In February 1957, Captain Bashtovoy, who held the position of senior operational officer of the 2nd division of the 4th department of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR for the Kyiv region, initiated the arrest of one of the local residents.
The person arrested by the state security organs was Boris Natanovich Weisman – a seventy-year-old pensioner who lived in the heart of Kyiv, on Pushkinskaya Street. The investigation claimed that the arrested Jew Weisman was the author of handwritten works that the authorities deemed anti-Soviet and nationalistic in nature. Moreover, these documents were stored not at the author's home, but in the apartment of another Kyiv resident – Benjamin Leibenzon, who was preparing to leave for Israel at that time.Another offense attributed to Weisman was his reading of Zionist newspapers that he had received from Israel.
These accusations were not unfounded. Baruch Weisman was indeed a convinced Zionist and an underground Hebrew writer. Despite prohibitions and the risk of arrest, he not only created his texts in Kyiv in the 1950s but also managed to anonymously publish his works in Israel.
Baruch Weisman was born on August 10, 1887, in the town of Slovechno in Ovruch district. His parents – father, Natan Iosifovich, and mother, Basya Itskovna – died violent deaths. His mother died in 1919, during Petliura's pogroms, and his father during the Nazi occupation, in Babi Yar. Baruch had two brothers: Itsko, who lived in Ovruch at the time of the arrest, and Iosif – in Kyiv.
Before the revolution, the Weisman family, like many Jewish families of that time, lived modestly. Natan (Nuto) Weisman rented land, grew vegetables, watermelons, and tobacco, and took seasonal work. In spring, he traditionally hired himself out for baking matzah, considering it a religious duty.
In childhood, Baruch Weisman received an education typical for a Jewish boy: first there was a heder, and at 13 he became a yeshiva student. His father hoped that his son would become a rabbi, but things turned out differently – as a teenager, Baruch became fascinated with secular literature in Hebrew, especially Bialik's poems and Ahad Ha'am's articles.
Having left the yeshiva, he tried to study in a big city, but without money and a profession, he had to return home.
Although his father grieved that his son had not lived up to his hopes, he decided to fix the situation with a "shidduch" – perhaps Baruch would settle down after marriage. Weisman's chosen one was a local girl, Pesya Markovna Vizelman – the young people had liked each other for a long time. In 1907, the couple had a daughter, Sarra, and in 1914, a son, Veniamin. To support his family, Baruch Weisman began teaching Hebrew. From 1909 to 1913, he gave private lessons to Jewish children in Bessarabia, and from 1913 to 1917, he worked in a state-run Jewish school in the town of Tarutino.
By the October Revolution, Weisman was already a well-known teacher. From Tarutino in 1917, he moved to the town of Talnoe in the Uman region, where he taught at a Jewish elementary school. Having gained a reputation as a first-class educator and Hebrew expert, he became close with many famous Jewish writers. One of his good acquaintances was the classic of new Hebrew literature, Haim Nahman Bialik, whose poems Baruch had avidly read in his youth. The new ideas – democracy, class struggle, communism – did not particularly fascinate Baruch Weisman at that time. He was more interested in the idea of Jews returning to Palestine and modern Hebrew literature. In 1919, he finally decided to flee with a group of Jews through Romania to Palestine, but at the last moment stayed behind because of his wife and children.
From 1923 to 1930, Baruch Weisman taught Jewish language and literature in Cherkassy, after which he moved with his family to Kyiv. Here, surprisingly, he transformed into a convinced supporter of Soviet cultural policy, which, although persecuting Hebrew, did quite a lot for the development of Yiddish culture. Considered one of the best teachers of Jewish literature in the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, Weisman was even invited to a Moscow seminar on educational issues, where Nadezhda Krupskaya spoke. He was very proud of this at the time.
Not limiting himself to teaching, Baruch Weisman actively engaged in journalism. From 1930 to 1935, he worked as a proofreader and literary contributor for the newspaper "Proletarische Fon," while simultaneously collaborating with publications "Der Stern" and "Der Emes."
Notably, his publications devoted significant attention to criticizing Judaism and Jewish religious figures. The entire old Jewish culture seemed to him obsolete, reactionary, and an obstacle to building a new Enlightenment in the authentic people's language – Yiddish.
