Post No. 2 - Boris Markovich Schneerson - Arrest Form
Forgotten Alter Rebbe's Einiklach
On the subject of Post No. 1 - Boris Markovich Schneerson - Family of the Repker Rov - Introduction.
This is a form one fills out upon arrest, it is similar to previously published but with a little different nusach about the family. It was written by a clerk, probably from dictation by Boris. The same bloody 22 appears in the upper-right corner of many documents in the file. Even on his photo. Case No. 170.
Name: Schneerson
Boris Markovitch.
Birthday: December 2, 1891
Place of birth: Gomel, Belarus CCP.
Address: Chelyabinsk, Kirova St., House 44, Apartment 52
Occupation: “Office Manager”
Title: Deputy Director, Stalin Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory
Passport number
Social background: Son of a Rabbi1
Social Status: Office Worker
Education: Gymnasia in Gomel up to 8th grade., 2 years in Medical School of Yuryevskogo? Institute.
Before Revolution: Learning, Gave Lessons [Tutor]
After Revolution: Worked in different organizations
Party: BUND 1908-1920, Communist party from April 1920
Nationality: Jewish citizen of the CCCP
Military service: exempt because of illness
Have you been a member of anti-soviet bands, armies, rebellions: No
Have you been “repressed”: no
Family: Wife: Sofia Moiseyevna 50, Rosa, 17 - 10th grade, Son Yaakov 14 - 7th grade, nephew Zhdanova Galina ? 22, Father Schnnerson Mendel Leybovitch 80, in Chernigov, supported by me financially, Schnnerson Evgenia 27 Doctor in Dnepropetrovsk, Zalman 35 in Palestine since 1934, ?, Aunt
KhayaKhayuchin?InessaGnessa? Samoilovna 83 in Moscow? Supported by her children [if this is Levik’s wife and Margolia’s mother, how could she be 83, and why Moscow? mixup] ?, [Again no Freyda or Judith.]
Appearance: Average height, Overweight, Face with ? wrinkles, very near-sighted [he looks impressive, whatever they wrote here].
Arrested on 16th of February 1938.
Prison No. 1, NKVD [I think he was actually in prison and shot in Moscow from reading elsewhere in the file, need to read carefully]
Signed by the clerk who filled the form: 17th of February 1938
Someone underlined with a blue pencil line 9 “Son of a Rabbi” and line 12 “Member of BUND” and that he has a “brother in Palestine”.
“17…. Aunt Khayuchin? Gnessa? Samoilovna 83 in Moscow? Supported by her children [if this is Levik’s wife and Margolia’s mother, how could she be 83, and why Moscow? mixup]”
I don’t know how much trust to put into the details of such arrest forms. Maybe you can enlighten me.
That said, Levik’s wife/Margolia’s mother *was* Khaya Samoilovna, according to Geni & a headstone (in Chelyabinsk), here: https://toldot.com/images/cemetery/chelyabinsk/IMG_3066.JPG
While the name is similar, the age isn’t compatible. Khaya was born in 1895 (so 43 in 1938), while “Khayuchin Gnessa” is 83.
The place, Moscow, also doesn’t make sense, as Levik’s family lived in Chernigov.
Also, Khaya couldn’t have been “supported by her children”, as: a. her husband Levik was alive & well (at that point), and b. Margolia & her brother Avrohom were still young.
Finally, why would he call his first cousin’s wife his “aunt”?
It’s more likely that this “Khayuchin Gnessa Samoilovna” was actually his aunt, wife of R Avrohom (b. R LY of Podobranka & brother of R MM of Repke). She has yet to be identified on Geni, and I’ve never seen her name mentioned.
But calling her “aunt” makes sense. Her age, 83, fits. The place, Moscow, isn’t contradictory to other info (… because we have none).
And it makes sense that she was “supported by her children”, as Margolia wrote that her grandfather R Avrohom (Khayuchin’s husband) passed away young. It was because of that early death that Margolia’s father, Levik, was “raised in the Cheder.”
Also, while Geni lists no other children for R Avrohom besides Levik, Margolia does briefly mention an uncle who was taken away to exile, and who died on the road. So “children”, pl. makes sense as well.
(While this is the only aunt on Boris’ side who this can possibly refer to, it can also be an aunt of his wife, Sofia)
“Birthday: December 2, 1891”
Would this be December 2 on the Julian or Gregorian calendar? If the former, his birthday is 12 Kislev 5652, and if the latter, it’s 1 Kislev 5652 (unless born after sunset, in which case it’s 13/2 Kislev).