Berz Isaac-Abram Naumovich (1886-1970)

Berz Isaac-Abram Naumovich (20.12.1886, Riga — autumn 1970) — teacher, engineer, civic figure. Born into a well-off intellectual Jewish family. Graduated from the Riga Commercial School of N. Mironov; in 1914, graduated with distinction from the metallurgy faculty of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute with the qualification of first-class metallurgical engineer. Worked as an engineer at the Petrograd Engineering Plant (from 1916 — as head), while simultaneously serving as a lecturer in mathematics and mechanics at the Petrograd Evening Courses for Adults. In 1918, returned with his family to Riga, where from 1 January to May 1919 he served as Chairman of the Pedagogical Council and teacher of mathematics at the Riga City Primary School at 141 Romanovskaya Street. From the early 1900s, he was an active figure in the “Bund” organisation; in 1919, he participated in organising Jewish education in Latvia and was chairman of the Jewish School Commission. In the autumn of 1919, he became the first director and mathematics teacher of the Riga Jewish Secondary School (First City Jewish Gymnasium) — one of very few state Yiddish gymnasiums in the world. It quickly became one of the most prestigious schools in Riga and for many years was unofficially known as the Berz Gymnasium. At the same time, B. became a member of the People's Council of Latvia on behalf of the “Bund,” and in 1920–22 — a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, where he served on the culture commission. In 1922–34, he was a deputy of the Riga City Council. In 1926, he received the right of a fully qualified secondary-school teacher. After the coup of 15 May 1934, the “Bund” was banned and B. was dismissed from his post as gymnasium director; he therefore organised a construction company and worked in it. After the Soviet army's invasion and Latvia's annexation to the USSR, on 14 June 1941, B. and his wife B. Berz were arrested, charged with anti-Soviet activities and deported to Siberia. In Siberia, after a brief settlement with his family, B. was arrested again and sentenced to 8 years in the camps. In May 1956, he was released, rehabilitated and received permission to return to Riga. In subsequent years, B. met repeatedly in Moscow with his son, the American mathematician Professor L. Bers, who made special trips to the Soviet Union for this purpose. B. planned to emigrate to Israel with his daughter Nelly and her husband A.Shpungin, but suddenly died in the autumn of 1970 shortly before the emigration.

I. Brod
S. Kovalchuk