Krengauz (Krenhaus) Sofya Yakovlevna (b. 27 June 1919, Harbin, China) — accountant.
Sofya’s parents emigrated from Ukraine to China before the 1917 Revolution. In 1934, she completed 7 grades at the 4th Railway School in Harbin. Until 1935, she lived with her parents, caring for her seriously ill father. In 1935, she left for the USSR to join her brother in Tomsk and completed the 8th grade there. Later, she moved to Omsk, where she studied at the Agricultural Workers’ Faculty while working as a typist in the Omsk Regional Land Administration.
In October 1937, Sofya Krengauz was arrested and sentenced by the NKVD Special Council to 10 years of forced labor. Until 1938 she was imprisoned in Omsk, and from 1938 to 1947 she worked as a seamstress at a garment factory in Kemerovo Region (station Yaya). Released in 1947, she worked as a typist at a fur-processing plant in Kazan, living at the Zaimishche station near Kazan until 1949.
In April 1949, she was arrested again and exiled to the village of Yartsevo, Krasnoyarsk Territory. From 1949 to 1953, she worked as an accountant and bookkeeper at the Molokov State Farm, and from 1953 to 1955 — as a bookkeeper at the local fishing artel. She was rehabilitated in July 1957.
In 1955, Sofya Krengauz moved with her husband and daughter to Donskoy, Tula Region, and in 1956 the family relocated to Sabile, Latvia. From 1957 she lived in Riga. From 1962 to 1974, she worked as an accountant at:
— “Sarkanais Rīts” factory (1962–1966),
— Remstroymash plant (1966–1969),
— “Uzvara” factory (1969–1970),
— accounting department of the Bikernieki Special Mobile Mechanized Column.
From 1975 to 1976 she was an insurance agent for the State Insurance Office of Kirov District; from 1977 to 1978 — an accountant at the school and children’s furniture factory. Retired in 1978, she continued to work as a nurse at the J. Fabricius Sanatorium in Jūrmala.
Her father, Yakov Krengauz (1890–1937), died and was buried in Harbin.
Her mother, Lea Krengauz (née Levitskaya) (1893–1940), originally from Ukraine, moved to Omsk after her husband’s death, was arrested two months later, and died in prison (posthumously rehabilitated in 1957).
Her brother, Boris Krengauz (1915–1940), was arrested in Tomsk in 1937 and died in custody (rehabilitated in 1958).
Her sister, Valentina Krengauz (b. 1917, date of death unknown), remained in Harbin in the 1930s, and contact was lost.
Since 1953, Sofya Krengauz had been in a common-law marriage (officially registered in 1955) with Oskar-Iosif Mochan (b. 1901). The marriage was dissolved in Riga in 1968.
Her daughter, Lilia (Mochan) Lipeles (b. 1955), emigrated to Israel in 1978.
Sofya Krengauz herself left Latvia in 1978.
Family:
Oskar-Iosif Mochan (b. 1901) — husband
Lilia (Mochan) Lipeles (b. 1955) — daughter
Yakov Krengauz (1890–1937) — father
Lea Krengauz (née Levitskaya) (1893–1940) — mother
Boris Krengauz (1915–1940) — brother
Valentina Krengauz (b. 1917, date of death unknown) — sister