Raikin (Reikin) Gerson (Herson) Isaakovich (17 January 1939, Liepāja) — engineer.
Gerson Raikin was born into the family of artisans Isaak Grigorievich Raikin (1900, Polotsk, Belarus) and Berta (Beyla) Leybovna Raikin (née Meilakh) (1904, Liepāja). In 1941 his family failed to evacuate from Liepāja (then Libau), which had been occupied by the Nazis. His father was imprisoned in the Riga Ghetto, while his uncles, Aron and Iosif, were executed by the Nazis. Gerson was only three years old when his brave mother tore the degrading yellow badges from her clothes, which all Jews were required by Nazi order to wear, took him in her arms, and together with her Latvian acquaintance Anna Fimbauer went to her home. Leaving the apartment meant certain death for all; yet living there openly was equally dangerous. They hid in a tiny closet where it was difficult to breathe. He was not allowed to make noise or play, and could speak only in whispers. He endured this in silence, knowing what happened to Jews and to those who sheltered them. In 1943 his father, who had managed to escape from the ghetto, arrived at Anna Fimbauer’s home. In 1944, by Nazi order, many residents were forced to leave the city and move to rural areas. Using forged documents, Kazimir, Anna, and little Janis Jablonskis (mute from birth) also went to the countryside together with Anna Fimbauer as “refugees from Dvinsk.” Of the eight thousand Jews of Liepāja, only twenty-two survived.
He graduated from Secondary School No. 2 in Liepāja (1956) and from the Tula Mechanical Institute (1956–1961). He worked as a design engineer at the Lyudinovo Locomotive Engineering Plant (1961–1967, Lyudinovo, Kaluga Region), as an engineer in the laboratory of the Riga Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers (1967–1968, Riga), and as a design engineer at the VEF plant (1968–1971, Riga).
Married to Tamara Alexandrovna Dmitrieva (1938, Lyudinovo, Kaluga Region); the couple had no children.
In 1971 he received permission to emigrate to Israel, where since 1969 his parents — Isaak Grigorievich Raikin (1900) and Berta (Beyla) Leibovna Raikin (née Meilakh) (1904) — had been living.
Family:
Isaak Grigorievich Raikin (1900) — father
Berta (Beyla) Leybovna Raikin (née Meilakh) (1904) — mother
Tamara Alexandrovna Dmitrieva (1938) — wife