MIKHOELS, SOLOMON

MIKHOELS, SOLOMON
MIKHOELS, SOLOMON (stage and public name of Solomon Vovsi; 1890–1948), Yiddish actor; head of the Moscow State Jewish Theater; chairman of the jewish anti-fascist committee . Born in Dvinsk (today Daugavpils, Latvia), Mikhoels studied law at St. Petersburg. In 1918 he joined alexander granovsky 's Jewish drama studio, the next year following Granovsky to Moscow, where the group became the State Jewish Theater (GOSET). He was Granovsky's chief actor, and succeeded him to the directorship in 1928 when he did not returned from abroad. In 1931 he opened a studio affiliated with the theater, which trained actors for all Jewish theaters in the U.S.S.R. Mikhoels, whose distinction lay in his command of both tragic and tragicomic roles, first attracted attention in 1921 in a performance of shalom aleichem 's Agents. He was soon playing such famous Yiddish roles as Shimele Soroker in Two Hundred Thousand, Hotsmakh in Goldfaden's The Witch, Benjamin in The Travels of Benjamin the Third by Mendele Mokher Seforim (S.Y. Abramovitsh ), and Shalom Aleichem's Tevye. One of his most notable performances was King Lear in the production by Sergei Radlov in 1935. From August 1941, Mikhoels, as chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, launched fervent appeals to "our Jewish brethren" in the West to help the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany. In 1943 he and the poet itzik fefer traveled on behalf of the Anti-Fascist Committee to the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and England, where they were enthusiastically received by the Jewish public. At the end of World War II, when survivors of the Holocaust and Jews returning from evacuation in Soviet Asia tried to resettle in their old homes, Mikhoels gradually became their spokesman and protector, interceding for them with the Soviet authorities. He apparently was also connected with the "Crimean project" which aimed at the settlement of homeless Jews in the Crimea. On Jan. 13, 1948, while on an official mission in Minsk on behalf of the State Committee for Theater Prizes, Mikhoels was brutally killed, ostensibly in an alleged car accident, but in reality executed by the Soviet secret police, on the order of Stalin. (Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter, testified (in her book Only One Year) that her father was personally involved in covering up Mikhoels' assassination and presenting it as an accident.) On January 16, Mikhoels was eulogized at his state funeral in Moscow in which many thousands of Jews participated. Mikhoels' assassination was the first step in the process of the liquidation of all Jewish cultural institutions and of most outstanding Yiddish writers, artists, and actors which took place during the last years of Stalin's rule. In 1952, four years after his death, Mikhoels was claimed as a Jewish nationalist, a "Joint agent," and a contact man with the U.S. intelligence in the "Doctors' Trials." During the de-Stalinization in the mid-1950s Mikhoels was de facto rehabilitated. In Tel Aviv a square was named in his honor in 1962, on the tenth anniversary of the execution of Jewish writers in the U.S.S.R. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B.Z. Goldberg, The Jewish Problem in the Soviet Union (1961), index; K.L. Rudnitskiy (ed.), Mikhoels' (Rus., 1965); Sutskever, in: Di Goldene Keyt, no. 43 (1962); I. Ionasovich, Mit Yidishe Shrayber in Rusland (1959), passim. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Vovsi-Mikhoels, My Father Solomon Mikhoels (Russian, 1984); G. Kostyrchenko, In the Captivity of the Red Pharaon (Russian, 1994). (Binyamin Eliav and Joseph Leftwich)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Mikhoels, Solomon Mikhailovich — (1890–1948)    The greatest Yiddish actor of his generation, Mikhoels was used by the Soviet regime to raise funds and popular support in the United States during World War II. Following the war, Mikhoels and his colleagues in the Jewish theater… …   Historical dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence

  • Mikhoels, Solomon (Solomon Vovsi) — (1890–1948)    Russian Yiddish actor. Mikhoels was the leading actor and from 1928 director of the State Jewish Theatre in Moscow. Among his famous roles were SHALOM ALEICHEM’S Tevye the Dairyman, and King Lear in Yiddish. From 1941–3 he headed… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Mikhoels, Solomon — (1890 1948)    Russian Yiddish actor. He was born in Dvinsk. He became the chief actor in Alexander Granovsky s drama group, and later succeeded him to the directorship of the Jewish State Theatre in Moscow. During World War II he visited western …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Mikhoels, Solomon — (1890–1948)    See Jewish Anti Fascist Committee; Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich …   Historical dictionary of the Holocaust

  • Solomon Mikhoels — Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels Yiddish: שלמה מיכאָעלס; Russian: Соломон Михайлович Михоэлс (Вовси) (16 March [O.S. 4 March] 1890 – January 12/13, 1948) was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels… …   Wikipedia

  • Solomon Mikhoels — | Monument commémoratif à Daugavpils, ville de naissance de Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels (en yiddish : שלמה מיכאָעלס, en russe : Соломон Михайлович Михоэлс, de son vrai nom : Vovsi ; 16 mars 1890 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Solomon Mikhoels — fue un actor y director en el teatro Yiddish. Era judío y nació en marzo de 1890 en Daugavpils y murió el 12 o 13 de enero de 1948 …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Solomon Mikhoels — Solomon Michailowitsch Michoels Solomon Michailowitsch Michoels (russisch Соломон Михайлович Михоэлс, geboren als Schiloma Wowsi, * 4. März 1890 in Dwinsk, heute Daugavpils, Lettland; † 12. Januar/13. Januar 1948 in Minsk …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Solomon Bregman — (in Russian, Соломон Брегман)(1895 mdash;1953) was a prominent member of the Jewish Anti Fascist Committee formed in the Soviet Union in April 1942. The committee was led by the famous Yiddish actor Solomon Mikhoels. Bregman was born in the town… …   Wikipedia

  • Solomon Mikhoels — Archivo:Mikhoels at JAC meeting.jpg Mikhoels en una reunión del Comité Antifascista. Solomon Mikhoels (16 de marzo de 1890 12 o 13 de enero de 1948) fue un actor y director de teatro yiddish en la Unión Soviética. De ascendencia judía, nació en… …   Wikipedia Español

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