Editing Isaac Babel (section)

==Lost writings==
[[File:Sholom Aleichem listens.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sholem Aleichem]], whose writings Babel translated into Russian]]
After his rehabilitation, Antonina Pirozhkova spent almost five decades campaigning for the return of Babel's manuscripts. These included Babel's translations of [[Sholem Aleichem]]'s writings from [[Yiddish]] into Russian, as well as several unpublished short stories and novellas. According to Pirozhkova, <blockquote>As Babel put it, he worked on Sholem Aleichem to "feed his soul." Other "food for the soul" came from writing new stories and the novella "Kolya Topuz." He told me, "I'm writing a novella in which the main character is a former Odessa gangster like [[Benya Krik|Benia Krik]]. His name is Kolya Topuz and so far, at least, that's also the name of the novella. I want to show how this sort of man adapts to Soviet reality. Kolya Topuz works on a collective farm during collectivization, and then he goes to work in a [[Donbass]] coal mine. But since he has the mentality of a gangster, he's constantly breaking out of the limits of normal life, which leads to numerous funny situations." Babel spent a great deal of time writing, and he finished many works. Only his arrest prevented his new works from coming out."<ref>''At His Side'', page 107.</ref></blockquote>

However, even requests by [[Ilya Ehrenburg]] and the [[Union of Soviet Writers]] produced no answers from the Soviet State. The truth was not revealed until the advent of [[Perestroika]].

According to Pirozhkova, <blockquote>"In 1987, when so much was changing in our country, I again made an official request that the [[KGB]] search for Babel's manuscripts in its underground storage areas. In response to my request, I was visited by two KGB agents who informed me that the manuscripts had been burned. 'And so you've come in person to avoid giving me a written response to my request, am I correct?' 'How could you think such a thing? We came here to commiserate. We understand how precious Babel's manuscripts would be.'"<ref>''At His Side'', page 154.</ref></blockquote>