Fain Beniamin Yakovlevich (1920)

Fain (Fein) Beniamin (Benjamin) Yakovlevich (15 August 1920, Subate) — clerk.

After graduating from the Subate primary school in 1933, Benjamin Fain moved to Riga, where until 1935 he worked as a messenger in Wasserman’s shop. He then moved to the town of Viļaka, where until 1940 he worked as a shop assistant for Tetelbaum, and in 1940–1941 served as manager of a store of the Viļaka Consumers’ Cooperative.

In 1941, he was evacuated to the Novosibirsk Region, where he worked on the collective farm “Komsomolets.” In 1941–1942, he served in the Soviet Army. In August 1942, he was wounded and underwent treatment in a hospital in Yaroslavl. In 1943, he returned to the army, but after two months was assigned to work in the Gorky Region at the Sitnikov peat enterprise, where until 1945 he worked as a communications technician.

In 1945, he returned to Riga and began working as a storekeeper in Trust No. 27 of canteens, restaurants, and cafés. In 1947, he worked at “Sarkana Zvaigzne,” in 1948 at the confectionery factory “Uzvara,” and in 1949 became warehouse manager at a citric acid production plant, later working there as a driver.

In 1952–1954, he worked as a cutter at the rubber goods factory “Meteor,” and from 1954 at the footwear factory “Ērglis.” In 1971, he applied for permission to emigrate to Israel for permanent residence.

Benjamin Fain was awarded the medal For the Victory over Germany.

In 1946, he married Liya Elyevna Fain (née Lisitsa; from her first marriage — Polishchuk). They had two daughters: Asya Beniaminovna Wasserman (née Fain) and Ella Beniaminovna Fain.

His father, Yakov Beniaminovich Fain, was a mechanic; his mother, Etta Shmoylovna Fain, owned a grocery shop. His brothers, Isaak and Faivus Fain, were killed while serving in the Red Army. His parents and sister Khoda Fain (Subate) were murdered by the Nazis. His aunt, Mary Fain, lived in Eilat.