Mandelstam Benjamin (1907 — after 1976)
Benjamin Mandelstam was born on 20 April 1907 in Riga, into the family of a leather grader; his father was Hirsh and his mother Minna. From 1917, he studied at a grammar school in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1921, he returned to Latvia. After graduating from the Riga Municipal Jewish Secondary School in 1925, he began studying law at the University of Latvia, completing his studies in 1929. From 1926 to 1929, he worked as a private tutor. He was a member of the Jewish student society Ashahar. From 26 February 1930, he served as an assistant to sworn advocate S. Shutov in Riga; from 11 November 1931, as assistant to sworn advocate I. Abrahamson in Riga. From 25 November 1936, he practised as a sworn advocate in Riga.
During the Soviet occupation, in January 1941, he was admitted to the Bar Association and worked as an advocate at the 6th Riga Legal Advice Office. In June 1941, he was evacuated to Russia. From July 1941 to March 1942, he worked as an advocate at the 23rd Leningrad Legal Advice Office. In March 1942, owing to illness (dystrophy), he was evacuated to the North Caucasus, where he worked as a district inspector in Murtazovo at the Statistical Administration of the Kabardian ASSR. In August 1942, with the approach of the front line, he was evacuated to the Armenian SSR. For a short time, he worked as a secondary school teacher in Kuchak, after which he became head of the Control Department of the Statistical Administration of the Armenian SSR.
From March 1943, he practised as an advocate in Yerevan, and from April 1944 served as head of the legal bureau of Factory No. 447 of the People’s Commissariat of the Aviation Industry. After the second Soviet occupation, in May 1945, he returned to Riga. He worked as an advocate at the 2nd Riga Legal Advice Office and later at the 1st Legal Advice Office. From May 1945 to August 1948, he also served as legal adviser to the Riga City Executive Committee. In 1949, he graduated from the Faculty for Academic Workers of the Evening University of Marxism–Leninism of the Riga City Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia.
In October 1951, on the basis of a negative appraisal, Benjamin Mandelstam was expelled from the Bar Association. From September 1952, he worked as legal adviser at the Riga Diesel Construction Plant. In September 1954, he was reinstated in the Bar Association and worked as an advocate at the 1st Riga Legal Advice Office, as well as legal adviser to the Riga Paper Manufacturing Combine. He was editor-in-chief of the publication Bulletin of the Bar Association of the Latvian SSR (until 1965). In December 1975, he retired. It is known that he later emigrated to Canada, where he also died.
In 1932, he married Esfir Zherdina (born 21 November 1908), who after the Second World War worked as an advocate. They had a daughter, Inna.
Works:
Sodu likumu 36 un 37 nodaļās paredzēto noziedzīgo nodarījumu mēģinājums. – Rīga, 1936.
Negotiorum gestora un dominus negotii savstarpējā atbildība. – Rīga, 1936.