Early Years
His early years in what he frequently describes as a Jewish ghetto in the East End of London made him very conscious of his Jewish identity, a subject he explored throughout his literary career. Litvinoff was born to Russian Jewish parents who emigrated from Odessa to Whitechapel, London, in 1915. The second of nine children, his father was repatriated to Russia to fight for the czar and never returned, thought to have been killed in the revolution of 1916. He left school at fourteen, and after working in a number of unskilled factory jobs, found himself homeless within a year. Drifting between Soho and Fitzrovia in the Depression of the 30s, he wrote since-destroyed hallucinatory materials, and used his wits to survive. Initially a conscientious objector, Litvinoff volunteered for military service in January 1940 on discovering the extent of persecution suffered by Jews in Europe. Serving in Ulster, West Africa, and the Middle East, he rose through the ranks quickly, promoted to a Major by the age of 27.
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