Isaak Babel

Isaak Babel (1894–1940) was a Soviet journalist and writer. He grew up in Odesa and in 1920 accompanied General Budyonny’s Red Cavalry as a reporter during the Russo-Polish War. He became best known for the short-story collection Red Cavalry, published in 1926, in which he transformed his wartime experiences into literature. During the Stalinist terror, Babel was arrested and executed as an enemy of the state in 1940. He was rehabilitated in 1954.