In 1974, engineer, author and research historian Vladimir Rott defected from Russia and settled in Toronto. Two years later, he was able to liberate his wife Iya and his children “with the help of great Canadians.”
Now, 40 years later, he’s dedicated to finding the descendants of the small town of Mysovaya in Siberia and restoring the destroyed Jewish cemetery where his wife’s family lived for generations.
While the last burial took place in 1937, this abandoned cemetery dates back to 1825. His wife’s grandfather, Shlomo Chaim Guterman, who was a prosperous tinsmith, is buried in the Mysovaya Cemetery.
Mysovaya, which is now called Babushkin, was once a prosperous town with more than 1,600 Jews. It was a bustling camel stop along czarist Russia’s Great Tea Road until 1907, when the Trans Siberian Railway was completed, bypassing the town.
As a result, most of the Jews left, as there was no longer any business.
In 2009 and 2010, Rott published two books titled, In Defiance of Fate: Joy of Sadness, and Joy of Discoveries. The books tell of his life in Russia and his father’s disappearance in the Gulag as an enemy of the state when Rott was very young. Rott and his entire family were also designated enemies of the state.
“That’s why I had to leave,” he explained.
His books caught the attention of Taisya Chernykh, a technical librarian who lives in Mysovaya. She contacted Rott and told him that she was very excited to learn that Jews had once lived in the town and that his books had made the town famous.
Chernykh began to research the Jewish community’s archives and discovered the remains of the Jewish cemetery. She sent a photograph of the broken gravestones to Rott.
In 2011, the Rotts visited Mysovaya and met with Chernykh. She offered to help work with them to restore the forgotten Jewish cemetery.
On his return to Canada, Rott wrote a book titled Mysovaya Station about his trip to Mysovaya, the Jewish community that had lived in Mysovaya and about finding a cousin, the only Jew in town, who was in a psychiatric facility. Their cousin died shortly after the Rotts returned home.
“When my cousin died, Taisya researched the laws of Jewish burial on the Internet,” Rott said. “She did everything to have him buried according to Jewish law.”
A TV crew was filming a documentary on the 300th anniversary of the Tea Road. They met with Chernykh to research the area. They were also intrigued to discover that Jews once lived in their town. Rott was interviewed for the anniversary special.
Rott began working closely with Chernykh, raising money for a dedication memorial to those who had been buried in the Mysovaya Cemetery. The surviving tombstones are lying broken on the ground and many were stolen. The remnants of the scattered gravestones outside the cemetery are being collected.
Rott has been deciphering the remains of the Russian letters on the tombstone, and Gary Kipper, the ba’al koreh of the Torah Emeth Congregation, where the Rotts are members, is restoring the Hebrew.
To date, they have discovered 44 names. These names will be inscribed on an eight-foot high black granite Shalom Memorial, in the shape of the Hebrew letter shin, signifying shalom.
The stone has already been mounted and the names of those buried there will be inscribed before the official dedication in the spring, after the harsh Siberian winter, Rott said.
“I hope other descendants will come forward with names to be inscribed on the stone,” he told The CJN. “My father never had a proper burial in the gulag. I want to keep the memory of those buried in Mysovaya kept alive. Why should these poor souls be forgotten?”
If you have any information on someone who was buried in Mysovaya or would like to make a donation to the campaign to complete the memorial, please contact Vladimir Rott at [email protected], 416-782-3175 or [email protected].