Osip Mandelstam, one of the foremost Russian poets of the early twentieth century, was also celebrated for his memoirs and his cycle of poems dedicated to Armenia after his trip in 1930.
Mandelstam was born on January 14, 1891, in Warsaw to a wealthy Polish-Jewish family. His father was able to purchase the right to move his family to Saint Petersburg, where only a handful of Jews were allowed to live. In 1900, Mandelstam entered the prestigious Tenishev School. His first poems were published in 1907 in the school’s almanac.