Arnold Zweig (1887–1968) - German writer and public figure, spent the years of the Hitler regime in exile in Palestine, where he was engaged in journalism; returned to Germany in 1948. His novels about the First World War are widely known (“The Dispute about Unter Grisha”, “Education at Verdun”). The novel “Return to Damascus” was written in 1932 and tells about the events in Palestine in the late 1920s, when serious clashes between Arabs and Jewish settlers. The main character of the book is Isaac Yosef de Vrindt, a rabbi, poet and philosopher, a man with his own passions, dreams and doubts. In part, the detective plot invites the reader to figure out for himself which version of the tragedy will be true: politics, ethnic strife or personal relationships.