Monuments to the victims of the Holocaust in Belarus have been established and continue to be established in memory of the victims of the genocide of Jews , carried out on the territory of Belarus by the occupation authorities of Nazi Germany and collaborationists in 1941-1944 during World War II as part of the " final solution of the Jewish question " policy.
The total destruction of the Jews began simultaneously with the arrival of the German troops and continued until the complete liberation of the territory of the BSSR in 1944 [1] . The majority of historians as a result of scientific and statistical analysis of the data converges that during the Nazi occupation in Belarus, from 600 to 800 thousand Jews were killed, which makes from 74 to 82% of the total pre-war Jewish population of Belarus [2] [3] [4 ] [5] [6] [7] .
After the end of World War II, the surviving Jews of Europe made great efforts to perpetuate the memory of their dead relatives. But the surviving Soviet Jews (including Belarus) during the Soviet era were incomparably more difficult to do because of its anti-Semitic nature . Therefore, the initiative to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust came only “from below”, and the authorities often resisted the installation of monuments, realizing that such activities strengthened the collective Jewish national identity. Indeed, the monuments and graves of Jewish victims became objects of pilgrimage for Jews and their families [8] .
Monument Installation History
Attempts to establish monuments began even before the end of the war — for example, the idea of a monument in honor of the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto was born in the Soviet Union in 1943. In Belarus, attempts to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust began immediately after the end of the occupation, the most famous of them [8] :
- In 1944, in the village of Pogost, Soligorsk district, Minsk region, 2 monuments were set up with a six-pointed star and inscriptions that it was Jews who were killed there.
- In Minsk, money was raised for the construction of a monument, and they were able to build it with the help of Jews in high positions in the city’s leadership — Naum Gunin, head of the economic department of the city executive committee, Iosif Nisenbaum, head of the city improvement department, and Matvey Falkovich, director of the plant subordinate to this department. The monument was erected with inscriptions in Russian and in Yiddish , but the authorities forbade holding a grand opening ceremony in August 1946. Despite the refusal, the Jews still staged a crowded opening ceremony of the monument [8] .
- In November-December 1945, there was an attempt to erect a monument to the victims of the Holocaust in the city of Cherven, Minsk Region. The organizer of this project was Vladimir Fundator , whose parents were killed in Cherven. Finishing the work was prevented by opposition from party and Soviet bodies and financial difficulties, although the Fundator turned for help even to the chairman of the EAC, Solomon Mikhoels [8] [9] .
- In 1946, in the town of Rechitsa of the Gomel region, a brick gravestone was erected at a local Jewish cemetery in memory of the murdered Jews [8] .
- In the city of Deep Vitebsk region, the surviving Jews managed to put a monument on the grave of those killed with an inscription in Yiddish [8] .
Activities to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust did not cease even in those years when the anti-Semitic policy of the regime reached its apogee (in 1948-1953).
In post-war Belarus, as well as throughout the USSR, the Catastrophe of European Jewry was hushed up for ideological reasons [1] [7] [10] . The policy of party-state anti-Semitism in the USSR prevented the perpetuation of the memory of Jews, prohibiting the erection of monuments even on the graves of relatives. This policy prescribed in the acts of the commission to investigate the atrocities of the Nazis, the official press and publications devoted to the Great Patriotic War, and on the monuments at the site of the deaths of the victims of the Holocaust, not to reflect the national identity of the dead, not to use the word "Jew", but instead to write "civilians" , "Soviet citizens" or "victims of fascism" [1] [11] . For example, without mentioning Jews in 1954, an obelisk was installed near the village of Tomashovka in memory of the prisoners of the Tomashov ghetto , and in 1956 - on the grave of victims of Nazism in memory of the prisoners of the ghetto in Domachevo [12] .
If an inscription in Yiddish or Hebrew and a six-pointed star appeared on the monument set by the Jews, it was regarded as Zionist propaganda and was stopped by all means [1] .
