Israeli author Uri Orlev, whose dozens of books were renowned for their depiction of his early life during the Holocaust and through the establishment of the State of Israel, died on July 26, 2022 aged 91.
Orlev also translated works of Polish literature into Hebrew.
He was born in 1931 in Warsaw, his mother was killed by the Nazis and his father taken captive by the Russians.
Together with his brother, he was hidden by a family member in the Warsaw Ghetto but was eventually caught by the Germans and sent to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. Two years later the camp was liberated by the British. Orlev and his brother made their way to Israel, worked at Kibbutz. His father, who survived the war, arrived in Israel in 1954.
Orlev began writing children’s literature in the 1970s and published over 30 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages, won the Hans Christian Andersen writing award, considered the most prestigious prize in children’s literature.
(© Andzej)
