Juan Gelman was born in Villa Crespo, a predominantly working-class and Jewish district of Buenos Aires, like so many Argentines of his generation the child of European immigrants. His father, a Russian Jew from today’s Ukraine, had been forced to leave his native land because of his involvement in the 1905 Revolution, choosing Argentina because it was the destination of the first boat available (Boccanera 1994: 15). Although he returned at the time of the Bolshevik revolution, he settled eventually in Buenos Aires with his wife, Paulina Burichson, and his two Russian-born children, Teodora and Boris. Thus Juan was the first child of the Gelmans to be born in Buenos Aires, growing up in a family that spoke Russian and Yiddish at home. José went on to work as a railway man, a carpenter,…
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Citation: Bollig, Ben. "Juan Gelman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 July 2010; last revised 12 August 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12805, accessed 23 November 2024.]
