Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich, 1891-1967, Russian journalist and novelist, whose name is also spelled Erenburg. He wandered throughout Western Europe as a youth. He was noted for his articles about the two world wars. Some of these are translated in The Tempering of Russia (1944). Because of long residence abroad (1921-40), Ehrenburg was the most cosmopolitan of the Soviet writers. Among his satiric novels are The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Disciples (1921, tr. 1930) and The Stormy Life of Lasik Roitschwantz (1928, tr. 1960). He won Stalin Prizes for The Fall of Paris (1941, tr. 1942), a novel dealing with the decay of French society from 1935 to 1940, and The Storm (1948, tr. 1949), a panoramic war novel. The title of his postwar novel The Thaw (1954, tr. 1955) has been used in Russia to describe the general lessening of tension after Stalin's death. A lesser work, it was important because it dealt for the first time with the repressions under Stalin's rule. Much of his later journalism is severely critical of the United States.

(born Jan. 27, 1891, Kiev, Ukr., Russian Empire—died Aug. 31, 1967, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R., U.S.S.R.) Russian writer and journalist. Arrested as a youth for revolutionary activity, he moved to Paris. He worked as a war correspondent, then returned to write for Soviet newspapers. His first novel and best work was Julio Jurenito and His Disciples (1922). He soon embraced the Soviet regime, eventually becoming one of its most effective spokesmen in the West. The vehemently anti-Western The Fall of Paris (1941) was followed by The Storm (1946–47) and The Ninth Wave (1951–52). After Joseph Stalin's death, Ehrenburg's works, including The Thaw (1954) and his autobiography, People, Years, Life, 6 vol. (1960–66), turned critical of Stalin's heritage.

Learn more about Ehrenburg, Ilya (Grigoryevich) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Ilya, Iliya, Ilja, or Ilia is the Russian-language form of the male name Elijah, meaning "My god is He". It is pronounced with stress on the second syllable. The diminutive form is Ilyusha or Ilyushenka. The Russian patronymic for a son of Ilya is "Ilyich", and a daughter is "Ilyinichna".

Ilya is also a Kurdish name meaning great and glorious.

Famous namesakes

Mythical/biblical figures

• Ilya Muromets, Russian folk hero
• Elijah, a Hebrew prophet of the ninth century BC
• Elias, another name for the prophet Elijah (St Ilya in Russian)
• Ilya Kuryakin, a main character in the TV show "Man from U.N.C.L.E."

Real people

• Ilya Ilf, Russian author of Twelve Chairs and the Golden Calf
• Ilya Bryzgalov, ice hockey player
• Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
• Ilya Mechnikov, Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist
• Ilya Yefimovich Repin, Russian painter
• Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer and Soviet cultural ambassador
• Ilya Kovalchuk, ice hockey player
• Ilya Ulyanov, father of Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin
• Ilya Tchaikovsky, father of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Ilya Salkind, movie producer
• Ilya Kogan, Famous debt advisor
• Ilya Proplayer, godlike cryer diablo 2 player

Music

• Ilya (Bristol band), from Bristol
• Ilya (San Diego band)

Related

• Branch, in East African languages
• "There is" (il y a), in French