Memorial unveiled at Kyiv prison where Lubavitcher Rebbe's father was imprisoned

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson was incarcerated 86 years ago under the Soviet regime because of his unwavering commitment to Judaism

A memorial plaque was unveiled on Monday 3 August at the Kyiv Lukyanivka detention centre in Ukraine, in tribute to the seventh Lubavitcher Rabbi’s father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, who was imprisoned there 86 years ago by the Soviet regime.

The historic tribute marking his yahrzeit was made possible through the efforts of Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, who also serves as Chief Rabbi of Ukraine’s prison service.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. Photo Credit: Kehot Publication Society

Working together with his son, Rabbi Ariel Markovitch, a Chabad shliach [representative] in Kyiv who oversees Jewish activities throughout Ukraine’s prison system, the two spent many months coordinating with prison authorities to ensure that the site where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak (April 21, 1878 – August 9, 1944) suffered for his faith would receive permanent recognition.

The dedication took place exactly 86 years after the Kabbalist and halachic scholar was arrested by Soviet secret police and imprisoned because he had continued to serve as a rabbi in the face of relentless Communist persecution.

He spent a year undergoing interrogation before a trial in Moscow sent him to exile in Kazakhstan, serving around four years of a five year sentence before his premature death from failing health on August 9, 1944.

The dedication ceremony was attended by the commander of the detention centre and his deputy, who, according to reports from Kyiv’s Jewish community centre, “expressed deep regret over incarceration, acknowledging that he had been imprisoned despite having committed no crime other than being a Jewish rabbi and spiritual leader.”

The imprisonment was described as “a painful chapter in history that deserved to be remembered and preserved for future generations.”

In addition, the prison library received a copy of Nitzotzei Levi Yitzchak, a five-volume work based on the Torah teachings of the rabbi, where it will remain available for the benefit of, and use by Jewish inmates.

Speaking at the ceremony, Rabbi Markovitch said: “There is profound significance in the fact that specifically on the yahrzeit of Harav Levi Yitzchak we have merited to establish a memorial at the very place where his freedom was taken from him simply because he was a Rav spreading Yiddishkeit.”

He added that the event “represents a historic rectification and an emotional closing of the circle. At the very place where the Soviet regime sought to silence the voice of Judaism, there now stands a permanent memorial telling the story of the courage, sacrifice, and unwavering mesirus nefesh [self sacrifice] of Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson zt”l, the father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”