Spungin Naum Solomonovich (1894)

Spungin Naum Solomonovich (25 March 1894, Līvāni) — pharmacist.

Naum Spungin was born into the family of Zalman Spungin (— 1926, Līvāni) and Mikhlya Spungina (— 1943, Moscow). From 1908 to 1915, he trained as an apprentice pharmacist in Līvāni while simultaneously receiving a secondary education.

From 1915 to 1918, he worked as a pharmacist in Westermann’s pharmacy in Ardatov (Ulyanovsk Region), as well as in Zmiiv (Kharkiv Region) and Kalyazin (Kalinin Region). In 1918, he passed examinations at Saratov University and qualified as an assistant pharmacist.

In 1918, he was conscripted into the Red Army, where until 1922 he served as head of a department in a field military pharmacy depot. From 1922 to 1930, he worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy in Gorky. In 1930, he voluntarily rejoined the Red Army. From 1930 to 1940, he was head of a department at NKO Warehouse No. 320.

From 1940 to 1948, he worked in military hospitals and on a military sanitary train. He took part in combat operations on the Bryansk, Steppe, and 2nd Ukrainian fronts.

After demobilisation, he moved to Riga. From 1948 to 1950, he was manager of a pharmacy in Riga. From 1950 to 1957, he worked as a dispenser at Riga Pharmacy No. 15, and from 1957 as a signatory pharmacist at Riga Pharmacy No. 28.

He was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945.”

He was first married to Vera Spungina (1898, Liozno, Vitebsk Region) (marriage dissolved in 1950). Their son is Gennady Spungin (1921, Liozno, Vitebsk Region).

He later married Jozefina Spungina (née Apfel, Voss) (1900, Vienna, Austria).

His sisters Anna Ratner (née Spungina), Elena Lantsman (née Spungina) (— 1957, Moscow), and Esfira Rosenberg (née Spungina) lived after the war in Moscow and Leningrad respectively.

In 1965, Naum Spungin received permission to emigrate to the United States at the invitation of his second wife’s relatives, Willy Apfel (1901, Vienna, Austria) and Anna Max (née Apfel, Voss) (1902, Vienna, Austria), who had emigrated to the United States from Italy in 1939.

Family:

Vera Spungina (1898, Liozno, Vitebsk Region) — first wife
Gennady Spungin (1921, Liozno, Vitebsk Region) — son
Jozefina Spungina (née Apfel, Voss) (1900, Vienna, Austria) — second wife
Zalman Spungin (— 1926, Līvāni) — father
Mikhlya Spungina (— 1943, Moscow) — mother
Anna Ratner (née Spungina) — sister
Esfira Rosenberg (née Spungina) — sister
Elena Lantsman (née Spungina) (— 1957, Moscow) — sister
Willy Apfel (1901, Vienna, Austria) — brother-in-law
Anna Max (née Apfel, Voss) (1902, Vienna, Austria) — sister-in-law