From January 1935 to autumn 1937, responding to the authorities' call, Weisman lived in Birobidzhan, where he worked as a translator and literary contributor for the newspaper "Birobidzhan Stern," and also taught Jewish language at the railway technical school.
However, the Jewish Autonomous Region disappointed him: it was completely unprepared for receiving people – harsh conditions, no work, and the much-advertised future of Birobidzhan was merely a settlement without basic infrastructure. Hopes for the flourishing of Jewish culture in these regions were illusory. After two years, the Weisman family returned to Kyiv. The official reason was due to the health condition of Pesya Markovna, for whom the Far Eastern climate was categorically unsuitable.
In Kyiv, from 1937 to June 1941, Weisman worked as a proofreader for the newspaper "Der Stern." When the war began, no one took care of evacuating the only Jewish newspaper and its staff. The Weisman family managed with great difficulty to evacuate to the Volga, and then to Siberia, where Baruch, albeit with the status of a civilian employee, experienced the harsh reality of Soviet labor camps.
Baruch Weisman’s tragic story mirrored the fate of many Jewish intellectuals of that era. For many years, despite his sincere support for Soviet power, he was under close surveillance by state security agencies as a Zionist. Intelligence reports recorded his statements, meetings, and connections with other representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia. In the eyes of the authorities, his main "crime" was his unwavering love for Jewish culture and language, which could not be shaken by years of work in Soviet publications or loyalty to the regime.
Even when Weisman worked in the Soviet Jewish press, intelligence reports already portrayed him as a "Jewish bourgeois nationalist." He drew special attention from the authorities after returning from Birobidzhan. In a seemingly simple phrase, carefully recorded by an informant: "They sent me, they recalled me. I serve my people," investigators saw a hidden subtext. For them, the words "my people" meant not the Soviet people, but the Jewish people, and this alone was considered a manifestation of nationalism.
After the liberation of Kyiv, Baruch Weisman returned home and found work at the Cabinet of Jewish Culture at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In the early post-war years, this institution remained one of the few centers of secular Jewish scholarship in the Soviet Union.
In the late 1940s, a profound spiritual turning point occurred in Baruch Weisman's life. After the creation of the State of Israel, against the backdrop of growing state antisemitism in the USSR, he returned to the religion of his ancestors. This step was the culmination of a lengthy process of reconsidering his path, which had begun during the Great Terror of 1937-1938. The extermination of Jewish intelligentsia during the Great Terror, the destruction of Jewish religious life, and generally, the constant crimes committed by the Bolshevik party returned Weisman to the fold of his people.
His return to Judaism was not a sudden decision. The events of World War II, the Holocaust, and then the post-war persecution of Jewish culture forced him to reassess his former views. A former atheist who had criticized religion in the Soviet press, he now found comfort and support in the faith of his fathers. And this internal transformation of Weisman did not escape the attention of state security agencies.
In May 1948, reporting to Moscow about the reaction of the Jewish population to events in Palestine, the Minister of State Security of the Ukrainian SSR Savchenko noted that Weisman, coming to the editorial office of the newspaper "Molod Ukrainy," stated: "I would immediately go to Israel. I would give up my party card and say that there is also a Communist party in Palestine, I would be useful there too." This phrase, recorded by a vigilant informant, vividly characterizes not only Weisman's personality but also the mood of many Soviet Jews of that time. His words reveal both a sincere impulse toward the newly created Jewish state and an attempt to find a compromise between Zionist feelings and communist beliefs. Such statements were carefully collected by state security agencies, forming dossiers on "unreliable elements," and later used as evidence of their "bourgeois nationalism."
By February 1953, the clouds had completely gathered over the Jewish journalist: the 5th Department of the UMGB of the Kyiv region opened a case against a group of "Jewish bourgeois nationalists." In addition to Weisman, the list of those involved in case No. 21 under the code name "Writers" included his former colleagues from the newspaper "Der Stern": Froim Khorovetser and Pinkhus Volfman.
