The most famous Jews of Russia: a list with photos

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

It's no secret how Jews were treated during World War II. It is no secret to anyone what this nation had to go through in our country both in the pre-revolutionary and in the Stalin era. Anti-Semitism was extremely widespread, and it still exists today. Meanwhile, there are many Jews among famous, talented people, true professionals in their fields.

Who are the Jews

Jews are often called Jews. However, they are not entirely synonymous. Jewish - nationality, this is a person whose mother is Jewish, professing Judaism. Accordingly, a Jew is one who belongs to the Jewish faith. If a person was not born a Jew, but converted to Judaism, according to the current law in Israel, he is also considered a Jew. From the word "Jew" a biting nickname "Jew" was formed, which was previously called all people of a given nationality in a negative way.

The word "Jew" comes from the biblical "Hebrew", it can be translated as "alien". This meaning is directly related to the origin of this ethnic group.

Origin of the Jews

According to the Bible, the first Jews appeared on Earth in the second millennium BC. They arose on the territory of ancient Canaan, when the Semitic pastoral nomads crossed the Euphrates (hence the "aliens") and mixed with the Canaanite farmers and the pre-Semitic population. Those who appeared in Canaan were subsequently divided into twelve tribes, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are considered their ancestors.

Later, the Jewish population stratified around the world, diasporas appeared (as they call part of a people who do not live on their territory) in different countries. Israel was created as a result of the Jewish genocide after World War II.

Famous Jews of Russia: Past

As soon as the unfortunate Jewish people have been humiliated in all ages, in all countries, emphasizing that these people cannot have any features, merits and talents, that people like them - "Jews" - cannot and will not should achieve nothing. Nevertheless, among the outstanding people in the most diverse fields that exist, the Jewish nation is unmeasured. Which once again proves that it is not a matter of nationality. The point is in the person himself.

Among the descendants of Jacob who lived and worked in the last century, there are many who have achieved recognition in their environment. These are scientists, actors, and writers … Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Zhabotinsky, Yakov Sverdlov, Lev Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Abram Ioffe, Evgeny Lifshitz, the Gnessin family and many, many others - this is not a complete list of famous Jews of Russia of the nineteenth-twentieth centuries. about some of them"colleagues" - a little more detail below.

Science

Many people know the famous psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, but not everyone knows that his real middle name is Simkhovich, and in his last name, instead of “t”, there should be “d”. Both his mother and father belonged to the Jewish people. He graduated from the faculties of law, as well as the historical and philological faculties, taught, began to study psychology from the study of the psychology of art (he released a monograph of the same name).

At the turn of the century, the future aircraft designer Semyon Lavochkin was born in Smolensk. At birth, he received a slightly different name - Shlema Aizikovich Shoper. His father, a Jew by origin, worked as a melamed (that is, a teacher). He served in the army, graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School, first became an ordinary designer, then - the head of aircraft design. Machines created by Lavochkin took part in the battles of the Great Patriotic War.

The future Nobel Prize winner in physics and famous scientist Lev Landau also comes from the Jewish ethnic group. Born and raised in Baku, where he graduated from two faculties - Physics and Mathematics and Chemistry. The first scientific papers appeared in print in the late twenties.

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman is a person who, perhaps, everyone knows. He was born in Bialystok (now Poland) to a Jewish family. He published his first essay at the age of seventeen. At the same time he studied at the institute and worked in a magazine. Graduated as a scientistarborist, but did not work on it, choosing a different path for himself - science and publications. The first voluminous work - one part of "Entertaining Physics" - became available to a wide range of readers in 1913 and immediately made a splash. This is how the genre of "entertaining science" appeared - that is, science that shows the familiar, ordinary from an unexpected, interesting side.

Music

The brothers Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, famous composers, also had Jewish roots. Their father was a merchant, their mother was a musician. In the early thirties of the nineteenth century, most of the family converted to Orthodoxy, thanks to which they were able to settle in Moscow. Anton Rubinstein first demonstrated his talent in public at the age of ten, Nikolai, who is six years younger, began performing in concert at the age of seven. Subsequently, Nikolai was also a conductor, as well as a piano teacher.

Isaac Beru Tsalievich Dunaevsky, or, as is more familiar to many, simply Isaac Osipovich Dunaevsky is a famous Soviet composer, author of music for a huge number of films. His Jewish family was musical, from the age of eight he learned to play the violin. He graduated from the conservatory in the class of this musical instrument, worked for four years in Kharkov as a composer and conductor. In 1924 he settled first in Moscow, later in Leningrad.

Alfred Schnittke came from a family of mixed blood - his father was a Jew, his mother was German. At first, the future composer spoke German, he learned Russian later. Music has becomestudy at the age of twelve in Vienna, where his father worked after the Great Patriotic War. Later he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, remained there as a teacher.

Literature

Songwriter, singer-songwriter (they are also called bards) Alexander Galich at birth received the name Ginzburg. Both of his parents belonged to the Jewish family, his mother worked at the conservatory, his father was an economist. At the age of fourteen he published his first poem, and after the ninth grade he entered the Literary Institute and the Stanislavsky Studio, studied at two institutions at the same time, but did not graduate from any. In 1940, he co-wrote the first play, at one time he worked in this genre. He began to write songs and perform them with a guitar on his own in the late fifties.

