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The greatest value of this biography lies in its strictly documentary nature. Every event, every detail is based on the memories, reflections, and memory knots of people from the close circle of the young Celan, which enhances the authenticity of this biography, makes it a reliable source of evidence about the poet, a model of scientific integrity and historical accuracy. More than 50 people from this circle - relatives, friends, school and student friends, beloved friends of the poet - were the subjects of the author's interviews. Before the publication of this book, researchers of Celan's work had to be content with only a "dry skeleton of known biographical dates". Thanks to the efforts of Israel Halfen, the poet's young years appear in all their plasticity, colours and completeness, and from now on the doors to Celan's world are wide open for the Ukrainian reader.