Ptushkin (Ptuschkin) Lazar (Lasar) Avseevich (2 May 1899, Ulla, Lepel District, Vitebsk Region) — timber grader.

Lazar Ptushkin was the son of Avsey-Khaim Ptushkin (1874, Vitebsk Region — 1941, Riga) and Sara Ptushkina (1878, Vitebsk Region — 1939, Riga). In 1913 he completed six grades at the Riga Jewish primary school. In 1915 he graduated from two classes of a vocational school in Riga. In 1916–18 he worked at a sawmill in the Arkhangelsk District of the RSFSR. In 1918–20 he served as a private in Red Army units stationed in Arkhangelsk.

In 1920 Ptushkin moved to Riga, where until 1940 he worked as a timber grader for Riga timber industrialists. In 1940–41 he was a grader at the nationalised sawmill Emalit. In 1941 he was imprisoned in the Riga Ghetto. In 1944–45 he was held in the Stutthof, Danzig, and Burggraben concentration camps in Germany. After liberation in 1945 he served as a private rifleman in the Soviet Army.

In 1945–46Lazar Ptushkin was warehouse manager of the Riga Timber Combine under the USSR Ministry of Timber Industry in Riga. In 1956–65 he was technical manager of the Riga mechanical section of the rafting office of the USSR Ministry of Timber Industry. In 1965–66 he worked as a fitter-installer at the Latvian rafting office. In 1968–70 he was a quality control foreman at the Institute of Forestry Problems. In 1970–71 he was a fitter at the Riga wholesale depot of the Latvara trust.

Murdered in the Holocaust were Ptushkin’s father, his sister Mina Gutman (née Ptushkina) (1907, Riga — 1941, Riga), his brother Gutman Ptushkin (1919, Arkhangelsk — 1941, Riga), as well as his first wife and their three children: Sara-Fruma Ptushkina (née …) (1902, Riga — 1941, Riga), Mozus Ptushkin (1924, Riga — 1941, Riga), Lia Ptushkina (1926, Riga — 1941, Riga), and Iosif Ptushkin (1934, Riga — 1941, Riga).

In his second marriage he was wed to Malka Ptushkina (née Kuper) (1906, Riga). In 1972 he received permission to emigrate to Israel at the invitation of his brother-in-law, Israel Kuper (1915, Riga).

Family:

Sara-Fruma Ptushkina (née …) (1902, Riga — 1941, Riga) — first wife
Mozus Ptushkin (1924, Riga — 1941, Riga) — son
Lia Ptushkina (1926, Riga — 1941, Riga) — daughter
Iosif Ptushkin (1934, Riga — 1941, Riga) — son
Malka Ptushkina (née Kuper) (1906, Riga) — second wife
Avsey-Khaim Ptushkin (1874, Vitebsk Region — 1941, Riga) — father
Sara Ptushkina (1878, Vitebsk Region — 1939, Riga) — mother
Mina Gutman (née Ptushkina) (1907, Riga — 1941, Riga) — sister
Gutman Ptushkin (1919, Arkhangelsk — 1941, Riga) — brother
Sima Nozhitskaya (née Ptushkina) (1910, Riga) — sister
Khana Yoffe (née Ptushkina) (1905, Riga) — sister
Israel Kuper (1915, Riga) — brother-in-law