The famous writer and poet, Nobel Prize winner in literature Boris Leonidovich Pasternak is also one of the most famous Jews in Russia. His father was an artist, his mother was a pianist. For six years, the future writer studied music, he composed several piano works himself. Entered literature at the beginning of the second decade of the last century.

Evgeny Lvovich Schwartz, the famous children's writer, is also included in the list of famous Russian Jews (pictured). His father was a Jew (later he converted to Orthodoxy), his mother was Russian. The youngest Eugene was also baptized into Orthodoxy. He studied first as a lawyer, but then chose the profession of a writer. He worked under the leadership of Marshak, was involved in the creation of the most famouschildren's magazines "Chizh" and "Ezh". He wrote plays that were never staged while Stalin was alive.

In general, it must be said that Soviet literature is especially rich in famous Jews of Russia. Pavel Antokolsky, Isaac Babel, Ilya Ilf, Osip Mandelstam, Lev Kassil, Veniamin Kaverin (real name Zilber), Yuri Tynyanov, Emmanuil Kazakevich, Agniya Barto, Victor Dragunsky, Samuil Marshak, Anatoly Rybakov, Yuri Levitansky, Evgeny Dolmatovsky and others - whole a galaxy of names that have left their mark on Russian (and not only) literature.

Theater and cinema

Natan Isaevich Efros - this is the name given at birth to Anatoly Vasilyevich Efros, a theater director who should be attributed to the famous Jews of Russia. He was fond of theater since childhood, graduated from the directing department of GITIS. Throughout his life, he worked in several theaters, was the author of many productions.

Arkady Raikin is also on the list of famous Russian Jewish actors. He was born in Riga in a Jewish family, was fond of theater from early childhood. When the family moved to Petrograd, he began to study in a theater group, later graduated from a technical school for performing arts, and worked at the Lenkom Theater. Variety brought him more fame than theater - he became very popular, performing with a variety of variety miniatures.

In addition to Raikin, famous Jewish actors include Leonid Utyosov (Lazar Weissbein), Rostislav Plyatt, Zinovy Gerdt (Zalman Khrapinovich), Faina Ranevskaya (Feldman) and others.

Famous Jews of modernRussia

The above is a brief list of people who left a mark in science, art or other professional fields, but who, unfortunately, have not been among the living for many years. Some, who can be called our contemporaries, died relatively recently - in the new millennium. Among them, film director Grigory Chukhrai, theater and film director Vladimir Motyl, film director Mikhail Schweitzer, circus performer Igor Kio, actor and director Mikhail Kozakov, and art critic Vitaly Vulf should be singled out.

Below - a little more detail about famous Jewish people in Russia who are still alive.

Politics

Businessman, multibillionaire, owner of the Chelsea football club, governor of Chukotka - all this is about Roman Abramovich, who comes from a Jewish family. He has been engaged in entrepreneurial activity since the late eighties of the last century, thanks to which he made his fortune.

Outrageous politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky is known to everyone in our country. He was born in Kazakhstan and for the first eighteen years he lived under his father's surname - Edelstein. Zhirinovsky is the mother's surname. Since the beginning of the nineties, he has been the leader of the LDPR party.

Acting Wednesday

Artist Valentin Gaft is also one of the most famous Jews in Russia (pictured). Since the late fifties of the last century, he has been playing in the theater, and at the beginning of the new century he made his debut as a director. Managed to star in more than a hundred films - and this is not the limit!

Director and screenwriter Valery Todorovsky is also a Jew. He was born in Odessa, graduated from the screenwriting department of VGIK. He has directed ten films and written fifteen.

Music environment

Surprisingly, a huge number of contemporary performers have Jewish roots. For some you can't even tell. This list includes Leonid Agutin (Leonty Chizhov), his wife Anzhelika (Maria) Varum, Oleg Gazmanov, Jasmine, Maxim Leonidov, Boris Moiseev, Marina Khlebnikova, Mikhail Shufutinsky, soloists of the Bi-2 group Leva (Igor Bortnik) and Shura (Alexander Uman), Maxim Galkin, Valery Syutkin, Arkady Ukupnik.

The founder of the famous "Turetsky Choir" Mikhail Turetsky also belongs to the Jewish people. His real surname is Epshtein, and Turetsky is his mother's surname. The artist took it in memory of relatives from the maternal side who died in the Holocaust.

Also among the famous Jews of Russia is the People's Artist of our country Larisa Dolina - her real name is Kudelman. She was born in Baku, from the age of seven she studied music, worked in the State Orchestra of Armenia. In addition to the "folk", she also has the title of "Honored" artist of Russia.

Other

As you can already understand, there are hundreds of talented Jews in our country. You can list them endlessly. Famous Jewish doctors in Russia, for example, include Leonid Roshal and Ilya Mechnikov, Jews in the environment of science and education - Anatoly Wasserman and Zhores Alferov, in journalism - Vladimir Solovyov.

Allthey are only a few of those talented people who belong to the Jewish nation. There are enough professionals, as well as amateurs, among any nation - it doesn’t matter if you are Russian, German or Jewish.