Arkadiy Gaydar was born on January 22, 1904 in Lgov, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire [now Kursk Oblast, Russia]. He was a writer, known for Timur i yego komanda (1940), Duma pro kazaka Golotu (1937) and Das Schicksal des Trommlers (1956). He died on October 26, 1941 in Lipliave, Kaniv Raion, Poltava Oblast, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union [now Lipliave, Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine].
