Born on 2.08.1917 in Elgava, Latvia, he was a member of “Hashomer Hatzair” from 1931 till 1939 and collected donations for the Zionist funds “Keren Kaemet” and “Keren Ha’yesod”. In 1941 he was mobilized into the working battalions of the Red Army where he served till 1946. While making an unsuccessful attempt to cross the border between Turkmenistan and Persia in order to reach Palestine -Eretz Israel, he was arrested and sentenced by OSO (Special Tribunal Committee) to 10 years hard labor in the Gulag. Having served his sentence in the camps of “Angarlag”, “Taishet” and others, he was released in 1955 and tried for many years to obtain permission to leave the USSR for Israel. He was unsuccessful in his attempts until 1974. Remember & Save Association website