Rebbetzin Chaya Mussia Schneerson's videotaped deposition in the federal district court case over ownership of her father's, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneerson's, extensive book collection.
These videos are an official court record of the deposition given by Rebbetzin Chaya Mussia Schneerson on 11-12-1985 in the federal district court case over ownership of her father's, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneerson's extensive book collection.
It is a court record, and no copyright can legally attach to it.
The Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, claimed the books belonged to Agudas Chasidei Chabad. His sister-in-law, Chana Gourary, the oldest child of Rabbi Josef Isaac Schneersohn, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, and her son, the grandson of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, claimed the books belonged to the family. That would have meant that Barry could have disposed of his share as he saw fit.
Chana Gourary's sister Chaya Mussia's testimony was key. It would either support her sister's claims and her nephew's claims, or it would support her husband's claim that Agudas Chasidei Chabad owned the library.
Her deposition was filmed in the dining room of the the house the Rebbetzin shared with her husband, the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, on November 12, 1985.
Before you watch the video, here is a quote from a letter the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote on December 26, 1939, shortly after the US saved him from Nazi occupied Europe.
Note that the previous Rebbe, Chaya Mussia's father, considered the books to be his own personal property – a fact that historian Bryan Mark Rigg uncovered after the trial and the subsequent appeal were over.
Many, if not most, of the books were secular – not religious – Sherlock Holmes translated into Yiddish, novels, etc. That's because Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn had been collecting books since he was a small child.
If you read Rigg's book Rescued From The Reich (and the footnotes of Rigg's book) you'll see that when Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn asked for those books to be brought out of Nazi-controlled Europe, he paired the request with requests to save his furniture and his silver. You'll also see he did not ask the US Government to save any Jews.
He did make some attempts to save Jews after breaking away from the Va'ad Hatzolah, but he did not, for the most part, at least, succeed. In large part, that's because the attorney who arranged Schneersohn's rescue, Max Rhoade, had never been paid the money he was owed by Chabad despite Chabad's American head, Rabbi Israel Jacobson's agreement to pay, and Rhoade would not work with Chabad again because of that.
Rhoade had devoted himself to saving Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, but as he made clear to Chabad's Jacobson, he needed to be paid. His wife was pregnant, and Rhoade had to be able to pay for doctors, heating bills, etc. But Chabad stiffed him.
Later, when Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn's rescue attempts failed, Schneersohn took the money he had raised for his rescue committee and opened a yeshiva with it, instead. That yeshiva is still located in the basement 770 Eastern Parkway.
I don't believe Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn ever thanked Rhoade for arranging his rescue. Perhaps Jacobson and the other Chabad leadership never told Schneersohn who actually saved him – although it seems more likely Schneersohn knew but didn't thank Rhoade because Rhoade was a non-Orthodox Jew, and Schneersohn blamed non-Orthodox Jews for the Holocaus, as Rigg clearly documents.
This quote is from page 133-4 of Rigg's Rescued From The Reich:
Here's the video deposition broken down into three parts.
Nathan Lewin is Chabad's attorney and he asks the Rebbetzin the first series of questions which run for about an hour and take up all of the first two videos.
During video number two, the Rebbetzin testifies that she said during the past year to her sister Chana with regard to the property left by their mother, who died in 1970, "We had a younger sister. She died in the concentration camp. Just as she died and is not here, so am I not here. It is if I died. You can do whatever you want." The Yiddish starts at about 10 minutes or so into that video and the translation starts soon after, but the actual sentences are not translated until about 18 minutes into the video.
The third video – which has most of the fireworks – has questions asked by Chana and Barry Gourary's attorney. It seems that a section that should be at the end of the third video is missing. That isn't surprising, though, because this section is the only time during the deposition that the Rebbetzin is challenged.
I've posted the entire video as I received it. I have done no editing at all except for dividing the video into three parts in order to be able to post it online for you. The break between the second and third videos is on the original video I received.
Enjoy: