Vargaftik David Zalmanovich (1910)

Vargaftik David Zalmanovich (14 June 1910, Ludine, Vitebsk Governorate) — merchandise specialist.

In 1923, David Vargaftik graduated from the Ludine Jewish primary school. In 1937, he completed his secondary education. From 1928 to 1934, Vargaftik studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Latvian State University. To pay for his studies, he worked as a loader at sawmills and gave private lessons.

From 1934 to 1935, he served as a private in the 9th Rezekne Infantry Regiment of the Latvian Army. Between 1935 and 1939, he worked as a tutor in Riga. From 1939 to 1940, he was an accountant at the Riga pharmaceutical firm “Roze”. In August 1940, Vargaftik was arrested for involvement in a Zionist youth organisation, and in March 1941, by decision of the O.S.O., he was sentenced to eight years of corrective labour. (In December 1955, he was rehabilitated by decision of the Supreme Court of the Latvian SSR.)

He was sent to labour camps in Vorkuta, where from 1941 to 1948 he worked as a bookkeeper, accountant, and inspector of the State Trust in the Vorkutugol industrial complex. From 1948 to 1949, he was exiled to Krasnoyarsk Krai (village of Galanino, Rozachinsky District), where he worked at a local procurement office of “Zagotzerno”. From 1949 to 1956, he worked as a storekeeper and rubber worker for the Kazachinsk Motor Transport Company of Soyuzzagottrans.

In 1956, David Vargaftik returned to Latvia and worked until 1959 as a procurement agent at the Aluksne District Industrial Combine. In 1959, he was employed as a labourer and merchandise specialist at the Riga Facing Materials Plant. From 1959, he served as a resin collection foreman at the Jelgava Chemical Forestry Enterprise under the Ministry of Forestry and the Forest Industry of the Latvian SSR.

Vargaftik's brother, Hertzl Vargaftik (born 1918, Ludza), emigrated from Latvia in 1939 and, by the 1960s, was living and working in Israel.

His father, Zalman Vargaftik (born 1880, Ludza – died 1941(?)), a craftsman and trader, and his sister, Ida Vargaftik (born 1915, Ludza – died 1941(?)), were killed during the Holocaust.

His mother, Beyla Vargaftik (born 1890, Vitebsk), died in 1937.

In 1956, David Vargaftik submitted his first application to emigrate to Israel. He was granted permission to leave Latvia in 1965.

Family:

Beyla Vargaftik (1890, Vitebsk – 1937) – mother
Zalman Vargaftik (1880, Ludza – 1941(?)) – father
Ida Vargaftik (1915, Ludza – 1941(?)) – sister
Hertzl Vargaftik (1918, Ludza) – brother