Kastrel Lea Rafailovna (1902-1972)

Kastrel Lea Rafailovna (1 January 1902, Silene, Griva district, Republic of Latvia – 1972) — seamstress.

Lea Kastrel was disabled from childhood: at the age of eight she suffered a serious leg fracture. She spent two years in hospitals in Riga but was never able to recover fully. Kastrel learned the sewing trade and until 1935 worked as a factory worker at Buffalo in Riga. From 1935 to 1941 she worked as a seamstress in private workshops in Riga. From 1941 to 1945 she worked in a sewing artel in Kokand. From 1945, owing to worsening hypertension, she ceased working and lived dependent on her sister, Genya Nechom (née Kastrel, later Broder) (b. 1916).

Her sister and brothers — Bunya Gendler (née Kastrel) (1905–1940), Borukh Kastrel (1912–1940), and Kasril Kastrel (1912–1940) — together with their families perished during the German occupation of Latvia. Her brother, Avraam Kastrel (b. 1907), emigrated from Latvia to Poland in 1957, later settling in Israel where he ran his own shop in Haifa.

In 1972 Lea Kastrel died before receiving permission to emigrate to Israel to join her brother.

Family:

Rafail Kastrel (date of birth unknown – 1923) — father
Goda Kastrel (date of birth unknown – 1932) — mother
Avraam Kastrel (b. 1907) — brother
Bunya Gendler (née Kastrel) (1905–1940) — sister
Borukh Kastrel (1912–1940) — brother
Kasril Kastrel (1912–1940) — brother
Genya Nechom (née Kastrel, later Broder) (b. 1916) — sister