The source The monument was part of a cultural bridge between the two countries. The Saratov embankment near the rotunda lost its fresh sculpture by Rahel Bluvshtein. This is a well-known Israeli poetess, born in Saratov.
On the initiative of the Rubezh company, the sculpture was installed at the center of children's creativity it is building on the embankment, but now it is not there.
Rachel Bluvshtein is a well-known poetess in Israel. Her face is on one of the local bills, international poetry competitions are held in her honor, her poems are part of the educational program in local schools.
Saratov for Rachel is a small homeland, she was born here on September 20, 1890. Then there was a move to Israel, travel around the world. However, the Jewish community does not forget about her roots.
As Moses Benehis, a native of Saratov and living in Israel, said in VK, for a long time there was no reliable information about her place of birth, and there were only oral family traditions about that this is the city of Saratov.
– In Saratov itself, they never doubted this and even repeatedly tried to erect a monument to the famous countrywoman, but they could not, because the place of her birth was not registered. Now this is a scientifically established fact, and there is a corresponding document, says Mr. Benehis.
In 2020, he “learned about the problem with the document and volunteered to get a historical certificate so that the monument was erected and hoisted to the glory and Rachel, and the city of Saratov, and as a symbol of strong cultural kinship and friendship between the peoples of both countries, and as a triumph of poetry in general.”
– Fortunately, it turned out that not only I thought about the role of Rachel, as a historical figure who influenced the culture of Israel and became one of the treasures in the treasury of the great natives of Saratov. Many Saratov residents remembered and thought about this, and even much has already been done to perpetuate the memory of the poetess. As an example, the installation of a memorial plaque on the supposed house of her family, the author of the post clarified.
According to him, an international project was initiated to organize a cultural bridge named after Rachel Bluvshtein, “whose life was a symbol of the historical relationship between two great peoples and cultures.”
– Project “Russian-Jewish Cultural Bridge” named after Rachel Bluvshtein” was approved and supported by a number of Saratov, regional, All-Russian and Israeli organizations, and will start in the Saratov region and Israel in the near future, – said Mr. Benehis.
In early summer, already this year, the city committee for architecture announced the appearance of a monument to Rachel in Saratov.
– The initiators of the installation of this figure were representatives of LLC “Group of companies” RUBEZH “(founder – Avrum Shpreher), who undertake to make and install a monument, as well as carry out its further maintenance at their own expense. The project was presented by the company's architect Alexey Faller. It was planned to place the sculpture on the site at Chernyshevsky, 120 (previously belonged to the territory of SarGRES – approx. BV), – the mayor's office said in a message.
At the same time, it was noted that “the installation of the figure caused an active discussion”, and “representatives of the architectural community recommended finalizing the concept of the monument, and also proposed new creative solutions.” In the middle of summer, the sculpture was installed on the embankment near the children's art center under construction. Recall that it is precisely on the former territory of SarGRES that the Rubezh company is building it.
Literally in November, the sculpture of Rachel was still standing there, accompanied by the inscription “I will examine my hurrying life before me gradually, so calmly. And all my joy, unexpected joy – be blessed.
However, in December the sculpture was dismantled. The “BV” correspondent was not allowed into the construction site, but they confirmed that the monument was no longer there.
The reasons for this are unknown, neither the company nor the mayor's office comment on what happened. Insiders report only rumors that allegedly high-ranking officials were dissatisfied with the installation of a monument to the Jewish poetess on the embankment. I do not want to believe that banal anti-Semitism became the reason.
Whether the synagogue in the center of Saratov will now attract attention is unknown. As well as where the sculpture of the poetess will now be installed, if at all. By the way, Israel belongs to the countries friendly to Russia.
As explained by BV Yakov Streltsyn, the initiator of the project is the Russian Jewish Congress, together with which sketches were prepared and the sculpture itself was made. The company “Rubezh” kindly provided a plot on the embankment. However, he does not know anything about the dismantling of the sculpture – he learned about this from a BV correspondent.
Rachel Bluvshtein was born on September 20, 1890 in Saratov in a large traditional Jewish family. She spent her childhood and youth in Poltava, she wrote her first poems in Russian. In 1908, together with her older sister, she moved to that part of Palestine, which later became Israel. She entered the Women's Agricultural School and studied Hebrew. In 1913, Rachel left to study as an agronomist in Toulouse, but because of the outbreak of war, she lived in Russia for six years, working in a shelter for the children of Jewish refugees, where she contracted tuberculosis. In 1919 she returned to Eretz Israel, after several years of wandering and looking for a job as a teacher or translator, in 1925 she settled in Tel Aviv. Rachel died of tuberculosis on April 16, 1931, leaving behind three collections of poetry.
Officers believe that the famous Jewish poetess
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