Background
Grossman, Vasilii was born on December 12, 1905 in Berdichev, Ukraine.
Grossman, Vasilii was born on December 12, 1905 in Berdichev, Ukraine.
Graduated from Moscow University in 1929.
His name was associated with Stalinist novels about workers. Joined the Communist Party in the 1930s. During World War II, war correspondent of the army newspaper Krasnaia Zvezda.
Used the war-time material in his later novels. Considered a conformist during his lifetime, became widely known in the West (and in a completely new light in the
USSR) after the posthumous publication of Vse Techet, a novel written in secret, which is a clear condemnation of Stalinism. Also wrote Stepan Kolchugin, Narod Bessmerten, Gody Voiny, and the Chernaia Kniga (The Black Book), со-edited with Il’ia Erenburg and others, and published in Israel, containing documents on Nazi atrocities against the Jews in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union.