Eighty-four years after he left for the frontlines of World War II and never returned, Jewish soldier Samuil Ilyich Shalit Hy”d was brought to rest this week in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, at a moving ceremony that combined full military honors with a proper Jewish burial.

Shalit, a native of Achinsk in the Krasnoyarsk region, served as a platoon commander in the 144th Infantry Brigade. In 5701, 1941, following the Nazi invasion, he was drafted into the army and sent to the front. A year later, in 5702, 1942, contact with him was lost, and he was officially listed as missing in action. For decades, his family had no information about his fate or the location of his burial. In 5767, 2007, relatives in Eretz Yisroel submitted a Page of Testimony to Yad Vashem in his memory, hoping to preserve the name of the fallen Jewish soldier whose final resting place remained unknown.

That changed during a special search operation conducted in Elul 5785 near the village of Nelyuchi in the Novgorod region, where fierce battles had taken place during the war. Two Russian search units, the Ivan Guzhlenko Search Unit from Nazarovo and the Chelny unit from Naberezhnye Chelny, uncovered his remains. Near them, searchers found the item that allowed for a clear identification, a military medallion that had been preserved with his name engraved on it.

The discovery made it possible to bring Shalit back to Siberia, closing a painful chapter that had remained open for more than eight decades.

The farewell began with a state and military ceremony at the Eternal Flame memorial in Krasnoyarsk. From there, the procession continued to the Jewish cemetery, where shliach Rabbi Binyamin Wagner, rov of Krasnoyarsk, recited the memorial prayer and Kaddish in the presence of emotional family members and members of the Jewish community.

“It was an incredibly powerful and moving feeling,” Rabbi Wagner said after the ceremony. “We felt as if history itself had stopped for one moment, to restore this man’s name, his lost honor, and his rightful place alongside his relatives. After 84 years of fog and pain, Samuil’s war is finally over, and he merited to reach his proper resting place according to Jewish tradition. His bravery will remain engraved in our hearts forever.”

The burial comes one year after the Jewish community of Krasnoyarsk dedicated a memorial in the courtyard of the central shul, during a historic Shabbos achdus of rabbonim from across Russia led by Chief Rabbi of Russia Rabbi Berel Lazar. The memorial honors hundreds of Jews from Krasnoyarsk and the surrounding region who were drafted to fight the Nazi murderers and whose burial places remain unknown. Now, one of those soldiers was brought to kever Yisroel.

The Jewish burial was made possible through the revived Jewish life in Krasnoyarsk, led for more than 25 years by Rabbi Wagner and his family. The community operates a central shul, educational programs, chesed activities, and cultural initiatives that serve thousands of Jews across the region, while preserving the memory of the Jewish soldiers from Siberia who fought in the war.

Photo: N. Anastasia