Kuklya (Kukla) (née Shugal or Shugol) Elka Itzikovna (born April 26, 1914, Rezekne) — hairdresser.
Elka Kuklya was born into the family of a worker, Itzik Movshevich Shugal (Shugol) (1887, Rezekne – 1962, Riga) and a housewife, Libe-Reiza Berovna (Lyubov Borisovna) Shugal (Shugol, née Volosh or Volos) (1891, Rezekne – 1963, Riga).
She completed six grades at the Rezekne Jewish elementary school (1928), apprenticed and worked as a hairdresser for the master Mizrok (1929–1936, Rezekne). After moving to Riga, she worked at the “Latfin” plywood factory (1936–1939) and at the “Zasulauks Manufactory” (1939–1941). During World War II, she was evacuated to the Tatar ASSR, where she worked on a local kolkhoz (1941–1943), then in the Yaroslavl Region as a worker at a peat enterprise of the Berendeevo state farm (1943–1945).
After returning to Riga, she was supported by her husband (1945–1953), worked as a weaver at the Proletarian District Industrial Combine (1953–1954), again lived on her husband’s support (1954–1961), worked at the leather goods factory of the Municipal Industrial Management (1961–1963), as a nanny in Kindergarten No. 79 (1963–1965), and as a storekeeper and senior storekeeper at the VEF factory (1966–1973).
In her first marriage to Yakov Davidovich Levin (1912 – killed in action in 1942 during World War II), there were no children.
In her second marriage to Ber Idelevich Kuklya (1903, Rezekne), a daughter was born — Ida Berovna Toker (née Kuklya) (1946, Riga).
In 1978, Elka Kuklya received permission to emigrate to Israel, where her sister Bunya Itzikovna Kur (Shugal or Shugol) (born 1930, Rezekne) had lived since 1975.
Family:
Itzik Movshevich Shugal (Shugol) (1887–1962) — father
Libe-Reiza Berovna (Lyubov Borisovna) Shugal (Shugol, née Volosh or Volos) (1891–1963) — mother
Malka Itzikovna Rebe (née Shugal or Shugol) (born 1919, Rezekne) — sister
Brayna Itzikovna Smirina (née Shugal or Shugol) (born 1929, Rezekne; emigrated to Israel in 1972) — sister
Ber Itzikovich Shugol (Shugal) (1912, Rezekne – convicted by the NKVD Special Board, died in detention in 1944, posthumously rehabilitated) — brother
Movsha Itzikovich Shugol (Shugal) (1916–1929, Rezekne) — brother
Bunya Itzikovna Kur (Shugal or Shugol) (born 1930) — sister
Yakov Davidovich Levin (1912–1942) — first husband
Ber Idelevich Kuklya (born 1903) — second husband
Ida Berovna Toker (née Kuklya) (born 1946) — daughter