Iosif Utkin: Jewish Poet and Fighter for Soviet Motherland

This article is devoted to the life and work of the little-known Soviet-Jewish poet Iosif Utkin (1903–1944), who died during World War II. This outstanding creator still remains unknown in the West, and his poetry has rarely been studied even by Russian-speaking researchers. The author of the article is interested in three aspects of Utkin's poetry: the musical aspect, military poetry, and Jewish themes. These aspects are analyzed because they constitute the central, most basic elements of the poet's work. However, Utkin's poetry is not limited to these aspects, which is why it seems appropriate to examine the folkloric motifs, genre specificity, symbolism, and descriptions of various crafts and professions that appear in it. In his poetry, Utkin created an enchanted world that testifies to his extraordinary and brilliant artistic talent. His work expresses the spirit of old times, the romantic belief in just communism, hopes that were dashed with the end of World War II and the beginning of Stalin's anti-Semitic policy, called the "dark years of Soviet Jewry".