{{Short description|Soviet psychiatrist, psychologist, and educator}} '''Iosif Veniaminovich Rebelsky''' ({{langx|ru|Иосиф Вениаминович Ребельский}}{{efn|{{langx|lt|Josifas Rebelskis}},<ref name=vle/> {{langx|he|יוסף רבלסקי}}<ref>[https://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/notebook_ext.asp?book=11407&lang=heb&site=gfh יוסף רבלסקי, פולקובניק (סגן אלוף) ב"צבא האדום", ששימש פטרון ליתומים בווילנה לאחר שחרורה.]</ref>}}) (October 16, 1894 – June 6, 1949) was a Soviet psychiatrist, psychologist, educator, professor, best known for the organization of orphanages for the Jewish children who survived the Holocaust in Lithuania. For these activities he was accused of Zionism, sentenced for Gulag labor camps, but died in Butyrka prison, Moscow.<ref name=vle>[https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/josef-rebelskij/ Josef Rebelskij]</ref><ref name=luku1>Любовь Кузнецова, [https://www.peoples.ru/science/professor/rebelskiy/ «...Собираю разрозненные брёвнышки народа своего...» (начало)]</ref><ref name=luku2>Любовь Кузнецова, [https://www.peoples.ru/science/professor/rebelskiy/history.html «...Собираю разрозненные брёвнышки народа своего...» (окончание)]</ref><ref>[https://www.vilnijosvartai.lt/personalijos/josifas-rebelskis/ Josifas Rebelskis]</ref>

==Biography== Iosif Rebelsky was born in Kazatin, now in Ukraine. In 1922 he graduated from the Medical Faculty of Saratov University.<ref name=vle/>

In 1941, after the German attack on the Soviet Union he volunteered for the front, and in 1941-45 he served as the chief psychiatrist of the Western, then 3rd Belorussian Front, with the rank of ''podpolkovnik'' (lieutenant colonel) of the medical service. He was wounded, shell-shocked, and escaped an encirclement. He organized a system of psychiatric and emergency psychological assistance to military personnel who suffered in emergency situations. He formulated and published the principles and objectives of this assistance.<ref>И.Н.Елисеева, [https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/mezhdistsiplinarnaya-problematika-rabot-i-v-rebelskogo-v-gody-velikoy-otechestvennoy-voyny/viewer Междисциплинарная проблематика работ И.В.Ребельского в годы Великой Отечественной войны], Научные труды Московского гуманитарного университета, no. 1, 2019, pp.73-82.</ref>

When the Soviet Army entered Lithuania he organized orphanages for the Jewish children who survived the Holocaust in Vilnius and Kaunas which housed over 400 children.<ref name=vle/><ref name=luku1/> In 1948 he was accused of anti-Soviet activities, in particular, of Zionism. Incriminating was his organization of Jewish orphanages. He was sentenced for Gulag labor camps, but died of heart attack in Butyrka prison, Moscow.<ref name=luku2/><ref name=egi>Эстер Гинзбург, [https://archive.9tv.co.il/news/2019/10/13/275768.html "Враг народа" – спаситель сирот. 125 лет назад родился Иосиф Ребельский], October 13, 2019</ref>

==Commemoration== On September 21, 2013, a memorial plaque dedicated to Rebelsky was unveiled on the house at Žygimantų Street 6, Vilnius. The plaque contains an inscription in Lithuanian, English, Yiddish and Hebrew: "In this house, Professor Iosif Rebelsky founded an orphanage and school, which operated in 1944–1950".<ref name=vle/><ref name=egi/>

==Notable works== *''Азбука умственного труда'' [''The ABC of Mental Labor''] Изд. МГСПС Труд и Книга. М, 1930, 129pp *"Состояние психиатрической помощи на Западном фронте ко второй годовщине Отечественной войны и её очередные задачи." ''Военная медицина на Западном фронте в Великой Отечественной войне''. 1944, no 8, pp. 18-40

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *Фредди Зорин, [http://www.florida-rus.com/07-09/Zorin.htm К 65-й годовщине освобождения Литвы от фашистов. ДЕТИ КАТАСТРОФЫ] {{DEFAULTSORT:Rebelsky, Iosif}} Category:1894 births Category:1949 deaths Category:People from Koziatyn Category:People from Berdichevsky Uyezd Category:Soviet psychiatrists Category:Soviet psychologists Category:Children in the Holocaust Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II Category:Military psychiatrists Category:Inmates of Butyrka prison Category:Prisoners who died in Soviet detention Category:20th-century Ukrainian Jews Category:Jewish psychologists Category:Jewish Soviet scientists Category:Jewish Soviet military personnel Category:Antisemitism in the Soviet Union Category:Saratov State University alumni