Editing Soviet Union (section)

==== Waves of Arrests ====
During the 5690s (1930s), the secret police carried out waves of arrests in which many Chassidim throughout the Soviet Union were detained:

In 5690 (1930), a wave of arrests in Leningrad. In 5695 (1935), the NKVD conducted a wave of arrests in Moscow and Rostov of key figures involved in spreading Judaism. All were sentenced to three years of exile in Kazakhstan. Most survived the exile except for R' Yaakov of Skalik, whose whereabouts were lost.

During the following years (5695-5699/1935-1939), there were many waves of arrests.

The wave of arrests in 5698 (1938) took place in Leningrad, where about twenty-five Chassidim were arrested in one night, later called "the night of the ten martyrs of the kingdom." Twelve of them were executed, and all the rest were sent to Siberia for many years. The families of the murdered did not know the fate of their loved ones for a long time because they were told that they too had been exiled, and only years later were they told the bitter truth. On 9 Nissan 5699 (1939), Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe's father, was arrested. As a result of the arrests, many Chassidim were forced to flee from the authorities and go underground.