Margarita Aliger, who would have turned 95 years old this year, wrote on the eternal topics - love, loneliness, relationships. She is a great lyric poet, and yet, her works have not been published for a long time. In one of the libraries we were asked: "And who is he - Aliger?"

Life and work of Margaret Aliger have become the topics of the communal Jewish Book Festival in Kostanay, which took place in the hospitable regional library named after Lev Tolstoy. In 1946, Aliger wrote a poem called "Your Victory". The eighteenth chapter is devoted to the Jewish people. But after the great victory in which Jews contributed a lot, a persecution on "cosmopolits" began. The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was dissolved. The poem "Your Victory" was amended as well. However, in Moscow there were unofficially published three different versions of the eighteenth chapter and a poetic answer to the puzzled question of Aliger "why?". Who wrote these lines remained unknown - in those terrible years it was better to speak anonymously.

The Community Festival of Jewish Books opened with a symbolic song by Bulat Okudzhava "Wishes to friends." Our young artists, Vadim Chashkov, Anastasia Palant, Natalia Lux, Anna Fisenko, sang this song. We also remembered the famous people whose anniversaries are this year: 150 years since the birth of Isaac Levitan, 130 years since the birth of the poet Sasha Cherny (Alexander Grinberg) and Zeev Jabotinsky, 125 years since the birth of the writer Andre Maurois. Olga Cooperman, Nina Berelovitch, Alla Gafurova told about their lives and work. The Jewish poets, Antifascist Committee members Leo Kvitko and Isaac Fefer attracted everybody’s attention. Their poems were recited by Anastasia Palant and Natalia Lux. A first grader Sergei Grigoriev presented the children's poems of Leo Kvitko at the sketch made by his elder sister, Olga, which was followed by a long applause on part of the participants of the festival.

Employees of the Regional Library organized an exhibition of books in the hall. There were albums of landscape painter Isaak Levitan, the cartoonist Boris Yefimov. Everyone knows the names of the heroes of the day, who were discussed at the books festival - Lev Kassil, Arthur Kessler, literary critic Alexander Anikst. Lyudmila Kovriga told about poet Michael Matusovsky. Our girls sang one of his songs "Moscow Windows" accompanied by Vadim Chashkov. The 105th anniversary years since the birth of Eugene Brusilovsky is observed by the musical community of Kazakhstan. Being a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory he was sent to work to Alma-Ata and devoted his life to the Kazakh national music. At the festival, the recording of his Akzhunus aria from the opera "Er Targyn" was presented to the audience.

Vadim Chashkov as a musician appreciated the work of the famous composer Yan Frenkel. Many people remember his wonderful songs and himself - a tall, powerful man, with a beautiful baritone voice. We listened to Frenkel’s song sang by the author, and then sang all together the deeply touching "Cranes" on lyrics by Rasul Gamzatov. Vadim Chashkov told about a well-known person, who has turned 85 years old, a veteran of the World War II, film director Peter Todorovsky. In honor of this glorious date Vadim brilliantly played the saxophone melody from the movie "Stilyagy".

The festival ended with a concert of our artists. There were "Waltz Boston" by Alexander Rosenbaum, songs from the repertoire of Larisa Dolina "In the Cape Town Port" and "Weather in the House". However, OFEK continues. We will talk about Arkady Strugatsky, Yuri Trifonov, Naum Korzhavin, Larissa Rubalskoy, Konstantin Raikin, and Saveliy Kramarov in the literary salon and a women's club.

We would like to credit the leading role in organizing the OFEK of Hesed Librarian Alla Gafurova. A wonderful officer of the regional library Valentina Fedorova, with her usual erudition, each year selects the necessary materials for the OFEK, conducts a presentation of our books, and local authors. On behalf of the Jewish community, Hesed Director Peter Rubinstein handed her a gratitude letter and a gift with Israeli symbols.

Lydia Kazakevich