From Evenki into Yiddish

On June 14, 2023, the newspaper Birobidzhaner Shtern published new translations of poems by the national Evenki poet Nikolai Oyogir (1926-1988) into Yiddish and Russian, translated by the writer, journalist and poet Yoel Matveyev. This is the second series of his parallel translations of Oyogir’s works into both languages.

The connection between Yiddish and Evenki may seem unexpected, but in the Birobidzhan context it is quite natural. The Evenks (Tungus) are the oldest indigenous population of the Jewish Autonomous Region of Russia; the very name of the region’s capital, Birobidzhan, is of Evenki origin. A number of local Jewish writers and poets turned to Tungus themes in Yiddish. This shows once again the extraordinary wide geographical and cultural area of Yiddish culture, the diversity of its ties with various countries and peoples.

As another example of the amazing diversity of Yiddish culture, on June 7, 2023, Birobidzhaner Shtern published a chapter from Vladimir Arseniev’s novel “Dersu Uzala” translated into Yiddish by Gershon Fridman (1892-1962). The book was originally written in Russian, but its main character is a Nanai hunter and guide. Nanais are a Far Eastern people related to the Evenks who also speak a Tungusic language.