Blaer Yomtov Naumovich (21 January 1905, Dvinsk (Daugavpils) – 1984, Israel) – photographer.
From the age of 7, Yomtov Blaer studied at a Jewish school, then enrolled in a Russian vocational school in Daugavpils, which he did not complete. Starting in 1921, he was an apprentice photographer at Klyatskin’s photo studio. From 1925 to 1932, he worked as a photographer-retoucher at Altman’s photo studio, and from 1932 to 1941 at “Raphael” studio owned by Shpungin. During the war,Yomtov Blaer was evacuated with his family to the village of Maryevka in the Pestravka District, where he briefly worked at the Krupskaya collective farm before taking a job as a photographer-retoucher at the Pestravsky District Industrial Complex.
On 14 August 1942, Yomtov Blaer was conscripted into the Soviet Army in Kuybyshev. In October of the same year, he was declared unfit for military service. He then returned to Pestravka and continued working as a photographer-retoucher at the industrial complex until July 1945. On 27 July 1945, he returned with his family to Daugavpils, where he began working as a photographer at the Daugavpils Industrial Complex. From 1947 to 1960, he was a retoucher at the “Raznoprom” artel. After the artel was dissolved, Blaer was transferred to the Daugavpils consumer services complex. Since 23 July 1945, he was retired (classified as Group II and III disabled).
In 1966, Yomtov Blaer emigrated to Israel for permanent residence.
In 1927, Yomtov Blaer married Ester Movshevna Blaer (née Brunman). They had a son and two daughters: Yeshua Yantovich Blaer, Minna Yomtovna Blaer, and Musya Yomtovna Morozova (née Blaer) (1941, village of Pestravka, Kuybyshev Region (now Samara Region) – (?)) – a physician at the tuberculosis hospital (Polyclinic No. 2), who resided in the city of Slonim.
Father – Naum Davidovich Blaer (1867, Preiļi – (?)) – worked as a painter.
Mother – Doba Pinkhusovna Blaer (1865, Dinaburg (Daugavpils) – (?)).
Brothers: Moishe-Leib Naumovich Blaer (1894, Dvinsk (Daugavpils) – (?)) – emigrated from the People’s Republic of Poland to the USA, and in 1963 from the USA to Israel; Zundel Naumovich Blaer (1909, Dvinsk (Daugavpils) – (?)) – engineer, lived in Rishon LeZion, Israel, since 1930; Ilya Naumovich Babaev-Blaer (1907, Dvinsk (Daugavpils) – (?)) – supply officer in a prison camp, lived in Liepāja.
Yomtov Blaer’s parents perished in the Daugavpils Ghetto during the Nazi occupation.