Shmuel Schneurson was a leader of the underground Zionist movement

Hechalutz HeHalutz or HeChalutz ( he, הֶחָלוּץ, lit. "The Pioneer") was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. It became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth moveme ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

from 1922 to 1928. Though he had the option of remaining in British Palestine during his 1927 visit, he chose to return to the USSR to organize underground Zionist activities. He was arrested in February 1928 and sentenced to a correction camp in the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, followed by a three-year sentence in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. In 1934, he was released and returned to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. After applying for an exit permit to return to Palestine, he was promptly rearrested and sentenced. His final whereabouts remain unknown. In 1946, his former landlady received a letter informing her of his death. Schneurson is a descendant of Rabbi

Shneur Zalman of Liadi Shneur Zalman of Liadi ( he, שניאור זלמן מליאדי, September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 – 24 Tevet 5573) was an influential Lithuanian Jewish rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of ...

, the founder of

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...

hasidism. He is among a number of descendants of the great rabbi, who participated in underground Zionist activities. Colleagues of Schneurson who shared his ancestry within the movement included sisters Miriam and Leah Lein. The former made aliyah in 1923, and the latter was arrested and disappeared in 1927. There were also the brothers Tuviah and Solomon Margolin, who also came from a Lubavitcher background. They were sentenced to lengthy prison terms and died in the late 1940s. Their mother, also a committed Zionist, was released in 1951, and unsuccessfully attempted to apply for aliyah. She was buried in 1953, "in accordance with Jewish custom."

Sources

Teller, Judd L. "The Kremlin, the Jews, and the Middle East" Pages 55–57. Publisher Thomas Yoseloff, 1957 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneurson, Shmuel Soviet dissidents Russian Orthodox Jews Russian people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Soviet detention Schneersohn family 20th-century Russian people Year of birth missing Year of death missing