Chernin Leon (1913-1998)

Chernin Leon (Leyb) (01.1913, Dvinsk — 07.1998, Jersey City, USA) — participant in the Spanish Civil War and the French Resistance. Born into the family of Leyb Shneur-Zalman (Shneyer) Chernin (b. c. 1860, Griva, Courland Governorate — c. 1917), a butcher shop owner from Druya. Ch.'s mother, Dina-Riva (Mina) Ofman (killed in the Daugavpils Ghetto in 1941), raised 11 children (three from her first marriage and eight from her second) after her husband's death. To help his family, Ch. went to study, graduating in 1928 from the Daugavpils Jewish Craft School with the qualification of fitter. That same year, he moved to Riga and joined the Komsomol; in 1930, he was arrested for participating in the Riga Komsomol conference. After serving three years in prison, in January 1934 he returned to Daugavpils, where he engaged in underground activities and established contact with local Komsomol members. He moved to Riga and began working as a mechanic-fitter at the “Latvelo” bicycle factory. In May 1937, he left for Paris and illegally crossed the French-Spanish border to take part in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. On 7 July 1937, he arrived at the front in an anti-tank battery of the 5th Battalion of the 150th Dombrowski Brigade. He fought his first battle near Villanueva del Pardillo. In late August 1937, the artillery unit took part in fierce fighting on the approaches to Zaragoza. On 30 August 1937, Ch. was appointed deputy battery commander and on the same day was wounded twice in combat near Villamayor de Gállego. In March 1938, he returned to the battery and was wounded again. As commander of the mortar crew of the 11th International Brigade battalion, he participated in the offensive on the Ebro river. At the end of 1938, together with other International Brigade members, he was withdrawn from the front; on 8 February 1939, he crossed the Spanish-French border and entered the internment camp “Saint-Cyprien,” then was transferred to “Argelès” and “Gurs.” Together with a group of prisoners, he escaped from the camp. Posing as a Latvian sailor, he obtained forged documents and found work on a ship bound for Senegal. Ch. fell ill with malaria, and after his recovery returned to Marseille, joined the French Communist Party, enlisted in the Resistance, and was appointed commander of the 5th partisan battalion “Liberté,” operating in Grenoble. After the liberation of France in August 1944, he left Grenoble with an echelon of Soviet citizens and began working in a mission dealing with the repatriation of Soviet citizens. He married nurse Khana Shamis and moved with her to her homeland in Chernivtsi (Ukrainian SSR), where their son Mark was born. In early 1946, he divorced and returned to Riga. He married Mali Aronov; in 1950 their son Boris was born. He worked at the Central Riga Department Store. In 1973, Boris emigrated to the USA, followed by his parents in 1979.

Lit.: Vater E. Jews of Latvia in the Struggle against Nazism. Tel Aviv, 2004; Fighters of Latvia in Spain. 1936–1939. Memoirs and documents. Riga: “Liesma,” 1970; Lasis R. Two Years in Spain Viva república! Memoirs of participants in the anti-fascist war in Spain. Riga: Latvian State Publishing House, 1957. Pp. 75–153; Against Fascism — Jews who served in The International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War / Sugarman M. P. 84. I. Rochko