His name is not so loud, but it evokes so much warmth and sadness ... An enthusiastic admirer of Armenia, a gifted poet and a good man, a friend of Yesenin, who tragically and untimely departed, crushed by a wave of repression, but not forgotten - Erlich Wolf. He is the author of amazing poems, children's books and serious works that have become classics of Soviet literature.
Wolf I. Erlich, biography
Wolf Iosifovich was born on June 7, 1902 in the town of Simbirsk, in a family of Volga Germans. His father is a pharmacist, Erlich Joseph Lazarevich. Mother - Anna Moiseevna, sister - Tolkacheva Mirra Iosifovna.
Wolf Erlich began to write poetry and first stories while still studying at the Simbirsk Gymnasium. After graduating from it, he entered Kazan University. At first he studied at the Faculty of Medicine, then transferred to the historical and philological. In 1920, he served in the 1st territorial Kazan regiment. During the civil war he was a Red Army Secretary, Secretary of the GPU Education Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Wolf Erlich arrived in Petrograd in 1921. At first he studied at the city university at the literary and art faculty, but, unfortunately, he was expelled for insufficient academic performance. He was an active participant in political and literary disputes, joined the then-popular "Order of Imaginists." In addition to Erlich, it included some Leningrad poets: Semyon Polotsky, Nikolai Grigorov, Ivan Afanasyev-Soloviev, Grigory Shmerelson. In 1925, Wolf Erlich served as a responsible duty officer at the First House of the Leningrad Council.
First poems
Erlich Wolf released his first poetry collection entitled “The Wolf of the Sun” in 1928. Next came the Book of Memories, and then Arsenal. Next up was the Book of Poems, a collection released in 1934, then the Order of the Battle (1935). In 1929, Erlich wrote a poem about Sophia Perovskaya, a famous revolutionary, the organizer of the assassination of Emperor Alexander II. In the 30s, he worked in the Leningrad magazine as a member of the editorial board, then in the Offensive newspaper. In 1932 he left for a construction site of national importance - the White Sea-Baltic Canal. He spent the whole of 1935 in the Far East, together with other scriptwriters, creating Volochaev Days.
When fame came
Erlich Wolf's “Book of Poems” is simple and concise, easy to read, like all his poetry and prose. All his works are filled with deep meaning, make you think. In 1937, a member of the Union of Soviet Writers Wolf Iosifovich released two children's poetry collections and the book "Unusual Adventures of Friends." Erlich Wolf's works were published in such well-known newspapers and magazines as Literary Contemporary, Red Night, and Star. In addition to his own literary works, Erlich Wolf was engaged in translations from Armenian. Among them are the poems of Mkrtich Adzhemyan, Mkrtich Nagash.
“Memories of Yesenin”
Faced with Esenin's works for the first time , Wolf Iosifovich was impressed by the genuine sincerity and depth of his poems. They met in 1924 in Leningrad, later their acquaintance grew into a strong friendship, which lasted until the last day of the life of Sergei Yesenin.
At that time, Erlich was already known; his poems were published in Leningrad newspapers and magazines. Like other writers, he participated in poetry evenings. In 1924, Erlich Wolf and Sergey Yesenin actively performed their poems in Leningrad and its suburbs, including Detskoe Selo. There they made a memorable photo with students of the Institute of Agriculture. Sergey Yesenin always shared his creative ideas with Erlich, evaluated both himself and his environment, which speaks of their extreme trust in each other. Years after Yesenin’s death, many will accuse Erlich of involvement in his murder, but it is worth remembering their relationship, their reverent warm friendship, and it becomes clear that all these rumors are a lie.
Once, visiting Anna Abramovna, Berzin Yesenin read a poem just written, his “Song of the Great Campaign”. Berzin invited her to publish in a magazine. Wolf Iosifovich immediately wrote down the whole poem from memory, Sergey Yesenin made only minor amendments and signed. After their departure, Anna Abramovna took the manuscript to the editorial office of the journal October.
Erlich’s only book of memoir prose was The Right to Song, written in 1930. In the preface, the author compares the poet with the tin soldiers who dreamed about him in a dream, which he later bought in reality. He wonders where Sergey Yesenin, who died, ends with, and where does that Yesenin, whom he saw in a dream, begin. It is as if he is talking about different images of one person, the present and the idealized by him. In these memoirs, he described only the most reliable facts known to him, but nevertheless he lived at such a time that he was afraid that he could not lie.
In this book, Wolf Iosifovich talks about his friendship with Yesenin, about the last two years of the life of the great poet. In it, he also mentions Esenin's last poem, which he transmitted to Ehrlich before his death.
Bye friend
On a tragic morning on December 28, 1925, Erlich Wolf was one of the first to discover Yesenin's body at the Angleterre Hotel. Heavily shocked by the death of his best friend, he still found the strength to take part in the ceremonial farewell, which was held on December 29 in the Leningrad House of Writers, on the embankment of the Fontanka River. Further, Erlikh and Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya-Yesenina, the poet’s widow, escorted the coffin to Moscow. December 31, 1925 Sergei Yesenin was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.
Armenia
In the late 1920s, Wolf Iosifovich and his friend Nikolai Tikhonov went on their first trip to Armenia. There they visited Argats, climbed the volcanic mountains above Sevan, crossed the Geghama Range, visited the monastery, which the locals call Ayrivank. The impression made by this country on Wolf Iosifovich could not but affect the work of the poet. This is how the “Alagez stories” and “Armenia” appeared.
Not only the majestic nature conquered Erlich, but also people. He told his friend Nikolai Tikhonov: "... I have already seen a lot of people, but I want to see even more ...". And he really returned to Armenia more than once. In the Ararat valley, he talked with winegrowers, on Arakas he made friends with border guards, was delighted with the intelligentsia of Armenia, and very closely accepted all the hardships of repatriates. Armenia completely swallowed the heart of Erlich. Unfortunately, this love became fatal for him.
Interrupted
In 1937, while traveling in Armenia, he wanted to write a script about repatriates, but this was not destined to come true. In the summer of July 19, he was arrested in Yerevan and sent to Leningrad under escort. In the autumn of November 19 of that year, Erlich was sentenced to death for belonging to the terrorist organization Trotskyites, which did not actually exist. The sentence was executed on November 24, 1937. Only 19 years later, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court Erlich Wolf was rehabilitated for lack of corpus delicti in his actions.