Dizhur, Bella (b. 1906)

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Dizhur, Bella (b. 1906)

Russian poet. Name variations: Bella Abramovna Dizhur. Born 1906 (some sources cite 1903) in Kiev, of assimilated Jewish parents; graduated in biochemistry from Herzen Institute in Leningrad, 1926; children: Ernst Neizvestny (sculptor, b. 1925).

Wrote narrative poem, "Janusz Korczak" (1944), about Polish doctor and orphanage director who chose to go to Treblinka with 200 Jewish orphans in his care; received exit visa (1987) to join sculptor son, Ernst Neizvestny, in New York; poetry published in Russian and English as Shadow of a Soul (1990).