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Irkutsk Community Remembers Jews Murdered by Soviet Regime

Amid a heavy snowstorm, members of the Jewish community of Irkutsk gathered at the Pivovarikha forest memorial site outside the city for a day of prayer. Participants recited Tehillim and said Kaddish with a full minyan at the Kvarim of local Jews murdered during the years of Soviet persecution, including the shul’s Shamash who was executed in 1938 • Read More, Photos

The fierce Siberian winds sweeping through the dense trees of Pivovarikha forest outside Irkutsk could not deter members of the local Jewish community from gathering this week to honor the memory of the Kedoshim who were murdered during the years of Soviet repression in the late 1930s.

Despite a severe snowstorm that blanketed the ground in snow and freezing temperatures, community members made their way to the national memorial site deep in the forest, determined to fulfill their moral and Jewish responsibility to remember those who lost their lives for remaining faithful to Yiddishkeit or as a result of false accusations by the Communist regime.

The turnout was especially moving given the harsh weather conditions, with enough men attending to form a full minyan for prayer and the recitation of Kaddish.

This gathering marked the 20th consecutive year of a deeply rooted community tradition. Each year, members of the Jewish community travel to the forest, a site of mass executions, to remember the Jews who met their tragic deaths there under the Communist regime.

For the occasion, Irkutsk Chief Rabbi Aharon Hakohen Wagner, who was unable to enter the area of the mass graves due to the restrictions of his status as a Kohen, sent a special message of encouragement and inspiration to the participants. His remarks were delivered to the group before they departed from the city’s central shul. Rabbi Wagner spoke about the deeper meaning of Jewish remembrance, recalling the well-known teaching that a person lives on as long as they are remembered in the hearts of others.

Rabbi Wagner emphasized that the true victory over those who sought to uproot Jewish life in Siberia is that, from the very pain and suffering, a vibrant Jewish community has emerged. Every tefillah, Torah study session and mitzvah performed today in Irkutsk, he said, brings tremendous nachas to the neshamas of the Kedoshim.

During their visit, participants walked along the snow-covered paths of the forest and stopped to pray at several central points throughout the memorial grounds. They began at the memorial stone near the entrance, continued to the main Jewish monument, and stood in solemn reflection beside the granite monument bearing the name of Rabbi Yitzchak Brodetsky, HY”D.

Although officially serving as the Shamash of Irkutsk’s old shul, Rabbi Brodetsky was a remarkable Torah scholar who maintained deep Torah correspondence with leading Gedolei Yisroel, foremost among them the Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rosen.

In addition to his Torah scholarship, Rabbi Brodetsky shouldered major communal responsibilities, arranging and transferring vital donations to the renowned Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah and the Mir Yeshivah. The Soviet authorities arrested him, and he was executed at the site in 1938.

A particularly moving moment came when community member Yelena Ivanova approached the memorial plaque bearing the name of her grandfather, Rabbi Z.D. Teper, HY”D, born in 1891. He had worked as a cutter in a shoe-manufacturing cooperative before being arrested on the false accusation that he was a Polish spy. He was executed in Pivovarikha forest in Tishrei 5699 (October 1938).

Beside the snow-covered monuments, participants lit memorial candles, their warm light illuminating the darkness of the forest. They placed wreaths and recited Tehillim לעילוי נשמת the victims.

The continuation of this annual tradition for two decades, in a remote forest and through the challenging Siberian winters, is the result of the community leadership’s ongoing efforts under the guidance of Rabbi Wagner. They work tirelessly to connect the younger generation with its historical roots.

Through this dedication, a place that once symbolized fear, silencing and the erasure of Jewish identity has become a site where Jews stand proudly, pray to Hashem and affirm the eternal strength of the Jewish people.

Following the recitation of Kel Malei Rachamim and Kaddish, whose words echoed through the forest, participants made their way back to the central shul in Irkutsk, carrying with them a deep sense of responsibility and purpose.

Members of the community undertook to increase their Torah study, tefillah and good deeds לעילוי נשמות the victims, reaffirming their commitment to pass the torch of Jewish memory and heritage to future generations.

Photos: Irkutsk Jewish Community Spokesman