Rubezh (Frontier)

On the cover: artist and journalist Max Borisovich Aranovsky was born in 1897 in Kiev, but grew up in Harbin. He volunteered in the First World War, becoming a full Knight of St. George. Then Max Aranovsky fought in the Civil War in the Far East and was wounded, after which, in 1920, together with his wife Nadezhda, he began performing in the Far East with concerts of political satire. Their stage names were “Bim” and “Bom.” They also went on tour to North America and Europe. In Harbin, Max Arsky-Aranovsky was known as a coupletist and journalist and enjoyed wide popularity thanks to his speeches against the Soviet authorities, the Japanese command, and political figures like K.V. Rodzaevsky. In Harbin in 1932, he began publishing the magazine “Max Arsky: Magazine of bold thought and merciless satire,” of which he was also an editor. “The magazine is published not according to the calendar, but according to the mood,” he declared. “His theatrical performances attracted huge sales, and his magazine, which caustically ridiculed various political figures, sold out in its entirety as soon as it was published. Matkovsky organized a raid with a group of fascists on the printing house, where the next issue of Arsky’s magazine was being prepared for release. While his employees loaded the bound pages of the magazine onto the truck, Matkovsky stood on the other side of the street, covering his face with the collar of his coat and trying to seem like an outside observer. The raid caused a lot of talk in Harbin and the expulsion of Arsky from Manchuria by the Japanese authorities.” From the third issue, the magazine was published in Shanghai, where Max Arsky moved. A total of six periodical issues and two extraordinary issues were published. Since 1931, the journalist was known as an organizer of radio broadcasts, and later as the owner and publisher of the Russian-English magazine “Eye Opener.” He also published articles in the newspaper “News of the Day” and donated a lot to the needs of white emigration. Then Arsky-Aranovsky became pro-Soviet and a member of the Union of Returnees (1938). 

Source: https://forum.vgd.ru