According to MGB agent Emes, these people maintained connections "on the basis of nationalist convictions" and criticized Soviet authority during their meetings. Another agent – Kant (writer Hirsh Bloshtein) – reported that Weisman regularly sent anonymous letters to Soviet newspapers criticizing the regime. In September 1953, the same source reported that Weisman had written an anti-Soviet "chronicle" in Hebrew about Jews in the USSR, intending to send it to Israel for publication. Later, however, Kant reported that Baruch Weisman never sent the "chronicle": he destroyed it at his family's insistence.
The denouement came on February 23, 1957: Baruch Weisman was arrested. His co-conspirators were his comrades from the Zionist underground, Kyiv residents Meir Draznin, Isaac Friedman, and Gersh Remennik. During the interrogation on February 26, 1957, Baruch Weisman took a principled position – he categorically refused to give any testimony about himself or his acquaintances. When investigator Kuderenko from the 4th Department of the UKGB tried to find out the reasons for such a refusal, Weisman stated that he would not give any explanations for his decision.
However, the authorities were already well informed about all his "transgressions" against Soviet power. Exhausting interrogations began, during which the Chekists had to extract bit by bit confirmation of the information they already knew.
A few days before his arrest, during a search of his apartment, MGB officers discovered a remarkable collection of Jewish literature. Among the seized publications were: the philosophical work "Wisdom" by the medieval thinker Alharizi, a poetry collection by Haim-Nahman Bialik, and a philosophical treatise by Nahman Krochmal. In addition, they found a copy of the newspaper "Folks Shtime" ("Voice of the People"), published in post-war Poland and reporting on the life of the local Jewish community.
The literature found at Weisman's could hardly be called seditious. He was prepared for arrest and kept nothing dangerous at home. However, compromising evidence against Weisman – two handwritten documents in Hebrew – was found at his friend Bentsion Leibenzon's home, who was preparing to leave for Israel. The first was his "Testament Letter," addressed to Sarah, Weisman's daughter. Why did he address only his daughter? Baruch Weisman had long ceased to maintain any relationship with his son, Benjamin. Benjamin had gone down a criminal path from an early age, associating with criminals. A well-known thief and fraudster in criminal circles, Benjamin had been convicted ten (!) times, and had repeatedly escaped from places of imprisonment. At the time of his father's arrest, he was serving another sentence in Molotovsk.
The commission was given specific tasks: to determine the ideological orientation of the Israeli press confiscated from the case subjects, to identify its class essence and, most importantly, to detect signs of "anti-Soviet and bourgeois-nationalist statements" in publications and Weisman's manuscripts. If such were found, the experts were to describe each case in detail.
In his "Testament Letter," Weisman foresaw the inevitable separation from Sarra: "When this letter is in your hands, we will already be separated..." He sensed the approaching arrest and hurried to explain himself to his daughter. The text intertwines personal pain and reflections on the fate of the Jewish people.
Weisman openly admits: "With every fiber of my soul I love my people and ache for them." He speaks of pride in the Jewish contribution to world culture, rejecting accusations that they are disliked for some shortcomings. He writes with special enthusiasm about the creation of Israel – "a miracle whose grandeur cannot be grasped by our ordinary senses." This fulfillment of his youthful dreams made him "thirstily and passionately" turn to the radio.
At the same time, Weisman emphasizes his loyalty to the country of the socialist revolution. Even seeing the authorities' injustice toward Jews, he is "incapable of doing anything against our state." The letter concludes with a harsh statement: "Racism and discrimination are equally disgusting, under whatever mask – fascism or communism – they appear."
In his manuscript dated November 8, 1953, Baruch Weisman gave a sharp analysis of the changes occurring in the country. He noted how rapidly after Stalin's death, without even waiting for the end of the traditional Jewish mourning period, cardinal changes began: the release of millions of prisoners, large-scale amnesties, cancellation of forced public subscriptions to state loans. The author particularly emphasized the termination of the "doctors' plot" and anti-Semitic campaign in the press, and the halt of night arrests. From this analysis, Weisman concluded: Stalin himself was the main source of terror and repression. With his death, the author wrote, "the terrible source closed."
