Itzik Feffer

Born to a working-class family in Ukraine, Itzik Fefer (Feffer) joined the Communist Party as a teenager and rapidly rose in the ranks of the Soviet Union’s first generation of Yiddish-speaking intelligentsia. Fefer promoted the use of proste reyd, or simple speech, in his literary works, a style that strove for simplicity and broad comprehensibility for the mass of readers against the more avant-garde and experimental trends of the time. Fefer was fiercely loyal to the Soviet regime and its ideology, crafting verse in praise of the state and conforming strictly to the tenets of social realism, a fact that drew significant literary and political criticism from Yiddish literati in the West. Fefer served as an informant for the NKVD on the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, reporting on the activities of its members. Despite his loyalty, he was executed for “nationalism” and “anti-Soviet activities” alongside other members of the Committee on August 12, 1952.