TSVI GORFINKEL (1893-December 1942)
He was born in Riga, Latvia, into a family
of middle class means. He graduated from
a Russian-Hebrew high school and studied the humanities and literature in Riga
University. In his youth, he became an
active leader in the Zionist socialist movement, initially with Tseire-Tsiyon
(Young Zionists) and later with the Labor Zionist Party. He lived in Riga until WWII. He was the head of a Jewish public school, a
community activist, and reciter, especially, of the works of Sholem-Aleykhem. He was a member of the managing committee of Jewish
commercial employees. He contributed
pieces in Riga to Frimorgn (Morning), Unzer veg (Our way), and Der
veg (The way), which published his articles concerning literature and
educational issues. During the period
when the Soviets occupied Latvia, he and the other prominent Jews in the city
were harshly persecuted for their Zionist views. In the middle of June 1941, during the major round-ups,
he was sent to the camp at Komi (near the North Pole), and he suffered terribly
there. In October 1942 he was freed
because he was no longer able to work.
He settled
in Syktyvkar, and there died after considerable suffering.
Sources: Biblyografishe
yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), pp.
6, 260; Meyer Gerts, 25 yor yidishe prese in letland (25
years of the Yiddish press in Latvia) (Riga, 1933); Yahadut latviya
(Latvian Jewry) (Tel Aviv, 1953), see index.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
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