Dov Gaponov

Dov Gaponov was born in 1934 in Yevpatoriya

Dov Gaponov was born on February 20, 1934, in Crimea. As a child he learned some Hebrew and Judaism from his grandfather, a rabbi. During World War II his father was drafted into the Red Army, and the rest of the family fled east to Kutaisi in Georgia.

With no dictionary available, he taught himself Hebrew by reading and by listening to Kol Israel radio. He also learned Georgian and other languages. He married a Jewish woman of Georgian origin, and they had a daughter before they divorced.

After years of work he sent Israel his translation of The Knight in the Panther's Skin, the 12th century epic by Shota Rustaveli. It was published in March 1969 with help from Avraham Shlonsky and won the Tchernichowsky Prize, but he was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union to receive it. He also translated poems and stories from Russian, Georgian and Yiddish.

In 1969 he was among the drafters of a letter from 18 Georgian aliyah activists to Golda Meir and the UN human rights commission. The letter led Soviet authorities to allow Georgian Jews to emigrate to Israel. He became an honorary member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 1971.

His health declined, and he and his mother received exit permits. He was flown to Israel on a stretcher and hospitalized at Tel HaShomer. He died on July 25, 1972, and was buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery.