Post No. 3 - The Startups of Boris Markovich Schneerson
Forgotten Alter Rebbe's Einiklach
On the subject of Post No. 1 - Boris Markovich Schneerson - Family of the Repker Rov - Introduction and Post No. 2 - Boris Markovich Schneerson - Arrest Form. A mystery how all these photos floated this year. About 84 years later.
The archive worker in Chelyabinsk was surprised about the size of the original photographs, these scans reflect it. I don’t remember seeing anything like this. It’s shocking, as if Boruch Sholem is real, observing inside, measuring the end of his life and thinking forward to you at this very moment. Emotional and shocking.
The woman from the archive was intrigued by this story. I said that this man has relatives, a brother that left. She said yes, I see it in the file.
If the photo is taken right after the arrest, it caps months of the anticipation. People knew what was going on around them. So, the photo taken after moths of mortal stress. The great Der Nister said this, upon opening the door to officers who came to arrest him: “I have been waiting for you for such a long time”.
There is a layered, sophisticated appearance to Boruch’s face, what they used to call in Russia, an “intelligent face”. The eyes betray the depth of this man. The ears, the shape of the face, there is the resemblance to his father, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Repker Rov. There is also the resemblance to someone we know…
CCCP - The Startup Nation
Russia after revolution was a true startup nation. There was a tremendous energy, everything was possible in art, architecture, industry, etc. And Jews were in the thick of it. You see these young people with incredible drive and talent like Moisey Borisovitch Schneerson. There was a high voltage energy of a startup, when everything seemed possible, especially for Jews who were no longer rationed geographically or institutionally. They were not craving the stock options but the imminent change of the unjust world. Talent and merit counted and rewarded. And it all ended badly when in the act of ruthless rage the entire startup class was culled by the jealous gangsters who had no gifts except manipulation and cruelty.
In one of the prison forms Boris writes that he was in a medical school for two years, in another that he studied law, medicine, and mathematics. I know there is a family folklore about avoidance of Gymnasia. Boruch Sholem took a different path. Boundless ambition, intelligence, idealism. He is the son who financially supports his father. He also paid the ultimate price for his ambition. But ambition is something that comes from the inside. You can’t talk yourself out of ambition. Boris joined Bund when he was 17. The entire generation swept in this big and tragic dream. Zalman was a very, very rare exception. How do you choose these things in life? You don’t, you are given them as a gift or as a curse. And the choice is not yours, even when you pretend it is.
How to Read Soviet Prison Files
There is a multipage interrogation dialogue, but it doesn’t mean that any of the words were actually spoken. Especially with the significant people, and Boris was one, there is a script, a tragic Shakespearean play. There are predetermined people who accuse the protagonist, the protagonist in turn accuses other people. The dialogue might never happen in reality and all is an imaginary play by some unfortunate writer. The goal is to snare a group of people into the murderous net. One thing is certain, there is a signature in the lower-right corner of each page, Schneerson in blue ink.
These confessions are obtained on an industrial scale of the Stalin’s purges. The signatures obtained by threats to the remaining family, beatings and often torture.
Case No. 179. Top-Right Corner: To Store Forever. Central Archive NKVD [don’t know how they moved it back to Chelyabinsk]. Case opened: Oct., 17th, 1937. Case closed Nov. 27, 1937. 1962 (probably rehabilitation). Accused Schneerson Boris Markovich. Volume 1, 253 pages. [I wonder if we didn’t get all the pages, we got 104 of 253 Volume 1 and 42 of 215 Volume 2. I will find out.]
Nesterovsky, Israel Yakovlevich
The case was brought against two people, Nesterovsky and Schneerson. Nesterovsky was a Director of Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory and Boris was his Deputy.
Нестеровский Израиль Яковлевич Nesterovsky Israel Yakovlevich:
Date of birth, February 8, 1898 (three years older than Boris).
Place of birth, Kherson, Russian Empire.
Worked from the age of 9 (in a store, pharmacy).
Graduated from a trade school.
1912-1928, mechanic, marker, master, head of production workshops at the factories of Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa.
1925, graduated as a mechanical engineer.
1925-1931, Chief engineer of the plants named after “Khvorostin” and “10th anniversary of October” in Odessa.
1931, Chief mechanic of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Construction Trust.
