr Grigorenko]], [[Psychiatric imprisonment|imprisoned]] at a [[psikhushka]].
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==Germany==
[[File:Benefietconcert voor Russische dissident Sacharov in Concertgebouw Amsterdam Mi, Bestanddeelnr 932-9796.jpg|thumb|Lev Kopelev (Amsterdam, 1980)]]
As a scientist, Kopelev led a research project on the history of Russian-German cultural links at the [[University of Wuppertal]]. In 1980, while he was on a study trip to [[West Germany]], his Soviet citizenship was revoked. After 1981 Kopelev was a Professorprofessor at the University of Wuppertal.
 
Kopelev was an honorary PhD at the [[University of Cologne]] and a winner of many international awards. In 1990 [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet General Secretary]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] restored his Soviet citizenship.
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==Death==
Lev Kopelev died in [[Cologne]], Germany on June 18, June 1997 at the age of 85, and was buried in the [[New Donskoy Cemetery]] in Moscow.
 
== References ==
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[[Category:Sharashka inmates]]
[[Category:Soviet expellees]]
[[Category:PeopleDenaturalized denaturalizedcitizens byof the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet literary historians]]
[[Category:Soviet male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:University of Cologne alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Wuppertal faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Cologne faculty]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Burials at Donskoye Cemetery]]

Latest revision as of 05:48, 13 June 2024

Lev Kopelev
Лев Копелев
Kopelev in the 1980s
Born(1912-04-09)April 9, 1912
Kyiv, Russian Empire (modern Ukraine)
DiedJune 18, 1997(1997-06-18) (aged 85)
Cologne, Germany
CitizenshipSoviet Union
Germany[1]
Alma materNational University of Kharkiv, Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages
Occupationauthor
Movementdissident movement in the Soviet Union
SpouseRaisa Orlova

Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev (Russian: Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912 – 18 June 1997) was a Soviet author and dissident.

Early life[edit]

Kopelev was born in Kyiv, then Russian Empire, to a middle-class Jewish family. In 1926, his family moved to Kharkiv. While a student at Kharkiv State University's philosophy faculty, Kopelev began writing in Russian and Ukrainian languages; some of his articles were published in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

An idealist communist and active party member, he was first arrested in March 1929 for "consorting with the Bukharinist and Trotskyist opposition," and spent ten days in prison.

Career[edit]

Later, he worked as an editor of radio news broadcasts at a locomotive factory. In 1932, as a correspondent, Kopelev witnessed the NKVD's forced grain requisitioning and the dekulakization. Later, he described the Holodomor in his memoir The Education of a True Believer. Robert Conquest's The Harvest of Sorrow later quoted him directly (see also Collectivisation in the USSR).

He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages in 1935 in the German language faculty, and, after 1938, he taught at the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History [hy; pl; ru; uk] where he earned a PhD.

When the German–Soviet War broke out in June 1941, he volunteered for the Red Army and used his knowledge of German to serve as a propaganda officer and an interpreter. He was tasked with subverting and indoctrinating Germans, and on one occasion persuaded the German garrison of Graudenz (Grudziądz) to mutiny.[2] When he entered East Prussia with the Red Army throughout the East Prussian Offensive, he sharply criticized the atrocities against the German civilian population and was arrested in 1945 and sentenced to a ten-year term in the Gulag for fostering "bourgeois humanism" and for "compassion towards the enemy". In the sharashka Marfino he met Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Kopelev became a prototype for Rubin from The First Circle.

He was released in 1954 and in 1956 was rehabilitated. Still an optimist and believer in the ideals of communism, during the Khrushchev Thaw he restored his Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) membership. From 1957 to 1969 he taught in the Moscow Institute of Polygraphy and the Institute of History of Arts. It was Kopelev who approached Aleksandr Tvardovsky, editor of the top Soviet literary journal, the Novy Mir (New World) to urge publication of Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

From 1968 onward Kopelev actively participated in the human rights and dissident movement. In 1968 he was fired from his job and expelled from the CPSU and the Writers' Union for signing protest letters against the persecution of dissidents, publicly supporting Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel and actively denouncing the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He also protested Solzhenitsyn's expulsion from the Writers' Union and wrote in defense of dissenting General Pyotr Grigorenko, imprisoned at a psikhushka.

Kopelev's books were distributed via samizdat (underground publishing), smuggled out of Russia and published in the West.

For his political activism and contacts with the West, he was deprived of the right to teach or be published in 1977.

Germany[edit]

Lev Kopelev (Amsterdam, 1980)

As a scientist, Kopelev led a research project on the history of Russian-German cultural links at the University of Wuppertal. In 1980, while he was on a study trip to West Germany, his Soviet citizenship was revoked. After 1981 Kopelev was a professor at the University of Wuppertal.

Kopelev was an honorary PhD at the University of Cologne and a winner of many international awards. In 1990 Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev restored his Soviet citizenship.

Personal life[edit]

Kopelev was married for many years to Raisa Orlova, a Soviet specialist in American literature, who emigrated with him to Germany. Her memoirs were published in the United States in 1984.

Death[edit]

Lev Kopelev died in Cologne, Germany on 18 June 1997 at the age of 85, and was buried in the New Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow.

References[edit]

  1. ^ New York Times Obituary 20 June 1997
  2. ^ Dobson, Christopher; Miller, John; Payne, Ronald (1980). The Cruellest Night. London: Arrow Books. p. 17.

Bibliography[edit]

Books
  • We lived in Moscow (Мы жили в Москве), 1974
  • The Education of a True Believer, lit. And madest thyself an idol ("И сотворил себе кумира"), 1976
  • To Be Preserved Forever ("Хранить вечно"), 1976
  • Ease My Sorrows: A Memoir, lit. nourish my sorrows ("Утоли моя печали"), 1981
  • No jail for thought, lit. about truth and tolerance ("О правде и терпимости"), 1982
  • Holy Doctor Fyodor Petrovich ("Святой доктор Федор Петрович"), 1985
Articles

Further reading[edit]

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