David Goychman (also spelled Hoychman) was born in 1900 in Bogopol, western Ukraine (now part of the city of Pervomaisk), in a shtetl near Viatka. His father, Wolf, was a grain merchant who gave his three sons both a Jewish religious upbringing and a general education. David read the Torah and immersed himself in the spiritual world of Judaism. Between 1914-1918, David's older brother Abraham (Avrom) was killed while serving as a volunteer in the French army during World War I. In 1917, David and his brother Eliezer were victims of a pogrom during the Petliura riots. Eliezer was killed and David was seriously wounded.

In 1919 David left Russia for Palestine, where he stayed for three years. During this time he began to paint, fascinated by the figure of the local peasant and the landscapes of Eretz Israel. In 1922, Goychman moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts (National Academy of Fine Arts). While in Paris Goychman married his wife, Fania and supported himself by retouching photographic portraits and copying works of art.

When Hitler came to power, Goychman's sister offered him the opportunity to join family relatives in the United States, but he refused. On 27 January 1941, Goychman was arrested in Villeurbanne as a citizen of the Soviet Union. He was interned in the Compiègne camp, where he continued to paint and took part in exhibitions organised by his artist friend Isis Kischka. On 11 September 1942, Goychman was transferred to the Drancy camp. There he, Isis Kischka and Jacques Gotko (Jakow Gotkowski) held an impromptu exhibition of their drawings. Kischka and Gotko both painted portraits of Goychman during their time in the camp.

Five days later, on 16 September 1942, Goychman was deported to Auschwitz, where he was immediately sent to the gas chambers and murdered by the Nazis. He was 42 years old.

Before his deportation, Goychman left a poignant self-portrait in front of a watchtower. His sister kept some of his pre-war paintings which she donated to the GFH Museum's art collection. This collection also preserves the portraits of Goychman, painted by Kischka and Gotko in Compiegne.