Reznik (Resnik) Benyamin (Benjamin) Isaakovich (8 December 1922, Baranovichi (now the territory of Belarus; under the former administrative division – Poland)) – driver.

Benyamin Reznik completed seven years at a Jewish primary school with Polish as the language of instruction in Baranovichi and enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering Technical College in Vilnius, financed by the charitable organisation “Joint”. In 1939, R. graduated from the college and during the Polish-German war worked at Masloprom. After the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR, R. moved to Lida, where he completed driving courses. Until 1941, he worked as a lorry driver at the Regional Construction Trust in Baranovichi.

The war and the German occupation claimed the lives of all Reznik’s relatives: his parents, brothers and sisters perished in the Holocaust — Reznik Isaac (1882 – …), Reznik Sheina (1885, Dyatlovo – …), Reznik Sarah (1908, Baranovichi – …), Reznik Solomon (1910, Baranovichi – …), Reznik Meyer (1913, Baranovichi – …), Reznik Joseph (1920, Baranovichi – …) and Reznik Taiba (1925, Baranovichi – …). R. survived thanks to his profession: as a driver for the Regional Construction Trust, he evacuated the organisation’s employees together with their families to the Salsky District of Rostov Region.

In evacuation, Benyamin Reznik worked as a tractor driver at the local Machine and Tractor Station (MTS). He was mobilised and from December 1941 to July 1946 served in the ranks of the active Soviet Army, fought near Volgograd, and was discharged into the reserve with the rank of Junior Lieutenant. Benyamin Reznik was demobilised in Riga and from August 1946 to 1948 worked as a driver at the Moscow Restaurant. From 1948 he was a driver with the Motor Transport Company of the Construction Mechanisation Trust in Riga.

In marriage to Malka (née Mikhalovich) Reznik (1925, Šiauliai), daughters were born: Sheina Reznik (1949, Riga) and Hana Reznik (1961, Riga).

In 1958, Benyamin Reznik submitted his first petition for repatriation from Latvia to Poland, which was not granted. In 1967, after repeated refusals, the Reznik family received permission to leave Latvia for Israel to join R.’s wife’s brother, Mendel Mikhalovich (1919, Žagarė): a prisoner of a concentration camp in Munich, he was liberated by American Allied forces and soon afterwards moved to the territory of the present-day State of Israel.

A. Norman

Malka (née Mikhalovich) Reznik (1925, Šiauliai) – wife
Sheina Reznik (1949, Riga) – daughter
Hana Reznik (1961, Riga) – daughter
Isaac Reznik (1882 – …) – father
Sheina Reznik (1885, Dyatlovo – …) – mother
Sarah Reznik (1908, Baranovichi – …) – sister
Solomon Reznik (1910, Baranovichi – …) – brother
Meyer Reznik (1913, Baranovichi – …) – brother
Joseph Reznik (1920, Baranovichi – …) – brother
Taiba Reznik (1925, Baranovichi – …) – sister
Mendel Mikhalovich (1919, Žagarė) – brother-in-law