The very installation of the monument at the site of the death of the Jews, the maintenance of it, the holding of annual mourning meetings in places of mass execution of Jews were a manifestation of the open spiritual resistance of the Jews to the anti-Jewish policies of the Soviet state [13] .
Systematic work to perpetuate the memory of the victims began only in 1991 after the creation of the “Union of Belarusian Jewish public associations and communities” (SBEOOO) [12] [14] .
The most famous of the monuments to the victims of the Holocaust in Belarus is the Memorial to the victims of the Hitlerite genocide "The Pit" . The obelisk, established in 1946, was one of the first monuments to victims of the Holocaust on the territory of the USSR, which spoke about the death of Jews [15] .
In the post-Soviet era, the situation has completely changed, and local authorities often initiate the installation of memorial signs and take care of the monuments and graves of the dead Jews [16] . However, sometimes local authorities prevent perpetuation of the memory of the victims. For example, a similar thing happened in the village of Bogdanovka, Luninets District , where a local resident, Nikolai Ilyuchik, in 2006, on his own initiative and on his own, made and erected a monument to 6 fellow villagers shot in 1941 [17] . The regional authorities threatened Ilyuchik for unauthorized actions with a large fine and demolition of the monument, but they did not dare to do this [18] .
The work on installing new and replacing old monuments is partly carried out thanks to the initiative and financial support of Belarusian Jewish communities outside of Belarus. At their expense, monuments to Jewish victims of the Holocaust have been erected, for example, in Pinsk , Slonim, and other places [1] .
Simon Mark Lazarus Foundation
Dayana Lazarus, a British citizen, has been visiting Belarus since the late 1990s through World Jewish Relief as part of humanitarian work. She established contacts with Jewish communities and supplied humanitarian aid.
Having learned that there are many unmarked graves of Jews in Belarus that were killed during the occupation of Belarus, Dayana Lazarus and her husband Michael wanted to invest their money in preserving and perpetuating such places.
The Lazarus family wanted this idea to unite the Jewish communities of Belarus, and therefore set an indispensable condition for the project to be implemented by a commission of representatives of various Jewish organizations and communities. The commission was established in 2003 [19] , and included representatives of the SBEOOO, the American Jewish Distribution Committee Joint , the Jewish Religious Association (IRO), the reformist Jewish community, the Public Association “Belarusian Union of Disabled Jews and War Veterans, Partisans and Fighters” (BSEIVV), the Belarusian Public Association of Jews - former prisoners of the ghetto and Nazi concentration camps (BOOUGK) and the Public Association "Jewish Student Cultural Center" Hillel "." After that, Lazarus founded the Simon Mark Lazarus Foundation (in memory of their son). The first monument to the foundation’s money was erected at the site of the murder of Jews in the urban settlement of Gorodeya, Nesvizhsky district, Minsk region in 2004.
A few years later, two more American families joined the foundation: the Warren Geisler family and the Kletter family — Miles (deceased in 2011) with his wife and his daughter Johnny with husband Douglas.
