Born in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, he was an activist from the age of 15 in the young halutzniks movement “HaNoar HaAgudati”, a branch of the “Poalei Agudat Israel” party. (“Agudat Israel”—an international Zionist organization of orthodox Jews). He worked for the branch in his home city until the Soviet occupation. In 1940−41 he worked in the underground and spent the years 1941−45 in the Riga ghetto and in German concentration camps. In 1947 he was has arrested by the authorities on charges of his earlier Zionist activities and also for his attempt in 1946 to leave the Soviet Union illegally in order to get to Eretz Israel. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in the Gulag plus 2 years exile. Released in 1953, he didn’t succeed in reaching Israel till 1969. He was a member of the Executive Committee and High Council of the Organization of Prisoners of Zion. He died in 1993.
