Shmuel Agnon Remembered in Ukraine
KYIV — Yael Blau, the granddaughter of the Jewish writer, Nobel Laureate for literature, Shai Agnon, on Monday laid a wreath in honor of her grandfather at the memorial plaque in the bleak, snow-covered small town of Buczacz, in western Ukraine. The memorial is attached to the house where Agnon, born Shmuel Czachkesn, lived with his family, reports Kyiv Post reported on March 24, 2010, with reference to http://www.ejpress.org.
The event was part of Limmud FSU, the intensive Jewish learning experience taking place this week in Ukraine.
Shai (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon, born in 1888, left Buczacz for Palestine in 1908. He returned to Buczacz on a sentimental journey in 1913 and again in 1930 to visit his parent’s grave. His novel A Guest for the Night is based on the town, although he chose to call it “Shibush.”
“Buczacz never left Agnon and Agnon never left Buczacz. The town was to accompany him through his entire life,” said Prof. Dan Laor, head of the Department of Literature at Tel Aviv University, during the ceremony.
In 1966, Agnon received the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in Stockholm.
