Koval Leonid Iosifovich (real surname: Kavalierchik; b. 1926, Bobruisk) — writer, publicist, and social activist.

Leonid Koval studied at a Jewish school and was a participant in World War II. In 1952, he graduated from the Philological Faculty of the Belarusian State University. Koval began publishing in 1949 and worked for many years in the periodical press. He was a member of the Writers’ Union.

In 1959, he moved to Latvia. Leonid Koval became one of the founders of the Latvian Jewish Cultural Society in Riga (1988) and the founder and head of the first Society of Former Ghetto Prisoners in the USSR. Later, he was also the organizer and chairman of the Jewish Community of Jūrmala (1992) and the International Society for the History of the Ghetto and the Genocide of the Jews (1993).

The main themes of his creative work were the history of Belarusian and Latvian Jewry, the Holocaust, and the tragedy of European Jewry.

Selected works

Novels: The Moan ( «Стон») (1980 г.), , Roots of the Wild Pear ( «Корни дикой груши») (1988 г.), A Drop of Rain ( «Капля дождя») (2002 г.); Stories: The Gestapo Hostage («Заложник гестапо») (1997), The Rebellious Prisoner («Восставший узник») (1998), The Saved One ( «Спасенная» )(1999 г.)

Play: Repentance («Покаяние») (2000)

Poetry collections: The Hours of Love («Часы любви»)(1997), The Evening City of Childhood («Вечерний город детства») (1999 г.)

Requiem: The Bells of the Holocaust («Колокола Холокоста») (1996)

Song album in Yiddish: A Song Like Love («Песня как любовь») (1998, music by V. Khvoynitsky)

Documentary screenplay: The Jewish Street («Еврейская улица») (1992)

Historical and journalistic research: The Book of Salvation(«Книга спасения») (2 vols., 1993); vol. 3 — The Book of the Rescuers («Книга спасителей») (2000).