Kushner (Kuschner) Izrail (Israel) Berkovich (15 August 1893, Vitebsk) — weaver, fabric inspector.

Kushner’s parents were natives of Daugavpils, and in 1898 the whole family moved to Riga.

From 1915, he apprenticed as a weaver and later worked as one at the Riga textile factory on Lāčplēša Street. Between 1930 and 1940, he was employed as a weaver at the “Schwarz & Son” textile factory, and from 1940 to 1941 — at the “Atspole” textile factory.

At the beginning of the Second World War, together with the labor army, Kushner was evacuated to the city of Gorky and soon mobilized into the Soviet Army. He was demobilized at the end of 1945 in Kuibyshev and returned to Riga. From 1946 to 1948, he worked as a fabric inspector at the “Kurzeme Manufactory,” then at the “Drebnieks” sewing factory (1949), and later at the “Bolshevichka” factory.

He was awarded the Medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945,” the Jubilee Medal “Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945,” the Badge “Twenty-Five Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945,” a commemorative badge for participants of combat operations on the Northwestern Front, and the memorial badge “Veteran of the Shock Army.”

Kushner’s parents, Berka Kushner (1862–1932) and Rakhil Kushner (1864–1928), died before the outbreak of World War II. His brother Grigory Kushner (1892–1939) died in Riga in 1939. His sister Sonia Liflyandchik (née Kushner) (1896–1972) spent her later years in Chișinău. His brother Abraham-Leon (Lev) Kushner (1890–1940), sister Anna Segal (née Kushner) (1898–1940), wife Rosa Kushner (née Ruman) (1896–1940), and daughters Mikhlya Kushner (1923–1940) and Golde Kushner (1930–1940) were killed in Riga during the German occupation.

His daughter Sima Gurevich (née Kushner, also Stroboch) (b. 1924) emigrated to Israel in 1973 and later settled permanently in New York.

Family:

Berka Kushner (1862–1932) — father
Rakhil Kushner (1864–1928) — mother
Abraham-Leon (Lev) Kushner (1890–1940) — brother
Grigory Kushner (1892–1939) — brother
Sonia Liflyandchik (née Kushner) (1896–1972) — sister
Anna Segal (née Kushner) (1898–1940) — sister
Rosa Kushner (née Ruman) (1896–1940) — wife
Mikhlya Kushner (1923–1940) — daughter
Golde Kushner (1930–1940) — daughter
Sima Gurevich (née Kushner, also Stroboch) (1924) — daughter*