According to another version, at that time he worked in Kharkov:
In January 1931, he was transferred to Kharkov, first as a chief mechanic of the Traktorostroy trust, then as a chief engineer of a tractor plant. For his participation in the construction of the Kharkov Tractor Plant in 1932-33, he was awarded a Diploma of the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, a gold watch and a passenger car [Boris worked with Nesterovsky in the Tractor plant in Kharkov and they both went up to the bigger plant in Chelyabinsk].
1934-1936 — chief engineer, 1936-1938 — director of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant.
1937, under his leadership, CTF mastered the industrial production of the S-65 diesel tractor.
Contributed to the construction and development of the CTF, the solution of the most important economic problem — the mass production of tractor diesels (for the first time in the world). In the middle of 1937, the first diesel tractors S-65 came off the main conveyor of the plant, a year later they were awarded the highest award "Grand Prix" at the World Exhibition in Paris [needs confirmation].
July 3, 1938, he was arrested.
Date of death, August 29, 1938, Place of death, Moscow, USSR [Boris was killed a month later on Sept. 20th. It looks like both significant managers brought to Moscow from Chelyabinsk to be interrogated and killed].
From the case file: “Nesterovsky Israel Yakovlevich- Born in 1898 in Kherson, Jewish, Citizen of the CCCP, comes from laborers, no a member of the party, College technical education, 1925 graduated from Odessa Industrial Institute with a degree in heating and plumbing engineering. In 1931 was in Germany in connection with design and ordering equipment for the Kharkov Tractor Factory. In 1935 was in the USA in connection with ordering equipment for CTF. Married, no criminal record, Currently Director of the CTF. Home Address.”
It looks like Israel Nesterovsky was a genius engineer of the Startups they both built in Kharkov and Chelyabinsk and Boris Schneerson was a trusted adviser, organizational CEO type manager of the accused pair.
This man left a son Нестеровский, Яков Израилевич Nesterovsky, Yakov Izrailevich who was an influential doctor and a war hero. He was Chief of Pulmonology for the entire Chelyabinsk region, where various lung ailments are a severe issue because of all the pollution from the factories There is also Chelyabinsk Forge-and-Press Plant, built after the war in addition to the CTF. It says that he was orphaned from BOTH of his parents after the purges. So, if Boris’ wife survived, he/she is lucky.
The case of Nesterovsky and Schnnerson was a buildup to get the following man who knew them both for years, not that they needed any buildup:
Bruskin, Alexander Davidovich
In the interrogations there are extensive question about Брускин, Александр Давидович. He was next on the dock to get martyred. Another Jew from Kherson who was a Minister of the Automobile Industry in the CCCP. In the biography it’s written that his family came to Ukraine from Belarus. Engineer educated in Kharkov and Germany. Took the lead in purchases of the equipment from abroad and USA. Before he was promoted to the Minister in Moscow he was himself Director of the CTF in 1934-1936. Then Israel (and Boris) succeeded him in this post. Bruskin was executed in 1939 on orders from Beriya, a year after Boris and Israel. Bruskin is buried in the infamous Grave No. 1 in Donskoye Cemetery (at least three Schneersons there). Still don’t know yet where Boris was buried.
The Criminal Charges
At the beginning of the file, there are several pages of testimony from workers at the CTF with detailed technical descriptions of the sabotage inside the factory. Nesterovsky is accused of having a brother aboard like Boris, etc. Both Boris and Israel are accused of deliberate anti-Soviet, “anti-revolutionary” organizing and activities inside and outside the CTF (Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory). Accusation of destruction of the foreign equipment. Complaints about intentional unsafe conditions for workers. And then the charge:
“Active member of the counter revolutionary Trotskyst terrorist organization. Involved in spying and sabotage inside Chelyabinsk Tractor factory.”
Signed by the so-called judges Fedorov and Luganzev and B. Schneerson. 20th of February 1938 (four days after the arrest).