By the end of 2018, 114 monuments and memorial plaques were installed from the foundation [20] :
- 2004: 1 - Gorodeya ;
- 2005: 3 - Vishnevo , Rakov [21] , Paraf'yanovo ;
- 2006: 7 - Novoielnya , Dolmatovschina , Dyatlovo , Smolevichi , Zaslavl [22] , Bykhov (2);
- 2007: 10 - Mstizh [23] , Ezerische [24] , Bobyničy , Miloslavichi , Valpovskoye Pole ( Yanovichsky Village Council ), Khoiniki [25] , Mushroom , Ogolichskaya Rudnya [26] , Krugloye , Zaitsevo ( Yanovichsky Village Council );
- 2008: 10 - Sapezhinka , Zalesye [27] , Yurovichi , Lyuban , Luzhki , Smolyarka [28] , Minsk , Baranovichi , Novy Sverzhen , Bogushevichi [29] ;
- 2009: 10 - Ostrov [30] , Medvedichi , Peski , Daraganovo [31] , Mikhalishki , Kamenets , Lenino , Chernavchitsy , Gomel , Kopyl ;
- 2010: 7 - Bystrica , Lelchytsy , High , Nesvizh [32] , Khatovichi (Khatovizh), Kin , Ukhvala ;
- 2011: 9 - Okhoichi , Zhilichi , Brest , Yalavasto Tract [33] ( Ivatsevichi District ), Holy Will [34] , Rusinovichi , Polonka , Poddobryanka , Yaisy ( Slobodkovsky Village Council );
- 2012: 8 - Cherven , Zamyovka , Zhabinka , Gomel , Tolochin , Silent [35] , Volkovysk , Osveya [36] ;
- 2013: 8 - Merechevschina , Motol , Verkhnedvinsk , Volyntsy , Nurovo , Magera , Smolevichi , Semezhevo ;
- 2014: 9 - Crackers , Sloboda , Shereshevo , Storozhovtsy , Krupki (memorial plaque), Orsha , Ozarichi , Yurovichi , Babinovichi .
- 2015: 7 - Beaver , Svetlogorsk (2), Kovchitsy , Sharkovshchina , Shumilino , Zhuravichi .
- 2016: 8 - Pogost (2), Milovidy , Krichev , Lyozno (memorial plaque), Rudensk , Naliboki (memorial plaque), Borovukha-2 .
- 2017: 9 - Molyatichi (formerly Antonovka village), Blon , Ogorodniki (monument and memorial plaque), Bykhov (2), Zayamnoe (memorial plaque), Sitnya , Kazimirovo , Voronichi .
- 2018: 8 - Svisloch , Klimovichi (2), Krasnopole , Petrikov , Komarovichi , Porozovo , Schuchin .
Monuments erected by non-Jews
Among the monuments dedicated to the perished Belarusian Jews in the years of the Holocaust, there are several monuments set by Belarusians on their own initiative.
In 1991, Kalinkovichi journalist Vladimir Smolyar (1935–2005) initiated the installation of a monument in the village of Sitnya , where 30 Jewish families were killed. Then in 1995, he also installed commemorative signs on the site of executions of Jews in the villages of Ozarichi and Yurovichi [37] [38] .
In 1992–93, a tractor driver from the village of Shatsk, Mikhail Tarasevich, personally made two large stone monuments and installed them at the site of the murder of local Jews in the forest and at the old Jewish cemetery [39] .
In the village of Bogdanovka, Luninets District, a local resident Nikolay Ilyuchik in 2006 personally and at his own expense made and erected a monument to 6 murdered fellow villagers [40] .
In 2007, school teachers Iosif Kvach and Vyacheslav Lipsky from the village of Zhukovschina of the Sharkovshchina district with their students erected a monument at the site of the murder of a 7-member Jewish family in 1943 [41] .
Cataloging monuments
Many of the monuments are described in the existing reference books: in the multi-volume editions of the “Collection of Memorial Towns and Cultures of Belarus” and “Pamyat. The Gistoryk-dukumentalnyy chronik garado ра і reyena Belarusi ”, in the book Marat Botvinnik“ Monuments of the genocide of the Jews of Belarus ”, in journal and newspaper articles on this topic, in the data of the Minsk“ Museum of the History and Culture of Jews of Belarus ” [16] .
According to estimates by historian M. Botvinnik, in 2000 there were 525 Holocaust monuments in Belarus, including [1] :
- 72 in the territory of the Brest region;
- 98 on the territory of the Vitebsk region;
- 90 in the territory of the Gomel region;
- 64 in the territory of the Grodno region;
- 134 on the territory of Minsk and the Minsk region;
- 67 on the territory of Mogilyov region.
