Boruch Steinberg ( December 17, 1897 , Peremyshlyany , Austria-Hungary - April 12, 1940 , Katyn , Smolensk region , USSR ) - Polish military rabbi . Acting Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army in 1933-1939. Senior rabbi of the second class (1934). Victim of the Katyn execution .
| Boruch Steinberg | |
|---|---|
| polish Boruch steinberg | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | December 17, 1897 |
| Place of Birth | Peremyshlyany |
| Date of death | April 12, 1940 (42 years old) |
| Place of death | Katyn |
| Affiliation |  Polish Army |
| Type of army | military clergy |
| Years of service | 1919-1940 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant Colonel Troops of the Polish Second Republic of Poland (posthumous; formerly major, senior rabbi of the second class) |
| Part | Non-Catholic Religious Bureau of the Ministry of Military Affairs |
| Commanded | Head of the Military Chancellery of the Mosaic Clergy |
| Battles / wars | Defense of Lviv 1919 Defense of Poland |
Biography
Boruch Steinberg was born on December 17, 1897 in the town of Peremyshlyany in Austria-Hungary (now Lviv Oblast , Ukraine ), in the family of Shmaya and Gendli (maiden name Veksler) Steinberg. He studied at the Faculty of Oriental Studies and History of the University of Stefan Batory in Vilna [1] . He was a member of the Polish Military Organization .
Together with the other 400 members of the organization, he participated in the battles for Lviv in 1919, already as a rabbi. In 1928 he became a clergyman of the Polish Army, as rabbi of the corps districts I ( Warsaw ), III ( Grodno ) and V ( Krakow ). In 1933, he served as the head of the Chancellery of the Mosaic clergy, and in 1935-1939, he served as the head of the Main Military Chancellery of the Moses Clergy at the Bureau of Non-Catholic Religions of the Ministry of Military Affairs.
September 1, 1939, during the September war, was one of the seven cadre rabbis of the Polish Army. He was the head of the Office of the Non-Catholic Religions of the Krakow Army. After the entry of the USSR into the war, he was captured by the Soviet Union. He was kept in the Starobelsky camp , from where he was taken out on December 24, 1939, as part of the NKVD action to arrest priests and chaplains of all religions on Christmas Eve 1939. He was kept in Butyrskaya prison in Moscow , from where in March 1940 he was returned to the camp, then transported to Yukhnov , and then to Kozelsk . April 12, 1940 was taken to Katyn [2] .
There is evidence of unusual religious solidarity among captured officers. Bronislaw Mlynarsky wrote [3] :
So great and necessary was the need for a general prayer to the Lord that captured Jews, Protestants, Orthodox Christians massively participated in Catholic rites .... Sometimes they went together on Friday night to the arches of a small barn ... where rows of Jews offered fervent prayers in Hebrew, under the direction of chaplain Dr. Steinberg.
The Minister of National Defense of Poland, by order No. 439 / MON of October 5, 2007, posthumously promoted Major Boruch Steinberg to the rank of lieutenant colonel [4] .
Notes
- ↑ Ogrody Wspomnień.
- ↑ It is estimated that about 5% of the 20,000 victims of Katyn are Jews. Most of them were young doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists. But lawyers, engineers, and field officers were not uncommon. Mostly they were in the ranks of lieutenant and lieutenant, but captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels also met. According to estimates, about 450 officers, podofitsery and podrugunis who died in Katyn are Jews.
- ↑ Bronisław Młynarski, W niewoli sowieckiej, Londyn 1974
- ↑ Decyzja Nr 439 / MON Ministra Obrony Narodowej z dnia 5 października 2007 r. w sprawie mianowania oficerów Wojska Polskiego zamordowanych w Katyniu, Charkowie i Twerze na kolejne stopnie oficerskie.