Iurii German

Born Mar. 22 (Apr. 4), 1910, in Riga; died Jan. 16, 1967, in Leningrad. Soviet Russian writer. Member of the CPSU from 1958.

German began publishing his works in 1926. He wrote novels and tales—Barbershop Raphael (1931), Introduction (1931; see M. Gorky’s review in Pravda, May 6, 1932), Poor Henrikh (1934), Our Acquaintances (1934-36; made into a film of the same title in 1969), and One Year (1960; based on two early stories, “Lapshin,” 1937, and “Aleksei Zhmakin,” 1937-38)—and a series of stories about F. E. Dzerzhinskii (1938-57). He wrote the scenarios for Seven Bold Men (1936, with S. A. Gerasimov), Doctor Kaliuzhnyi (1939), Pirogov (1947; State Prize of the USSR, 1948), The Rumiantsev Case (1956, with I. E. Heifets), and People, Believe Me! (1964) and several plays. German was a war correspondent during the Great Patriotic War and wrote a number of stories including “In the Far North” (1943) and “The Bitter-Cold Sea” (1943). During the postwar years he wrote Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service (1949-56), the historical novel Young Russia (1952), the documentary Operation New Year (1964), and the novellas The Beginning (published, 1968) and Butsefal (published, 1968).

His major work of the 1960’s was a trilogy—The Cause You Serve (1957), My Dear Fellow (1961), and I Am Responsible for Everything (1964)—devoted to the spiritual growth of our contemporaries, men who have lofty ideals and are active citizens. German’s special gifts are constant interest in the urgent problems of modern life, the aspiration to reveal what is important in life through its mundane details, and mastery of plot construction. His books have been translated into many foreign languages. He was awarded three orders and several medals.