Goldenberg Iosif Lazarevich (1907)

Goldenberg Iosif Lazarevich (1907 – present??) — revolutionary activist and architect.

Iosif Goldenberg worked as a bookkeeper and cashier in Chișinău (then Romania, now the capital of Moldova) from 1925 to 1927. He then moved to Czechoslovakia and enrolled in the architecture faculty of the Brno University of Technology in 1927. From 1929, he joined the clandestine revolutionary movement, became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and operated under the alias “Boris” (1929–1934). He was active in the Red Aid (MOPR), the Union of Proletarian Freethinkers, and the Left Front. Arrested in 1934, he was released six months later for lack of evidence and expelled from Czechoslovakia.

Between 1934 and 1937, he lived in Vienna, where he was a member of the illegal Communist Party of Austria and worked as an architect in the Gann design studio. In 1937, he was again expelled for his revolutionary activities and moved to Paris, working at Le Corbusier’s atelier. He briefly returned to Brno in 1937–38, collaborating in Egri’s architectural workshop while remaining politically active.

From 1938 to 1940, Goldenberg lived in Bucharest, working as a studio artist and a member of the Romanian Communist Party. In 1940, following the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia/Moldova, he was appointed deputy chair of the city plan for his native Chișinău.

During the Second World War, he was evacuated to Frunze (now Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), serving from 1941 to 1944 as a research institute engineer, construction engineer, and senior architect in the city's project institute. After returning in 1944, he served as deputy chair of the Chișinău City Executive Committee until 1946.

In 1946, Goldenberg relocated to Riga, where until 1956 he served as acting chief architect for Soyuzgiprotorg, main architect for Soyuztorgreklama, and architectural artist for urban development. Between 1956 and 1970, he was chief engineer at Giprotorg. A Communist Party of the Soviet Union member from 1968, he was awarded the Medal For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War. He played a key role in designing numerous trading and cultural facilities, including the department store in Liepāja, the Detsky Mir department store in Riga, and the Jūras Pērle café-restaurant. He was retired as a personal pensioner of republican status.