Discrepancies in the number of monuments in different sources are related to the fact that, firstly, there is still no complete list of monuments with their descriptions, and, secondly, state bodies and some historians consider all the monuments installed in the places of death of Jews, and Jewish organizations and another part of historians are only those on which Jews are mentioned.
Vandalism cases
In Belarus, there is the problem of anti-Semitic vandalism , to which sometimes monuments to victims of the Holocaust are exposed [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] . For example, a monument to prisoners of the Brest ghetto , located in the center of Brest, was desecrated seven years in a row [47] . The Minsk memorial “ Pit ” [48] [49] [50] [51] was desecrated several times. Similar cases occurred in Ivyanets [52] , Lida [53] and other places.
Monuments outside Belarus
The memory of those killed in the Holocaust of Belarusian Jews is also perpetuated outside Belarus. In particular, on August 26, 2007, a memorial sign was opened in Holocaust Memorial Park in New York to the Jews of Logoisk , who were shot on August 30, 1941. Earlier in the Memorial Park, signs were opened in memory of Jews who died in Belynichy , Glusk , Yelsk , Krugly , Minsk and Shepelevich [54] [55] .
In the city of Ashdod ( Israel ), one of the parks was given the name "Heroes of Mozyr" in memory of the prisoners of the Mozyr ghetto who committed the act of self-immolation in the fall of 1941 [56] .
See also
- Monuments to Holocaust Victims
Sources
- Botvinnik M. B. Monuments of the genocide of the Jews of Belarus. - Minsk: Belaruskaya Navuka, 2000; ISBN 985-08-0416-5
- Smilovitsky L. L. Chapter 4. The Attempt to Remember / / The Catastrophe of the Jews in Belarus, 1941-1944 . - Tel Aviv: The Library of Matthew Black, 2000. - p. 279-280. - 432 s. - ISBN 965-7094-24-0 . ;
- M. Altshuler. The activities of the Jews to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union in the Stalin era
- The report of the authorized SDRK in Belarus for the third quarter of 1946: NARB. F. 952. Op. 2. D. 6. L. 41 [8] ;
- Shalom Holavsky, Be-sufat ha-kilayon: yahadut Beilorusiya ha-Mizrahit be-Milhemet ha-Olam ha-Shniya (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Moreshet, 1988), p. 248 [8] ;
Literature
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- Shumsky V. "The search continues ..." / V. Shumsky // Nemiga literary. - 2004. - № 1 (16);
- L. L. Smilovitsky , “It Was in Cherven” // Jews of Belarus: history and culture. Minsk: Belarusian Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities, 1998. T. 3-4. Pp. 223–231;
- Savchuk, T.P. "Perpetuation of the events of the Great Patriotic War in Belarus" ;
- Zhuravkov, M.A. Perpetuation of the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland and the victims of fascism in the educational process in educational institutions / M.A. scientific conf. (Minsk, April 28-29, 2005): in 2 tons. / Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; redcol. : A. A. Kovalenya [et al.]. - Minsk, 2006. - T. 2. - p. 175–178;
- Martynenko, I. E. Legal protection of historical and cultural heritage: studies. manual / I. E. Martynenko. - Grodno: GrSU, 2005. - 251 p .;
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- Савчук, Т. П. «Эволюция памятников Великой Отечественной войны на территории Брестской области (1940-е — 1980-е гг.)» / Т. П. Савчук // Весн. Брэсц. un-that. Ser. 2. Гісторыя. Эканоміка. Права. — 2010. — № 1. — С. 25-32.;
- The set of monuments of history and culture of Belarus. Брестская область / АН БССР, Ин-т искусствоведения, этнографии и фольклора, Белорус. Ow. энцикл.; редкол.: С. В. Марцелев (гл. ред.) [и др.]. — Минск : БелСЭ, 1990. — 424 с.;
- Памяць. Belarus. Рэспубліканская кніга / Беларус. энцыкл. ; Б.І. Сачанка (гал. рэд.) [і інш.]. — Мінск : БелЭн, 1995;
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ботвинник М. Б. Памятники геноцида евреев Беларуси. — Минск: Беларуская навука, 2000. ISBN 985-08-0416-5 .
