On August 16, 1939 – a day after Rabbi Gavriel Kagan was harshly questioned about pictures found in his home of the fifth and sixth Lubavitcher Rebbes – he was interrogated again:
“We have information you once lived in the city of Vitebsk and the town of Nevel,” the interrogator said. “Testify about your stay in those places and your activities there.”
Vitebsk was the largest city in northeastern Belarus, a predominantly Chabad region. Nevel, a town not far from there, was inhabited exclusively by Chabad chassidim and was the site of Chabad underground yeshivos until the late 1920s when the NKVD learned about them. The senior yeshiva subsequently moved to Vitebsk where it remained briefly.
“I lived in Vitebsk for about a year,” responded Kagan. “I was in Nevel for several weeks. I left for Vitebsk in 1928, and was engaged in trade.”
“We have information making it clear that, while in Vitebsk and Nevel, you actively participated in the activities and life of religious people and the illegal yeshivos schools,” the interrogator charged.
“I took no part in the Jewish yeshiva spiritual schools,” Kagan declared. “I don’t deny I knew of a yeshiva’s presence in Vitebsk, but was not involved in it.”
“You’re not telling the truth! The investigation has established your involvement in the yeshiva’s activities. I suggest you give truthful testimony on this.”
“I want to tell the truth about my involvement in the Vitebsk yeshiva,” said Kagan. “In 1929, it was difficult to obtain sufficient amounts of bread. For the yeshiva students, about four kilo of bread was needed every week. Together with my sister, Nechama Purishinskaya, who lived in Vitebsk, I obtained flour from various people, baked bread, and delivered it to the yeshiva. Zalman Kurnitzer [the yeshiva’s dean] paid me money for the bread.”
The interrogation of Reb Leivik Schneerson, another of the four arrested in Chernigov in early March 1939, started at midnight on March 8. After he gave his personal information, he was asked for his biographical details.
He responded, “I was born in Podobryanka, Belarus, where my father was the son of the Rabbi [Reb Levi Yitzchak, son of Rabbi Boruch Sholom, the eldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek, 1789-1866], who was a hereditary honored citizen [of Russia, a title the czar had awarded the Tzemach Tzedek and his male direct descendants, for his public service].
“[My grandfather, Reb Levi Yitzchok] died at an early age [of 44, in 1878]. At age 9, I was enrolled in cheder school, where I was educated until age 15, until about 1905-1906. Then I got a job as a procurer until 1912. From 1912 to 1913 I worked as a melamed, then again as a procurer from 1913 to 1920.
“From 1920 to the end of 1922, I worked in Soviet government employment. From 1922 until 1927, I was ill and on disability. In 1927, I studied in Nevel under a religious slaughterer, and after graduating from these studies, received the title of religious slaughterer and pursued this profession.”
He stated that although shochtim, as “ministers of a religious cult” (together with all other religious functionaries, such as rabbanim), were legally deprived of their rights as citizens, including their right to vote, he “managed to get rid of this repression of Soviet power by concealing [his] work as a religious minister.”
He continued: “From 1932 to 1934, I worked as a watchman in Soviet government employment. From 1934 until the day of my arrest, I worked at a poultry slaughterhouse as a shochet.”
(To be continued)