“Unlikely Allies: The Shocking Nazi Mission to Rescue a Jewish Leader that Shook History”
Schneerson’s activism only increased following the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Jewish community found itself in opposition to the official Bolshevik policy of State Atheism. This policy, which sought the eradication of all religion across the Soviet Union and the world, was overseen by a special branch of the Communist Party known as the Yevsektzia. Throughout the 1920s, Schneerson established a network of underground yeshivot or traditional religious schools across Russia in order to preserve Jewish culture. Then, upon the death of his father on March 21, 1920, he assumed the title of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe.
In 1924, the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police, forced Schneerson to leave Rostov-on-Don and relocate to Leningrad – today Saint Petersburg. There he continued his underground activities, dispatching Chabad representatives and founding seminaries across the Soviet Union to strengthen Jewish communities. But on March 21, 1927, as Schneerson was observing the yahrzeit or anniversary of his father’s death, three Cheka agents burst into his synagogue to arrest him. According to legend, Schneerson responded to the armed men by saying:
“This little toy [your gun] has made many a man change his mind. That little toy can intimidate only the kind of man who has many gods-passions, and but one world-this world. Because I have only one God and two worlds, I am not impressed by your little toy.”
Schneerson was imprisoned in Leningrad’s infamous Shpalerna Prison, and following a show trial was convicted of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to death. Thankfully, following protests from Western governments and the International Red Cross, his sentence was commuted to three years’ exile to the city of Kostroma and then banishment to Riga in Latvia. There he established another Talmudic seminary and organized the state-controlled factory production of Matzah or unleavened bread for the celebration of Passover. Today, Rebbe Schneerson’s release from Soviet prison is celebrated annually by the Chabad-Lubavitch community
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