Ilya Konstantinovsky Russian writer, playwright and translator Date of Birth: 21.05.1913 Country: Dive

1. Early Life and Education
2. Underground Revolution in Romania
3. Literary Debut and Wartime Service
4. Joining the Writers' Union and Autobiographical Trilogy
5. Holocaust and Historical Fiction
6. Translation and Literary Criticism
7. Unfinished Legacy

Early Life and Education

Ilya Konstantinovsky was born in 1913 in Vilkov, a fishing town in the Bessarabian Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest in 1936.

Underground Revolution in Romania

During his university years, Konstantinovsky engaged in the underground communist movement in Romania. He began publishing articles in Romanian newspapers in 1930 and adopted various pseudonyms to conceal his identity.

Literary Debut and Wartime Service

After Bessarabia's annexation by the Soviet Union, Konstantinovsky moved to Moscow. His first book, "Hitler in Romania," was published in 1941. During World War II, he served as a war correspondent for the newspaper "Izvestia."

Joining the Writers' Union and Autobiographical Trilogy

Konstantinovsky became a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR in 1955. In the 1960s, he published an autobiographical trilogy, "First Arrest" (1960), "Return to Bucharest" (1963), and "Chain" (1969), recounting his experiences in the Romanian underground movement.

Holocaust and Historical Fiction

In the 1960s and 1970s, Konstantinovsky was among the first Soviet writers to address the Holocaust in Poland and Romania. His novella "Time of Prescription" (1966) explored this topic. He also published a fictionalized biography of the Romanian writer I. L. Caragiale in the "Zhizni Zamechatelnykh Lyudei" series.

Translation and Literary Criticism

Konstantinovsky translated Romanian literature into Russian, including works by Mihail Sebastian and Mihail Sadoveanu. He also published literary articles in various Soviet journals. He compiled a posthumous collection of his friend Boris Yampolsky's prose in 1990.

Unfinished Legacy

Konstantinovsky's novel "Seder in Warsaw" was smuggled out of the USSR and published in France in 1980. Another unpublished novel, "Judgment Day," was published in Israel in 1990. Konstantinovsky passed away in Moscow in 1995.