Alyaksandar Drakakhrust

Aleksandr Abramovich Drakokhrust (Russian: Александр Абрамович Дракохруст, Belarusian: Аляксандар Дракахруст Alyaksandar Drakakhrust) (born November 11, 1923) is a Russian language poet, journalist and translator from Russia and Belarus.

A. Drakakhrust Moscow was born in Moscow, in the Jewish family of military serviceman, Abram Drakokhrust, and Rachel Karachunskaya.

With the beginning of the Great Partiotic War he was conscripted to Soviet Army and served until the very end of the war in sapper (combat engineering) troops, including taking part in the Battle of Berlin. Although he was a young able-bodied conscript, he was not allowed to serve in arms, being the "Traitor of the Motherland Family Member" (TMFM): his father was repressed in 1937 and shot. His mother served 9 years in Karlag gulag labor camp as TMFM.

For his service he was awarded two Orders of the Patriotic War, two Orders of the Red Star and a number of medals. In 1945 he graduated from the Moscow Mititary Engineering School. Since 1946 he became military correspondent, first in Germany, later in Russian Far East, and finally in Belarus. In 1962 he graduated from Khabarovsk Pedagogical Institute.

He published his first poem in 1939, in an Odessa newspaper Molodaya Gvardiya. His first book of poems was published in 1951 in Vladivostok. During 1950-1990 he published 16 books of poems. He also translated a number of Belarusian poets into Russian language.