Tsentsiper (Refaeli) Arye (Leyb, Lev; 1900, Osveya, Vitebsk Governorate – 1977, Tel Aviv), figure and historian of the Zionist movement in Russia. He spent his childhood at the Krasava estate near Pskov, where his father was the manager. In 1908 his father wanted to go to Eretz Israel to engage in farming there, but did not carry out this intention for family reasons.
In 1918 Tsentsiper was admitted to Moscow University (medical faculty), and then tried to study at Kharkov University, but the city was soon occupied by the forces of Ataman Grigoriev. In 1919 Tsentsiper was mobilized into the Red Army, served on the Eastern Front, and returned to Moscow in 1920. After demobilization he continued to study at Moscow University (physics and mathematics faculty). Preparing himself for life in Palestine, Tsentsiper in 1921–25 studied at the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (formerly the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages) in the Arabic section (the study of Hebrew had been terminated in 1921).
From 1916, while studying at the Pskov Trade School, Tsentsiper was a member of a Jewish youth national circle. From 1917 he was a member of Tse'irey Tsion. In 1920–22 he was secretary of the Central Zionist Bureau (clandestine). In 1924, after the merger of youth Zionist movements into the Jewish General Organization of Zionist Youth (JGOZYu), Tsentsiper was elected a member of its central committee and editor of its organs “Nash Put'” and “Izvestiya,” in which he published polemical articles, editorials, and movement circulars.
Tsentsiper began writing poetry in 1915. In 1918 he became a member of the poets' association in Moscow. In 1922–23 he participated in producing the journal “Evreysky Student.” In the clandestine organ of Tse'irey Tsion — “Strana i Trud” — in 1923–25 he published poems and articles. In June 1925 Tsentsiper was arrested at a safe house of Tse'irey Tsion and sentenced to three years' exile in Siberia (Kolpashevo, Narym region). After a year and a half of arrest and exile, the sentence was commuted to “departure for Palestine without the right of return to the Soviet Union.”
In November 1926 Tsentsiper arrived in Eretz Israel and settled in Jerusalem, then moved to Tel Aviv in 1927 to prepare a Yiddish-language collection on the situation of Zionist youth in the Soviet Union. The collection “In Klem” (“In the Vise”) appeared in 1927. He continued collecting materials, eventually receiving about 350 completed questionnaires from former Zionist detainees, which formed the basis of the book “Eser Shnot Ha-Redifot” (“Ten Years of Persecutions,” 1930), praised by Dubnov and Bialik.
In 1933–36 Tsentsiper was editorial secretary and administrator of the organ of the Tel Aviv municipality “Yedi'ot Iriyat Tel Aviv,” and then for nearly 30 years was in administrative work (1936–64). He continued collecting materials on Zionism in Russia and the Soviet Union and published articles and books on this subject. His richly illustrated two-volume set — “Pa'amey Ha-Ge'ulla” (“The Footsteps of Redemption,” 1951) and “Ba-Ma'avak La-Ge'ulla” (“In the Struggle for Redemption,” 1956) — was awarded the Ussishkin Prize for 1957. He contributed to “Ha-Aretz,” “Davar,” “Al Ha-Mishmar,” “Shivat Tsion,” the journal “Magen,” Russian-language journals “Vestnik Izrailya” (1959–63) and “Shalom” (1963–67), and the collection “Katsir” (vol. 1 – 1964, vol. 2 – 1972).
The archive of Russian Zionism he founded was transferred to the Central Zionist Archive in Jerusalem in 1971. In 1963–64 he traveled to the USA and Canada, collecting materials and bringing back the archives of H. Greenberg, A. Revutsky, A. Kokhenstam, and others.
In 1973 he published in Russian a collection of Israeli poets' verse, “Otzvuki” (“Echoes,” Tel Aviv). Posthumously appeared his bilingual Russian-Hebrew poetry collection “U Zhizni v Plenu” (“Bе-Shevi Ha-Hayim,” Tel Aviv, 1979). The prize established in the names of Arye and Lea Rafaeli (Tsentsiper) was awarded in 1977, 1978, and 1979 to B. Veksler, I. Meras, F. Kandel (born 1932), I. Tsetlin (Arkadin; 1901–88), and Ts. Gitelman.