Ruven Gurevich, pediatrician and internist

Pediatrician and internist. Ruven Gurevich graduated from the University of Harkov in 1907. Until 1940 he was a pediatrician and internist in Daugavpils and managed a clinic there. In July 1941 Ruven was imprisoned in the Daugavpils ghetto. On August 3, 1941 the Nazis included him in a group of ghetto prisoners who were sent to be shot in the woods on the outskirts of Daugavpils. On the way Nazi guard recognized the doctor who once had cured his son of a dangerous disease and made up his mind to save him. Carping at the doctor as he marched in the column, the guard continued to carry out the pretense of harassing the doctor. When the marchers and other guards were some distance away, the guard helped Ruven to escape unseen. Ruven witnessed the horror of bloody action and later recalled that some Jews "fought as lions, shielding their wives and children. I saw how dozens of deceived Jews, even injured, bleeding to death, attacked the murderers with bare hands and stones.  Ruven found himself at his rescuers farm. From there he was helped to get to Riga for he considered a mass attack in a city to be impossible. Ruven became a prisoner of the Riga ghetto and later the concentration camp Kaiserwald, where during a bloody action he committed suicide by taking poison.

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