Mark Fradkin

Mark Grigoryevich Fradkin[a] (May 4, 1914 – April 4, 1990) was a Soviet composer, author of numerous popular songs (many of which were co-written with poet Yevgeny Dolmatovsky) and musical scores for forty films.

In 1938-1939, he studied in the Belorussian Conservatory under the guidance of Professor Aladov while working as an actor in the Minsk Children Theater (ТЮЗ).

As a conductor of the Kiev Red Army orchestra, he started co-writing songs with poet Yevgeny Dolmatovsky.

After the war, he had a string of hits ("Welcome to Saratov", "The Waiting", "Birches", "We Were Just Neighbours", "Beyond the Factory Gate", "Komsomol Volunteers", "The Song of Tenderness", "As Years Fly By", "Farevell You Doves", "As Volga Flows") performed by the stars of the Soviet popular music, like Mark Bernes, Lyudmila Zykina, Ruzhena Sikora, Eduard Hil, Iosif Kobzon.

His mother, Yevgenya Mironovna Fradkina (née Shagalova), also a medical doctor, was murdered during the Holocaust, along with many other Vitebsk Jews, by the Nazis.