Yakov Agarunov (; ; 25 April 1907 – 31 May 1992) was a

Mountain Jew Mountain Jews are the Mizrahi Jewish subgroup of the eastern and northern Caucasus, mainly Azerbaijan, and various republics in the Russian Federation: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. Mountain Jew ...

poet, playwright, political and public figure of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, author of the new Mountain Jewish alphabet. He wrote in

Judeo-Tat Judeo-Tat or Juhuri (, , ) is a Judeo-Persian dialect and the traditional language spoken by the Mountain Jews in the eastern Caucasus Mountains, especially Azerbaijan, parts of Russia and today in Israel. It belongs to the southwestern group ...

. In 1920, he became a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

activist and took part in an amateur drama club. From 1924 to 1925, he translated

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov (18 September 188523 November 1948) was an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music. He composed the music of the Az� ...

's play "Arshin Mal Alan" from Azerbaijani into

. From 1925 to 1928, Agarunov studied at the rabfak in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. He graduated from the history department of the Baku Pedagogical Institute and the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1932, he started to work in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. From 1934 to 1938, Agarunov was the editor of the republican newspaper () - "Communist" in the Judeo-Tat language; at the same time he worked as deputy director of the State Azerbaijan State Publishing House (he oversaw the publication of all books in Judeo-Tat). In 1937, Agarunov was elected a candidate member of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. From 1938, he worked as First Secretary of the Ordzhonikidzevsky District Party Committee. Agarunov was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

. In 1939 he became a member of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. In 1941, he worked as the secretary of the Baku City Committee for the Oil Industry. For exemplary fulfillment of the government's assignment, Agarunov was awarded the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

. In the fall of 1942, Agarunov was sent to develop virgin oil in the Kuibyshev region, and was appointed secretary of the Kuibyshev regional committee of the

CPSU The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

for the oil industry. For exemplary fulfillment of the task of the Party and government in wartime, Agarunov was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

. From 1947 to 1950, Agarunov worked as the secretary of the Baku City Party Committee. From 1963 to 1971, Agarunov worked as deputy director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Oil Industry Safety. After retirement, Agarunov continued to engage in public and journalistic activities, and was a member of the Committee for the Revolutionary Glory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Agarunov stood at the origins of Judeo-Tat literature. Using the poetics of folklore, he tried to fill his works with actualities, in the spirit of official policy and public content. He led a group of compilers of the Judeo-Tat alphabet based on Latin that was adopted at the Second All-Union Conference on Cultural Building among Mountain Jews (April 1929, Baku). He compiled the Judeo-Tat - Russian and Russian - Judeo-Tat dictionaries in 8,000 words. Agarunov wrote memoirs () - "Oil and Victory" (Baku, 1991), () - "The Big Fate of a Small People" (Moscow, 1995), () - "How Judeo-Tat Literature Was Created". From 1974 to 1977, the almanac ( Juhuri:''Ватан Советиму'') - "The Soviet Motherland" published excerpts of his works in the Judeo-Tat language.

Notable works

*The poem ( Juhuri:''Ковтэр'') - "Dove", 1920. *The satirical comedy (Juhuri:''Падшох, рабби ва-ошир'') - "King, Rabbi and the Rich Man"; 1920. *The play (Juhuri:''Тахзир кини'') - "Whose fault?", another name is () - "Tears of Joy"; 1928. *The poem (Juhuri:''Духдар доги'') - "Mountain Girl", 1928.

Selected publications

*Agarunov Ya. M. "The Big Fate of a Small People" About Mountain Jews: (Memoirs). Publishing house - Choro, 1995. 154 p. 2000 copies. – . *Agarunov Ya. M. "Heroic deeds of Azerbaijani oilmen during the Great Patriotic War." Baku: publishing house - "Azerneshr", 1982. 107 p. 4000 copies., , "Oil and Victory": (About the heroic accomplishments of Azerbaijani oilmen during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.) Baku: publishing house - "Azerneshr", 1991. 166 p. 5000 copies. *Agarunov Ya. M. "How the Judeo-Tat literature was created" // ( Juhuri:''Ватан Советиму'') - "The Soviet Motherland". 1974–1977. (excerpts; in Judeo-Tat) *Agarunov Ya. M., Agarunov M. Ya. "Large dictionary of the language of Mountain Jews". Book I. Juhuri-Russian dictionary; Book II. Russian-Juhuri dictionary.

Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...

: publishing house - PERO "Geula"; RIA-KMV, 2010. 660 p. * Agarunov Ya. M., Agarunov M. Ya. "Judeo-Tat-Russian dictionary". 9000 words. Jewish University in Moscow, 1997. 204 p.

Awards

* Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" * Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" *

Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" The Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" () was a state commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on April 25, 1975, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to denote the thi ...

* Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" * Medal "Veteran of Labour" *Badge "50 years in the

" *Personal pensioner of union significance

External links

Agarunov Yakov Mikhailovich - Soviet party leader, organizer of the oil industry, writerAgarunov, Yakov
-

Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia The ''Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia'' (''SJE''; ) was published in 11 volumes in Jerusalem from 1976 to 2005 in Russian by the Society for Research on Jewish Communities with the support of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The ''SJE'' is the only ...

Russian writers of Israel. Yakov Agarunov
* Judeo-Tat literature

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agarunov, Yakov 1907 births 1992 deaths Mountain Jews Judeo-Tat poets Judeo-Tat playwrights Jewish writers Soviet poets Soviet writers Soviet male writers Soviet dramatists and playwrights Burials in Baku Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University alumni 20th-century Azerbaijani poets Azerbaijani male poets Azerbaijani dramatists and playwrights Translators to Judeo-Tat Soviet translators Azerbaijani translators Translators from Azerbaijani Soviet editors Azerbaijani editors Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Jewish communists People from Baku Governorate People from Quba District (Azerbaijan)