Weisman paid special attention to the Jewish question. He ironically examined the authorities' attempts to rely on Marx's thesis that Jews are not a nation, which served as a theoretical basis for denying their right to national culture. When reality – the existence of Jewish writers, theaters, newspapers, publishing houses – contradicted the theory, Stalin simply ordered to "destroy, erase" this reality.
With bitterness, Weisman described the fate of the Jewish intelligentsia thrown into prisons, and those who, like Ehrenburg, Rybak, Inber, or Mintz, compromised with the authorities. But most importantly, he noted the resilience of ordinary Jews who, despite everything, considered themselves part of a single people, maintained connections with world Jewry, sympathized with Israel, and dreamed of repatriation. It was this mass resistance to assimilation, according to Weisman, that triggered a new wave of repression.
The case of Baruch Weisman and his comrades was heard behind closed doors. On July 23, 1957, the Kyiv Regional Court issued a verdict in the case of "Jewish nationalism." Four defendants received various prison terms: Meir Draznin – ten years, Gersh Remennik – eight, Boris Weisman and Isaac Friedman – five years each.
After the verdict, the convicted were transferred from the internal KGB prison to Dubravlag – one of the largest camps in Mordovia. Weisman arrived there already as a sick and emaciated man. But, according to Joseph Schneider's memories, despite his age and illnesses, Weisman became a spiritual mentor for young Jews in Dubravlag. The elderly man taught them the Jewish alphabet and Hebrew, recited from memory poems by Bialik and Yehuda Halevi. His deep knowledge and devotion to culture made a strong impression on the youth.
Even under the harsh conditions of the camp, Weisman continued his educational work: he compiled a Hebrew dictionary and prepared a calendar of Jewish holidays, which had to be recreated multiple times due to frequent searches. Eliyahu Guberman describes a secret Passover seder, where Weisman read sections of the Haggadah, and his students read the remaining prayers.
Especially touching is the story of how in 1958, after the death of his wife Pesya, Weisman observed mourning in the camp. Every evening for a month, friends gathered in a dark corner of the camp garden to listen to him recite the memorial prayer – Kaddish.
After three years of imprisonment in the camps, released early due to health conditions, Baruch Weisman settled in Kyiv with his daughter. The life journey of Baruch Weisman, a Jewish journalist and Hebrew scholar, ended on October 15, 1962. Before his death, he sent a symbolic request to Israel – to plant several trees in his memory on the land about which he wrote and thought so much. His last wish was fulfilled.
But the main surprise for the Soviet repression machine was revealed only a year after his death. It turned out that the Hebrew manuscripts confiscated during Baruch Weisman's arrest were only a small part of his literary legacy. From the end of 1955, Weisman led a secret life as an underground author: his texts were regularly smuggled to Israel, where they were published in the newspaper "Davar" under the title "El achi bi-mdinat Israel" ("To My Brother in the State of Israel") – without indicating his name. These materials were also read on Israeli radio, becoming the living voice of Soviet Jewry.
In 1973, a new edition of Weisman's texts was published under the title "Yoman machteret ivri" ("Hebrew Underground Diary"), but it includes only part of the brave Jew's writings.
Baruch Weisman embodied the connection between different epochs of Jewish history: from traditional shtetl education through the Soviet period to the revival of Israel. His last request - to plant trees in Israel – is very symbolic. He himself was such a tree, rooting in Jewish tradition and bearing fruit in the form of his students and texts.
17.02.2025
Bibliography and Sources:
Case on the accusation of Draznin M.I. and others under Art. 54-10 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR - SSA SBU, Kyiv, f.6, op.1, d. FP-71254.
Case No. 0636: copies of special reports, memoranda and submissions. Vol.14, 25-30.05.1948. - SSA SBU, Kyiv, f.16, d.0636.
Memorandum on the initiation of a case against Jewish nationalists, 1953. - TsGAOO of Ukraine, Kyiv, f.2, op.2, d.6.
Copies of memoranda and special reports from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, 20.10-5.11.1953. - SSA SBU, Kyiv, f.16, d.884
Belov (Elinson) Abraham, Knights of Hebrew in the former Soviet Union. Jerusalem, Lira, 1998.
Baruch Weisman
1887 – 1962
