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[ABOUT THE DNIEPER DAM FOR POLISH CHILDREN] Nie może być! [i.e. Impossible!]

Mindlin, E.

[Odessa]: Wydawnictwo Dziecięce przy K.C. L.K.Z.M.U., [1936]. Item #1282

44 pp., 6 ills. 22x17 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Near fine.
One of 2000 copies. Translated from Russian to Polish by M. Herszlikowicz.
A Polish-language edition of a children’s story about the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, the pride of the Soviet electrification plan and one of the giants of industrialization. The dam and its buildings were designed by the constructivist architects Viktor Vesnin and Nikolai Kolli. The construction had begun in 1927 when architectural constructivism was applied to buildings of any field and function. The popularity of the dam and its significance for the whole country was immense. The original structure was destroyed during World War II and reconstructed/modernized after it.
Cover design and colorful illustrations on separate leaves were created by Soviet Jewish artist Anatoly (Tankhum) Kaplan (1903-1980). In 1922, he entered the painting faculty of VKHUTEIN and studied under A. Rylov, K. Petrov-Vodkin, N. Radlov. After graduation, Kaplan was involved in industrial graphics and book illustration. In the late 1930s, he worked in an experimental lithographic workshop supervised by G. Vereiskii. Throughout his lifetime, Kaplan’s art was closely associated with Jewish folklore and Yiddish literature. He illustrated works of a number of Jewish writers, as well as folk songs.
This children’s story was created by Soviet Jewish journalist and writer Emilii Mindlin (1900-1981). In 1928, he joined a rescue expedition on the icebreaker ‘Krasin’ for members of Umberto Nobile’s Arctic expedition who suffered a disaster on the airship ‘Italia’. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was mobilized for radio propaganda, then worked at the Central Children’s Theater. In 1955, he was arrested and blamed for anti-Soviet statements. Mindlin was sentenced to camps and rehabilitated in 1971 only.
The book was translated into English, Ukrainian, Yiddish, Kyrgyz, Mari and other languages in the 1930s.

No copies are located in the USA.

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