David Davidovich Zimmerman

Released
Date of birth:1875
Era:1920s
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year 30 Days
Support
Communism Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Communist Party USA Socialist Party of America
No image available

Biography

David Davidovich Zimmerman was born 1875 in Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Immigrated to the United States in 1906.

Born 1875, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Carpenter. Circa 1904 joined the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Migrated to US 1906. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America that year. Married fellow deportee Bertha Zimmerman in Boston 1907. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

Joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that same year. Lived in Leningrad. Arrested June 1938 for espionage during Stalin’s purges. Executed October 10, 1938.

INS file 54859/548; FBI file OG 46773

See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57; https://ru.openlist.wiki/%D0%A6%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4_%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(1875)

Adapted from Kenyon Zimmer, Red Scare Deportees (kenyonzimmer.com), compiled from INS deportation case files.

Case

Charges: Administrative deportation under the wartime Immigration Acts — expelled as an alien radical (Industrial Workers of the World member) in the First Red Scare.
Arrested: Jan 2, 1920
Incarcerated: Jan 2, 1920
Released: Feb 1, 1921
In exile since: Feb 1, 1921
Sentence: Arrested on January 2, 1920 and deported on February 1, 1921. The source records no release on bail or bond, so custody pending deportation is recorded from arrest to sailing; if evidence of an interim release surfaces, the span should be shortened. Charges as recorded: Administrative deportation under the wartime Immigration Acts — expelled as an alien radical (Industrial Workers of the World member) in the First Red Scare. Documented in Kenyon Zimmer’s Red Scare Deportees index, drawn from INS deportation files.

Related Cases

Witte Moses Shakman Bertha Zimmerman Mikhail Yakovlev Jacob Tiomny Jacob Tiomny