Papers of Grigori Gurevitch
Scope and Content Note
The Grigori Gurevitch Papers consist of materials pertaining to his involvement with the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire and abroad.
The collection consists of manuscripts, notes, drafts, correspondence, small amount of clippings, receipts, two petitions, and a photograph.
The bulk of the collection consists of Gurevitch’s manuscripts on politics, history of Kiev, anti-Semitism, Russian political immigrants, and Jewish revolutionaries. Additionally, there are notes and fragments of larger works, a German translation of Mark Aldanov’s St. Helen, poetry, sketches on political and literary figures, and a screen play for a movie.
A much smaller segment of the collection consists of Gurevitch’s correspondence, both incoming and outgoing. It covers such topics as Russian-Jewish immigrants, politics, and publication efforts, in particular Gurevitch’s writings for the Arkhiv Russkoi Revoluzii (Archive of the Russian Revolution, Rus: Архив Русской Революции), which was published in Berlin in 22 volumes between 1921 and 1937 by I. V. Gessen. Other correspondents include Pavel Axelrod, a prominent Menshevik leader, Alexis Goldenweisser, Lipetz, Nahum Grinberg, and B. Nikolaevskii.
Other materials include clippings, receipts, a photograph of Gurevitch’s daughter Nadin, and petitions from the Danish citizens sent to Grigori Gurevitch while he served as a Danish Council in Kiev.
Dates
- Creation: 1888, 1901-1928
Creator
Language of Materials
The collection is in Russian with some Yiddish, German, French, and English.
Access Restrictions
The collection has been digitized and is available online without restrictions. The physical collection is closed.
Use Restrictions
The images, documents, film footage, audio materials, and texts displayed in any portion of this web site may be copyrighted. Permission to use this web site is given on condition that the user agrees to follow U.S. copyright laws. The user agrees that she or he assumes liability for any copyright violations resulting from unauthorized use of items appearing on this web site and to hold YIVO harmless from any action involving copyright infringement. It is the responsibility of the user to carry out a due diligence search under U.S. copyright laws to determine the copyright status of items displayed on this web site.
Biographical Note
Grigori Evseevich Gurevitch, writer of sociopolitical literature, political and communal leader was born in 1854 in Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus) into a family of wealthy Jewish merchants.
He graduated from a Jewish Commercial College in Germany before beginning his studies at the Kiev University. While studying law at the Kiev University, Grigori Gurevitch joint a revolutionary group led by Pavel Axelrod, a prominent Menshevik figure. In 1872, he left Russia, first for Vienna and then for Berlin, where he became an active member of Aharon Lieberman’s circle and continued socialist agitation.
In 1878, he was arrested along with Aharon Lieberman and tried in court for participating in a clandestine socialist organization. Grigori Gurevitch was sentenced for 9 months in prison and was later exiled to England. Prior to his illegal return to Russia in 1883, Grigori Gurevitch lived in Paris and Zurich, and contributed to the magazine Voshod (Sunrise, Rus: Восход) under the pen name Gershon Badanes. Soon after his return to Russia, he was arrested again for being a member of the Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will, Rus: Народная Воля). After 16 months in prison, Grigori Gurevitch was released.
In 1910, he settled in Kiev where he became an active member of the local Jewish community and edited the newspaper Svobodnaya Evreiskaya Obshina (Free Jewish Community, Rus: Свободная Еврейская Община).
After the establishment of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918, Grigori Gurevitch served as the Danish Council in Kiev. With the fall of the Republic, he immigrated to Paris, where he died in 1929.
Extent
0.83 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Grigori Gurevitch Papers consist of materials pertaining to his involvement with the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire and abroad. The bulk of the collection consists of Gurevitch’s manuscripts on politics, history of Kiev, anti-Semitism, Russian political immigrants, and Jewish revolutionaries, notes, and drafts and also includes correspondence, small amount of clippings, receipts, two petitions, and a photograph
Arrangement
This collection is arranged as a portion of the Tcherikower Archive, which includes RG 80 through RG 89. Collection consists of a single series:
Custodial History
The Collection was received by Elias Tcherikower who was the head of the Historical Section of YIVO.
Subject
- Gurevitch, Grigori Evseevich, 1852-1929 (Person)
- Akselʹrod, P. B. (Pavel Borisovich), 1850-1928 (Person)
- Grinberg, Nahum (Person)
- Nicolaevsky, Boris I., 1887-1966 (Person)
- Gessen, V. (Person)
Genre / Form
- clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- manuscripts (documents)
- Memoirs
- Newspapers
- Official documents
- Petitions
Geographic
- France
- Germany
- Kyïv (Ukraine)
- Russia
- Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921
- Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1917-1936
Topical
- Antisemitism
- Emigration and immigration
- Jews -- Ukraine
- Pogroms -- Ukraine
- Revolutionaries -- Soviet Union
Uniform Title
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Grigori Gurevitch 1888, 1901-1928 RG 88
- Author
- Originally processed by YIVO Archives staff and by Marek Web in the 1960's and 1970's. Materials further processed, described, prepared for digitization and finding aid encoded by Yakov Il'ich Sklar in 2017.
- Date
- ©2017
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Processed, conserved and digitized as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project (2015-2022). Additional work funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Repository
