Rudich, Mayer

views updated

RUDICH, MAYER

RUDICH, MAYER (1913– ), Romanian poet and journalist. Rudich's first poems appeared in 1930 in the literary review Cumpǎna, published in his native town, Buzǎu, by Eliahu *Meitus. After settling in Bucharest, he worked on the Zionist papers Ştiri din lumea evreeascǎ and Renaşterea Noastrǎ.

In 1945 Rudich published La braţ cu moartea ("Hand in Hand with Death"), a documentary account of the expulsion of Romanian Jews to Transnistria during the Nazi period. In 1951 under the dominant Stalinist regime, Rudich was imprisoned together with other Romanian Zionist leaders. Though released in 1955, he was only allowed to leave for Israel in 1959. Thereafter he worked as an editor of the Tel Aviv Romanian-language daily, Viaţa Noastrǎ.

In 1965 he published Muntele Amintirilor ("The Mountain of Memories"; Hebrew, Har ha-Zikhronot, 1969), a collection which includes both new poems written in Israel and some of his previous work. This reveals a significant change from the sad tone of his Diaspora verse to the brighter note of his writing in Israel. The book contains verse describing the landscape of Israel and his joy at its beauty. One section consists of poems expressing Rudich's revulsion at the crimes of the Nazis.

bibliography:

Al ha-Mishmar (May 14, 1965 and Feb. 7, 1969); Viaţa Noastrǎ (March 12, 1965), 7.

[Dora Litani-Littman]