Rare Documents Shed Light on Rebbetzin Chana’s Life

On the 62nd yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chana, a collection of rare documents recently located in archives in Ukraine, Germany, and New York offers new glimpses into the life of the Rebbe’s mother.

Some of these documents are being presented publicly for the first time, bringing new details to light about different chapters of Rebbetzin Chana’s life, from her marriage to Harav Levi Yitzchak, through the difficult years of the war and her journey out of Soviet Russia, to her arrival in the West and the years that followed.

Among the documents is Rebbetzin Chana’s original marriage record, preserved in the state archive in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. The record, number 48 in the 1900 marriage register of the Nikolayev rabbinate, records the chassuna of Harav Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana on 11 Sivan 5660, June 8, 1900. It lists Harav Levi Yitzchak as 25 years old and Rebbetzin Chana as 20.

Another remarkable document comes from the years immediately following the war. In 1947, as Jews across Europe searched for relatives who had disappeared during the war, a search was opened by the Rebbe himself for “SCHNEERSON, Chana” through the Central Location Index, a tracing bureau operated with the Joint Distribution Committee.

The applicant is listed as “R. SCHNEERSON Mendel, Bklyn, NY, 146 New York Ave.”

The document provides a rare glimpse into the Rebbe’s efforts to locate his mother during those difficult years. The file contains additional details concerning her whereabouts and correspondence about the search, including a reference to a personal letter sent several months earlier.

Other documents follow Rebbetzin Chana during her journey through postwar Europe. A JDC emigration card dated November 5, 1946, records her registration in Munich, giving her address as Pocking, Block F 16, and her intended destination as France. Another displaced-persons registration card from Pocking records additional biographical details and her residence in the camp.

A photograph from the same archive shows bochurim of the Lubavitch yeshiva in Pocking sitting together and learning, during the period when Rebbetzin Chana herself was living in the camp.

Additional records from the same tracing files show that the search for Rebbetzin Chana was connected with searches involving other members of the wider family.

In honor of her yahrzeit, several of these rare archival documents are being presented here, offering a new glimpse into the remarkable life of the Rebbetzin.