The First Interrogation
May 7th, 1938
Q: Who are your parents? My Father was a Rabbi. Now I am supporting him financially. Q: Do you have relatives living abroad? I don't know. Q: This is not accurate, we insist on honest answers. I had a brother Zalman Mendelevitch 35 yo, he went abroad, I know nothing about him. Q: Where did your brother live before he left? He was a Rabbi in Poltava. Q: When did he leave abroad? I do not know. Q: This is not correct, you know exactly the date when your brother left. Please tell the truth. I know from my father that brother Zalman left in 1934 and now in Palestine. Don't know more. Q: Why did you make inaccurate statements about your brother Zalman? It was unpleasant for me to mention him because he is not a Soviet citizen. I do not share any views with him, and it is unpleasant to talk about it. Q: From what time have you been a member of the communist party? From April 1920. Q: Have you been a member of other parties? Yes, from 1908 until 1920 with interruptions I was a member of BUND. Q: When did you join BUND? In Chernigov when I was 17. My line of work in BUND was against Jewish religious clerics. This was within the framework of the Jewish bourgeoisie community that was supported by the Tzarist government. Leader of Bund in Chernigov was the language teacher Klebanov. At the time in Chernigov BUND advocated struggle inside the Jewish community. I was in BUND until 1911 and joined again in 1917 when I was at the Medical School in Yuryevo. [Russians called this town Yuryevo, Germans Dorpat and Estonians Tartu. Now University of Tartu in Estonia. A significant and old school, founded by Swedes and developed by Baltic Germans. Tartu and the university have Jewish history.] Q: What was your activity in BUND at that time? I only attended student meetings. Q: How long have you been in Yuryevo? Until 1918, then I moved back to Chernigov where I gave private lessons [Estonia became independent in 1918 and there was a nationalist push to change the language of instruction in the university to Estonian. The departure back to Chernigov had probably something to do with those political events. Boris was 27]. Q: Did you have connection to BUND in Chernigov? We are aware that you were an active member of BUND at that time. Do you admit this? Yes, I was a member of the committee, I gave lectures during meetings. Q: Please name members of BUND in Chernigov. I remember these names: Belenky Alter - office worker, Beilinson Naum - office worker, Blyacher - laborer, Zaretzky -office worker, Kolymbizky- musician, Gurevitch Elena- teacher, Kleyner Mark - pharmacist, Yerulsalimsky - teacher, Neches - Musician, Tambitzky, Sperlin, Obruchensky - store owners, Yodaz?- laborer. The leaders were Belenky and Neches. Q: Did you have contacts with the members of BUND recently? After I left Chernigov I had no contact with members of BUND. I want to emphasize that I was one of the first to leave BUND and Joint Communist party, from that time I did not change my political views. Q: This is not true, we have extensive information about your activity in counter revolutionary Trozkyst organization, we invite you to describe it. I was never part of any counter revolutionary organization. Q: No correct. Here is the testimony of the arrested deputy manager of the ? Department Oreyman from November 3, 1937, he said: these were the members of Trotzkyst organization at CTF, ... Schneerson". Are you going to deny this? I deny this categorically. I was never a member of the Trotzkyst organization, Oreyman is "framing" me. Q: You are accused in the membership in the Trotzkyst organization at the CTF by the following people: Ryzhkin, Shlyapikov, Shuster, Gurevitch, Vyarov? and others. Impossible for the prosecution to have these testimonies against me. Q: We offer you their testimonies. Now you understand that the investigation has in its possession undeniable testimonies about your counter revolutionary activity. Now that I have confirmed that the investigation has enough evidence against me, I feel futile to continue to deny it. I admit my guilt completely. That I was a member of the Trozkyst organization at the CTF. And as a member of the organization I was actively trying to undermine the Soviet State. Q: Your statement that you were only a member of the Trozkyst organization at the CTF is incorrect. We have enough information about your activity before CTF. True, I was recruited to the Trozkyst organization in Kharkov. Several days before I was appointed as a Deputy Director at the CTF. Q: Please tell us about your counter revolutionary activity in Kharkov. What follows in the interrogation record and what is written above is not something Boris said or wrote [in my opinion]. See below. They just made him sign this.
The form that he signed on the day after his arrest is dated 17th of February 1938.
He already mentions his father, brother there. This interrogation is four months later! It bolsters my assumption that this is an elaborate, scripted play/fiction that he was forced to sign. Still quite interesting to understand NKVD way of thinking. As interrogator keeps telling him, we know better than you. Looks like they don’t know about Frida being abroad, or they would for sure mention it. Yehudis is not mentioned anywhere, the best way to live in the CCCP is when they think you don’t exist.
There will be an additional one or two posts about Boruch Sholem Schneerson. Please subscribe, and please try a paid subscription today.
Thank you for sharing these important moments otherwise lost to history