Kesel Yevgeny Israilevich (1924)

Kesel (Kessel) Yevgeny (Efim) Israilevich (b. 2 October 1924, Riga) — grinder.

Yevgeny Kesel was the son of Israel (Srul) Kesel (b. 1883, Odessa – d. 1948) and Gitel Kesel (née Bromberg) (b. 1895, Pinsk).

In 1937 he completed six grades at Riga City Jewish Primary School. In 1941 he graduated from the 9th grade at the “Ivrit” Gymnasium. That same year, he worked as a laborer at the “Silvana” plywood factory in Riga.

In 1941 he was evacuated to Kirov Oblast, where until 1942 he worked as a turner at the M.Yu.D. artel in Khalturin. In 1942 he became an inspector at Raizo in Talitsa.

From 1942 to 1946 he served in the active Soviet Army with the 43rd Guards Latvian Division. He was wounded and shell-shocked. He took part in military operations for the liberation of Riga.

In 1947 he worked as an inspector of the Central Statistical Office (CSU) of the USSR State Planning Committee (Gosplan) for the Riga District. That same year he was an apprentice assistant foreman at the “Rigas Manufaktura” factory and also graduated from the 10th grade of Riga Evening School No. 14 for working youth.

In 1948 he worked as a tool grinder at the Riga Wagon Factory. From 1948–49 he studied at the Leningrad Mining Institute, but was forced to leave due to health reasons.

From 1949–70 he worked as a grinder at the RMIZ plant (later RMZ, and in the 1970s “Ellar”). In 1967 he graduated from the Higher School of the Trade Union Movement, qualifying as a labor economist.

Member of the CPSU since 1952.

Awards: Medal “For Courage,” Medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–45,” Jubilee Medals for 20, 30, and 50 Years of Victory, and the Medal “50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR.”

His daughter, Larisa Kesel (b. 1956, Riga), studied and worked in Leningrad in the 1970s.

Family:

Valentina Kovalevskaya (Filippova) (b. 1927, Karsava District) — common-law wife
Larisa Kesel (b. 1956, Riga) — daughter
Israel (Srul) Kesel (1883, Odessa – 1948) — father
Gitel Kesel (née Bromberg) (1895, Pinsk) — mother
Arne (Lev) Kessel (b. 1915, Riga) — brother
Hirsch (Grigory) Kessel (b. 1926, Riga) — brother