Post No. 1 - Boris Markovich Schneerson - Family of the Repker Rov - Introduction
Forgotten Alter Rebbe's Einiklach
This will be a multipart post on the subject of GULAG Victims of the Schneerson Family, and specifically about Boris Markovich Schneerson. This post is about overall family background. Future posts will be exclusively about Boruch Sholem, it will include three high-quality photos and selected translations of the interrogations that shed much light on this man and his time.
Шнеерсон Борис Маркович - Boris Markovich Schneerson was born in Gomel in 1891. He was a deputy director of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory. Arrested on 16th of February 1938, shot on 20th of September/24 Ellul, 1938 [he was 47]. Boruch Sholem AKA Boris Markovitch was a son of the Repker Rov Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Repker Rov moved the family between Poddobryanka, Gomel, Repka, Chernigov, etc. Boris/Boruch Sholem was born in Gomel.
Mendel Schneerson's son Boris was a deputy director of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant before the war, his daughter Gesya is a doctor in Dnepropetrovsk, his daughters Frida and Judith are alive; his grandson (Zalman's son) and two great-grandchildren live in the USA.
I don’t know when Margolia wrote that “Frida is alive”, or if she knew, but she lists all Repker Rov children. Children of Menachem Mendel Schneerson and Liba Leah Schneerson (Menuchin) ליבא לאה שניאורסון (מנוחין):
Boris/Boruch Sholem - According to his prison file below in 1938: Wife Sofia Moiseyevna 51-52, Daughter Rosa 17-18, Son Yakov 15-16, Nephew Galina Alexandrovna Zhdanova, office worker, Father Mendel Levikov Schneerson (more than 70 years old) in Chernigov, Brother Zalman Schneerson in Palestine, Sister Evgenia Schneerson in Dnepropetrovsk. I think Boris simply run out of room to list his other two sisters, Yehudis and Freyda.
Zalman from Paris, father of Sholem Ber and Hadassa, she should be well always!
Yehudis, wife of Zalman Butman, mother of Leah Kahn, Miriam Merka Feiga Sverdlov and Shmuel Butman.
Gesia/Evgenia - Doctor in Dnepropetrovsk. Children or married?
Freyda - Perished in the Riga Shule inferno with her husband Rosh Yeshive Yehuda Eber, Itche Masmid, Hatche Feigin and the kedoshim.
Does anyone understand what were the mechanics of escaping Russia in the mid-thirties? I didn’t know it was even possible, and I hear Zalman wasn’t one-off in this regard. According to the files, he left in 1934.
Why didn't Margolia mention that Boris was shot, even when writing about other family victims, and even though she mentioned that she herself lived in Chelyabinsk? In Soviet Union and Post Soviet Union, this information is considered a private family history because it throws a certain shadow on the survivors. In Stalin’s time, the family was in danger and often destroyed after an “enemy of the people” was murdered. So, it is considered up to the immediate relatives to reveal the information.
The database Открытый список is a catch-all list that in turn points to other sources of information, usually regional archives that actually have the paper files. Boris Markovich Schneerson’s page pointed to an archive in Chelyabinsk which stated that they have a photo related to the file. There are 919 files of the repressed Jews in the Chelyabinsk archive, shocking to read the names. Surprisingly, a very high number whose birthplace listed as Poland (Vilno etc., but also Lodz, Warsaw.) How did they all get to the Ural Mountains?
I called and emailed Chelyabinsk, initiating the search for the Schneerson file by pointing to the entry in their archive. A research expert in Moscow told me that they would only give the file to a family relative. But when I called Chelyabinsk, they said that after 75 years (since 1938) anyone can get the archive [allegedly, there is a difference between archives in Ukraine and Russia, in Ukraine they provide information to anyone, in Russia to family only]. In about a week, they wrote that they found the file with two photos. They emailed an elaborate (two signatures and a stamp on official stationery) invoice for scanning and copying documents for ₽5,646 (about $90) with their bank wiring instructions. The price is c commensurate to the size of the file. In this case, there are two extended volumes of neatly typed 104 and 42 pages, plus two (three) photos. They contain protocols of interrogations. They also wrote that if we don’t pay within three months, the request expires. The only issue, the fee is in rubles only. I asked my cousin (post-war moved to Tel Aviv from Moscow) to pay from his Russian bank account. He was concerned that the invoice is to my name. I asked him to pay anyway, with the reference to the invoice number. I called Chelyabinsk, they are two hours ahead of Moscow, so when morning on the eastern shores of the USA, they are already closed for the day on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains. But the next day they were able to confirm the payment and the scanning begun.
Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory AKA CTF
When Margolia wrote that Boris was Deputy Director of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory, she assumed she was speaking to people who understand what it means. Therefore, will have to describe the factory.
Ramash and his flunkies hated contemplative intellectuals and promoted “bulldozers”, aka “traktoristen” (see Reuven Dunin), so here is the real McCoy. Although, what do we know about the nature and personalty of this man? Nothing.
The entire revolution was about industrialization. CTF was one of the most important industrial projects of the young state (wiki page). To say that someone is a Deputy Director of the CTF is the equivalent of VP of Boeing. A Jew could truly have a meteoric carrier on merit, which wasn’t possible under the Tzar. CTF was the flagship of the Soviet industrial revolution.
Few pertinent quotes from the Russian article about CTF’s history: «Танкоград». Как рождалась кузница гусеничной техники СССР:
“The construction of the CTF in the 30s of the last century was one of the most significant events in the life of the country. The work on the construction of a giant plant designed for 40 thousand tractors was supervised by the Politburo of the Central Committee. Sergo Ordzhonikidze, People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, personally supervised the course of design and construction.”
“It was impossible to build a modern factory in the Soviet Union on its own, so the design bureau was based in Detroit on one of the floors of countless high-rises. In the book "Tankograd…” Lennart Samuelson writes that 40 Soviet and 14 American engineers and builders worked on the design of the enterprise in the USA... Kazimir Petrovich Lovin, the first director of Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, was among those who worked in the USA and Great Britain to study the experience of large factories…).”
“Among the tasks was the search for a suitable tractor model that could become the firstborn of the plant. However, the process was delayed: Caterpillar was pushing up the price for the licensed production, and all the drawings were in English with feet and inches. The Americans demanded $ 3.5 million for their plant project and, in addition, prohibited the USSR from exporting licensed tractors for 20 years.”
This should give you some idea about the Factory, I will now quote a paragraph where they write about the wave of terror that killed CTF’s Director Lovin and also swept Boris Schneerson.
“The coming tragic years of terror, unfortunately, did not pass by the organizers of the construction of the plant. The previously mentioned Kazimir Lovin was appointed head of the entire construction, who by 1929 had managed to establish himself as a talented manager, engineer, and builder. After the revolution, he built power supply facilities in Leningrad, and Moscow… After the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant was built, Lovin served as director until 1934, and then left for Moscow, where he eventually became the head of the Energy Ministry (even NYT wrote about him). It is said that in 1937 Stalin personally signed the execution list, which included Kazimir Lovin.”
Family Background
Boruch Sholem and Yaakov were the only two sons of Tzemach Tzedek who didn’t become a Rebbe (5 out of 7 did). Boruch Sholem’s son was a Rov in Poddobryanka לוי יצחק שניאורסון
Poddobryanka Rov had three sons and two daughters:
Avrohom Sender, father of Levi Yizhok. Daughter of this Levi Yitzhok Ben Avrohom was Margolia who wrote the memoirs.
Mendel is the Repker Rov, he had two sons and three daughters (see above).
Boruch Schneur Zalman, father of Levi Yizhok, grandfather of Ramash. Israeli poet Zelda was also his granddaughter (she was royalty on both sides, Chein and Schneerson).
Devorah Leah.Musia.1
Boruch Sholem/Boris was named after Tzemach Tzedek’s son, who was his and Ramash’s alter zeide.
See Sound No. 6 - Sholem Aleichem: The Eclipse of the Schneerson Family.
Update:
Acknowledgments:
Thank you, Chaya Schneerson Herzog, for family tips and selected photographs.
Thank you, Archive of Chelyabinsk, for the professional work preserving the memory.
Thank you, har grizim, for research, language nuances and proving once and for all that what’s written in חב"דפדיה is not always accurate.
In the comments: “Devora Leah” and “Musia” are actually *mistakes* based on Reshimos HaRabash saying “אחותי”. Really it’s a typo & should say “אחותו”, the Rebbe Rashab’s sisters.
Where does this list of the children of Podobryanka Rov come from?