The interests of Evgeny Mikhailovich Berkovich are very broad. For many years he was engaged in the exact sciences, and in the 2000s, the talent of a publicist and editor awoke in him. His love of history helped him create his own website, on the basis of which two successful projects appeared - a magazine and an almanac.
In Russia
Evgeny Berkovich was born in 1946 in Irkutsk. Soon the family moved to Moscow, where the first half of Yevgeny's biography passed. In 1968 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the Moscow University, and then graduate school, received a Ph. D. The graduate was engaged in scientific work, even in 1985 he received a medal "For Labor Valor". In 1995, Berkovich moved to Germany, where he lives and works to this day. There he continued his education and received his doctorate.
In Germany
For the last two decades, Berkovich has been living in the German city of Hanover. It was not difficult for a scientist to find a job in another country. Back in Moscow, he was enthusiastically engaged in computer science, mathematics and business. Therefore, he quickly found application of his interests abroad and continued a successful career. This continued until Eugene once decided to try himself as a historian and publicist. Today this field of activity has become dominant for Berkovich. He not only writes and publishes books and articles, but also edits online publications on Jewish history.
Books
It all started with the collection Notes on Jewish History. The book was published simultaneously in the publishing houses of Moscow and Hanover. The collection was a success, and Eugene was accepted into the American guild of journalists writing in Russian. But even today, an experienced publicist does not consider himself a professional journalist, but rather an amateur and amateur, although the search for interesting facts and patterns of historical processes has become the main occupation of his life. Eugene likes to repeat that "mathematics is more than a profession and it is impossible to be a former mathematician." As for history and journalism, he just likes to share interesting information with readers, the journalist is very pleased with their genuine interest in his work.
Berkovich does not set as his main task a systematic presentation of historical material. His notes give cause for reflection and, put together, resemble a bizarre mosaic. His series "The Revolution in Physics and the Fates of Its Heroes" and the book "The Banality of Good", which tells about the rescue of the Jews by the Italian fascists, aroused keen interest of the readers. Unlike the history of the Holocaust, in which 3 groups of people stand out: criminals, victims and spectators, she identified another small group - heroes. Among the righteous were civilians and German officers. Historians are still arguing whether there was a direct written or oral order from Hitler to exterminate the Jews, because direct evidence of this has not yet been found.
To date, 6 collections have been published from the pen of Evgeny Mikhailovich. His latest work is devoted to the great physicists Thomas Mann and Albert Einstein in the focus of history.
Online journal and almanac
Berkovich's literary activity was not limited to the creation of books. After the release of the debut collection Notes on Jewish History, an online magazine with the same name appeared. The site has dedicated its work to issues of Jewish history and culture. Its creation helped Eugene fulfill his old dream of combining all the notes on the Internet. Since Evgeny had no experience in the network, help came from Asya Etnova and Vitaly Vovnoboy. The Israelis have kindly allocated a section to the aspiring publicist in their Russian-language publication dedicated to Jewish culture. Articles published on the site instantly found a response from the readership. Letters began to arrive, conversations began, a whole section appeared to discuss articles.
There were many articles, they were published in a stream, and this seemed ineffective to Berkovich. He considered more attractive their publications on topics in the form of a collection. The idea to create an online publication was embodied in 2001, when the first issue of the journal "Notes on Jewish History" was published. Today the magazine consists of 15 headings of a wide variety of topics, and its archive contains more than 5 thousand articles about Jewish culture and history. Their authors are hundreds of amateurs and connoisseurs of Jewish traditions. The magazine took a high place in the popularity rating and is recommended as an educational resource of RUDN University.
A year later, the almanac "Jewish Antiquity" appeared on the network portal. It comes out in electronic and paper versions. A guest book and forums have been created for discussion and exchange of information. Invaluable support in the creation of the site was provided by Berkovich's colleagues, many of them helped in its design unselfishly.
At various times, Berkovich's articles on Jewish history, science and literature were published by the magazines Novy Mir, Znamya, Neva, Lechaim, Literaturnaya Gazeta and other Russian publications. Ukraine, Israel, Germany and the USA. Evgeny Mikhailovich was the author of the script for the documentary "Questions to God", which tells about the victims of the Holocaust.
How does he live today
Evgeny Berkovich's new projects are the Seven Arts magazine, in which he took over as editor-in-chief and the Workshop Internet project. The magazine-newspaper is a launching pad for aspiring journalists, annually determining the best authors and publications on the topic of Jewish history and culture.
All Berkovich's projects are devoid of a commercial component. They do not have solid sponsors, from time to time donations from readers come to the development of sites. But running a full-fledged online publication is a lot of work. In 2018, the head of the Seven Arts project won the Belyaev Prize, an annual prestigious award for Russian writers. The award was named after the famous science fiction writer. The electronic version of the journal is recognized as the best popular science and educational site.
