Babi Yar

Shike (Ovsei) Driz was born in Krosno in southeastern Poland. He was raised by his grandfather, a tinsmith, after the early death of his father. He studied in heder before moving to a secular Ukrainian school, eventually studying art in Kiev while working in a factory. Driz began writing poetry in the 1920s and in the 1930s became a border guard in the Red Army. At the time of Stalinist suppression of Yiddish, Driz kept a low profile, working as a mason. From the mid-1950s, Driz’s verse, for adults and for children, was widely translated into Russian. He was one of the foremost Soviet Yiddish poets during the Khrushchev era and his lyrics for popular songs are still beloved today, notably “Babi Yar” and “Dem zeydns nign.”