Gerasimov Amfian

Gerasimov, Amfian Amfian Gerasimov was born in 1903 to a family of Russian Old Believers, but from his early youth he had taken special interest in the Jewish religion and tradition. On the eve of the German invasion of Latvia he lived in Rīga with his wife and six children and worked as a postman. The Gerasimovs rented an apartment from the Brills, a Jewish family with whom they maintained friendly relations. After Rīga was occupied on July 1, 1941, and the Jews were forced to move to the ghetto, Lila Brill-Mizroch, her husband Isaak Mizroch and their daughters, 18-year-old Yvette (Vivi) and 14-year-old Evi, left their belongings with the Gerasimovs for safekeeping. Gerasimov continued to visit the Mizrochs until the ghetto was sealed and upon their request brought them some clothes and valuables. Later, when the ghetto was closed, Gerasimov, in his postman’s uniform, secretly met with the Mizrochs at their places of forced labor, and when their belongings were all sold, he bought food for them on his own account. In late September 1944, when Isaak Mizroch was no longer alive and his wife and daughters were deported to Stutthof, Gerasimov hid Vivi’s husband, Harry Niss, in his apartment, and kept him until Rīga was liberated from the Germans on October 15, the same year. Lila Mizroch, her daughters and Harry Niss survived the war and later immigrated to Israel. Gerasimov remained in Rīga until 1974, when, following his conversion to Judaism, he moved to Israel, too, and settled in Jerusalem. On June 3, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Amfian Gerasimov as Righteous Among the Nations.