Kuba

(pseudonym of Kurt Bartel). Born June 8, 1914, in Garnsdorf; died Nov. 12, 1967, in Frankfurt am Main. Poet and writer of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (from 1954). Son of a peasant. In 1933–46, Kuba lived in exile (Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Great Britain). The central theme of his Poems About Man (1934–48) is the road of mankind from spontaneous struggle to scientific socialism. Kuba tended toward an epic representation of life and the use of folklore (the chorus and the mass scenes in the dramatic ballad Klaus Stortebecker, 1959). He wrote film scenarios, a book reporting on his trip to the USSR (Thoughts in Flight, 1949), and the play Terra Incognita (1964). He was also a translator. He received the National Prize of the GDR in 1949, 1958, and 1959. In 1952–53 he was secretary of the Writers’ Union of the GDR.

a city, the center of Kuba Raion, Azerbaijan SSR. Located in the northeastern foothills of the Greater Caucasus, on the right bank of the Kudialchai River, 28 km southwest of the Khachmas railroad station on the Baku-Makhachkala line. A highway junction. Population, 19,000 (1970).

Kuba was founded in the 15th century. From 1744 to 1789 it was the capital of the Kuba khans. In 1806 the city was occupied by Russian troops, and in accordance with the Gulistan Peace Treaty of 1813 it was ceded to Russia. With the establishment in 1846 of Derbent Province, Kuba became a district center of the province, but in 1859 it was transferred to the jurisdiction of Baku Province.

Kuba is the center of a major fruit-growing region and has fruit and vegetable canneries. In addition, there is a plant for the production of microelectric motors. A hydroelectric power plant was built in Kuba in 1936–37. Among Kuba’s scientific and educational institutions are the Scientific Research Institute of Horticulture, Viticulture, and Subtropical Crops, a sovkhoz technicum, and a medical school. The city has a museum of local lore and a drama theater. Kuba is a very old center of rugmaking. Made here are the “Kuba” group of rugs, which include pileless rugs of the sumakh type, as well as small pile rugs that have multiple borders and a variety of designs (polygons, palmettes, stylized representations of birds and objects from everyday life).