Boris Gurevich papers

Boris Gurevich was born to Yaakov and Maria (Musia) Gurevich in Riga, Latvia. He was the youngest of three children with an older brother, Samuel (Musik) and an older sister, Lea (Lilia). Together, they attended a Jewish school until the outbreak of World War II, when Boris joined the Red Army. He attended an artillery school on a site called “Stalinskie Lageria” or Stalin Camps before continuing his training in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. In June 1943, Boris graduated from artillery school as a captain and entered the reserves and moves to Rybinsk, Russia. In Rybinsk, Boris worked first as a senior instructor at a recruitment center, then as a commander of a rifle platoon, and in early 1944, as an agitator, or propagandist for the Soviet system. In March, 1944 Boris was moved to the frontlines in Poland (now Ukraine) where he was killed in action April 27, 1944 near Kovel.

During the war, Samuel lived in Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains where he worked as a foreman in a factory named for Stalin. His sister, Lea lived in Andijan, Uzbekistan where she and her mother were apparently resettled after being evacuated to central Asia. There, Lea continued her studies. Both Lea and Samuel returned to Riga after the war. Boris’ father died before the war in Riga and his mother died of hunger in 1943.