Hadassah Carlebach, Holocaust survivor and Chabad matriarch, dies at 99

Hadassah Carlebach, a Holocaust survivor and matriarch of a prominent Chabad family, has passed away at the age of 99. Born Hadassa Schneerson in 1927 in Leningrad, Soviet Union, her early life was marked by the challenges of living as an unregistered Chassidic Jewish family under Soviet persecution.

Her father, Rabbi Schneour Zalman Schneersohn, was a relative of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who worked clandestinely to support Jewish communities. The family eventually fled the Soviet Union in 1935, traveling through Tel Aviv before relocating to France. In Nazi-occupied France, Carlebach worked alongside her father to assist in the rescue and care of Jewish children.

Carlebach’s life spanned significant historical eras, including the Soviet era, the Holocaust, and the post-war rebuilding of Jewish life. She was noted for her firsthand accounts of survival and her connection to the Chabad movement.