Smotkin Rafael Ioselevich (7 January 1924, Viesīte, Jēkabpils District) — turner.

In the 1920s Smotkin’s family moved to Riga. In 1937 he completed six grades of the Riga Jewish school. From 1937 to 1940 he worked as an apprentice shop assistant in a private shop in Riga. From 1940 to 1941 he worked as an apprentice mechanic repairing stocking machines at the Riga Hosiery Factory.

During the years of evacuation (1941–1943) Rafael Smotkin worked as a knitter at the Krupskaya Knitwear Factory in Balzer, Saratov Region. From 1943 to 1945 he worked as a turner at the Malenkov Plant in Gorky.

After returning to Riga in 1945, he worked as a sales agent at the Riga Department Store until 1947. From 1952 to 1954 he was a turner at the Riga Diesel Engineering Plant, and from 1954 to 1961 he worked as a procurement agent at the office “Vtorsyr’yo” (Secondary Raw Materials). From 1964 he worked as a turner at the VEF factory.

Smotkin was twice prosecuted: in 1947 under Article 107 (speculation), sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, and in 1961 under Article 88, part 2 (theft of state property), sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

His parents, Iosif (Iosele) Smotkin (1895) and Noami Smotkina (née Lifshits; 1900), lived in Israel in the 1960s, having moved there to join Smotkin’s sister Lea (Lia)Segal (née Smotkina; 1925). In the 1960s, Rafael Smotkin and his wife Khava Smotkina (née Khazan; 1928) applied for permission to emigrate to Israel to join his relatives.

Family:

Khava Smotkina (née Khazan; 1928) — wife
Khaya Smotkina (1954) — daughter
Bella Smotkina (1957) — daughter
Sholom Smotkin (1922) — brother
Ita Yakobson (née Smotkina; 1930) — sister
Iosif Smotkin (1895) — father
Noami Smotkina (née Lifshits; 1900) — mother
Lea (Lia) Segal (née Smotkina; 1925) — sister
Malka Smotkina (1928–1937) — sister