Ruth Tannenbaum. Ergovich M.

The novel of the famous Croatian writer Milenko Ergovich (b. 1966) illuminates the life and state of society in Yugoslavia in the period between the two world wars. The prototype of the main character of the novel is the actress-Wunderkind Lei Deut, who lived in Zagreb and became a victim of the Holocaust at the age of 15. She was deported to a concentration camp, where she died. However, her short life was in the full sense of the word the life of a theater star. The novel about the tragic fate of Rufi Tannenbaum, written by Ergovich, caused a polemic: the fate of Croatian Jews during the Second World War still remains a painful topic for both Jews and the Croats. Milenko Ergovich was born and raised in Sarayev, lived there the first year of the Bosnian war (1992), when the city was besieged. In 1993, Ergovich moved to Zagreb. For the novel "Ruf Tannenbaum" the author was awarded the Literary Prize named after Meshi Selimovich (2007). In addition, he received a number of awards and prizes for his other novels and collections of stories.