Home > Solomon Mikhoels

Born Shlioma Vovsi in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils), Latvia, Mikhoels studied law in Saint Petersburg, but left school in 1918 to join Alexander Granovsky 's Jewish Theater Workshop, which was attempting to create a national Jewish theater in Russia based on the Yiddish language. Two years later, in 1920, the workshop moved to Moscow, where it established the Moscow State Jewish Theater . This was in keeping with Lenin's policy on nationalities, which encouraged them to pursue and develop their own cultures under the aegis of the Soviet state. Mikhoels, who showed outstanding talent, was the company's leading actor and, as of 1928, its director. He played in several memorable roles, including Tevye in an adaptation of Sholom Aleichem's comic short stories about Tevye the Milkman (which were adapted for an American audience as Fiddler on the Roof) as well as in many original works, such as Bar Kochba, and translations.

Perhaps his most noted role was as King LearFool in the Storm" by William Dyce ( 1806- 1864) King Lear is generally regarded as one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. It is believed to have been written in 1605 and is based on the legend of Llyr, a king of pre- Roman Britain. His story ha in a Yiddish translation of the play by William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 ( O. May 3, 1616 ( N. has a reputation as the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Indeed, the English Renaissance has often been called "the age of Shakespe. These plays were ostensibly supportive of the Soviet state, however, closer readings suggest that they actually contained veiled critiques of StalinIosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin ( Russian: Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin , original name Ioseb Jughashvili ( Georgian: Russian: Iosif Dzhugashvili see Other names section ( December 21 [ December 9, Old Style], 1879 1 March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik rev's regime. It is noteworthy that two of the Shakespearean plays put on by the theater company were King Lear and Richard IIIThe Tragedy of Richard III is a play by William Shakespeare, in which the monarch Richard III of England is unflatteringly depicted. Synopsis The play opens with Richard standing in "a street, delivering the beginning, : Now is the winter of our disconten, both studies in tyranny.

By the mid-1930s, Mikhoels' career was threatened because of his association with other leading intelligentsiaThe intelligentsia is a social class of intellectuals and social groups close to them (e. artists, school teachers), which can be also seen as a class of mental workers in opposition to non-working aristocracy or business owners on the one hand and to man, who were victims of Stalin's purgesThe Great Purge is the name given to the campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The purge was motivated by the desire on the part of the leadership to remove dis, notably author Isaac BabelIsaac Emmanuilovich Babel Russian: ( July 13 (New Style), 1894 January 27, 1940) was a Russian journalist, playwright, and short story writer. Born to a family of poor Jewish merchant in Odessa, Ukraine during a period of social unrest and mass exodus of. Mikhoels actively supported Stalin against Hitler, and in 1942, he was made chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. In this capacity, he travelled around the world, meeting with Jewish communities to encourage them to support the Soviet Union in its war against Nazi Germany.

While this was useful to Stalin during World War II, after the war, Stalin opposed contacts between Soviet Jews and Jewish communities in non-Communist countries, which he deemed as "bourgeoisie." The Jewish State Theater was closed and the members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were arrested - all except for two were eventually executed in the purges shortly before Stalin's death.

Mikhoels was the most visible of the intellectual Jewish leadership, and a show trial would have cast aspersions on Stalin's rule. Before the purges began, however, he died in a car crash in Minsk in 1948. Though he received a state funeral, his death had been orchestrated by the MVD.

His brother Miron Vovsi was Stalin's personal physician and was arrested during the Doctors' plot in 1953, but he survived.