- ↑ Басин Я. З. Холокост как предмет научного исследования // Сост. Басин Я. З. Уроки Холокоста: история и современность : Сборник научных работ. — Мн.: Ковчег, 2010. — В. 3. — С. 167—171. - ISBN 9789856950059 .
- ↑ Литвин А. М. Местная вспомогательная полиция на территории Беларуси (июль 1941 — июль 1944 гг.) // Беларусь у XX стагоддзі : Сборник. — Минск, 2003. — В. 2.
- ↑ Последствия Великой Отечественной войны для Беларуси . «Архивы Беларуси» . Государственная архивная служба Республики Беларусь. The appeal date is August 26, 2010.
- ↑ Іофе Э. Г. Колькі ж яурэяў загінула на беларускай зямлі у 1941—1945 гг (белор.) // Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. — Мінск, 1997. — Вып. 4 — С. 49—52 .
- ↑ Козак К. И. Германский оккупационный режим в Беларуси и еврейское население // Сост. Басин Я. З. Актуальные вопросы изучения Холокоста на территории Беларуси в годы немецко-фашистской оккупации : Сборник научных работ. — Мн.: Ковчег, 2006. — В. 2.
- ↑ 1 2 От составителей // История Холокоста на территории Беларуси: библиографический указатель / Составители И. П. Герасимова, С. М. Паперная. — Витебск: УПП «Витебская областная типография», 2001. — С. 3—6. — 104 с. - 300 copies — ISBN 9856323738 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 М. Альтшулер. Деятельность евреев по увековечению памяти о Холокосте в Советском Союзе в эпоху Сталина .
- ↑ Смиловицкий Л. Л. . Это было в Червене (недоступная ссылка) . — Опубликовано в Attempt to Erect Memorial to Holocaust Victims Blocked by Soviet Authorities, East European Jewish Affairs (London), vol. 27, № 1, 1997, pp. 71-80. Дата обращения 30 августа 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года. (рус.) (англ.)
- ↑ Лейзеров А. Т. Некоторые аспекты отношения советского руководства к уничтожению еврейского населения на территории Белоруссии в годы оккупации // Сост. Басин Я. З. Актуальные вопросы изучения Холокоста на территории Беларуси в годы немецко-фашистской оккупации : Сборник научных работ. — Мн.: Ковчег, 2006. — В. 2.
- ↑ Смиловицкий, 2000 , с. 279.
- ↑ 1 2 А. Мірановіч. Гісторыя. Міжнародны савет. (white)
- ↑ Д. Романовский. «Народ Книги в мире книг», Еврейское книжное обозрение, Санкт-Петербург, 33, Июнь 2001
- ↑ Левин Л. М. К вопросу о мемориализации мест массового уничтожения жертв Холокоста на территории Беларуси // Сост. Басин Я. З. Уроки Холокоста: история и современность : Сборник научных работ. — Мн.: Ковчег, 2010. — В. 3. — С. 174. — ISBN 9789856950059
- ↑ Воложинский В. Г. Памятник Яма . Минск старый и новый . Дата обращения 1 сентября 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ 1 2 И. Герасимова. «Такие люди попались понимающие»
- ↑ СОЮЗ - Беларусское землячество - . www.souz.co.il. The appeal date is March 22, 2018.
- ↑ Ильючик Н. А. У памяти в долгу. - Mn. : А. Н. Вараксин, 2010. — 89 с. — 200 экз. — ISBN 978-985-6986-08-9 .
- ↑ Памяти убитых в 41-м…
- ↑ Belarus Holocaust Memorials Project (англ.)
- ↑ Без прошлого нет будущего (открытие памятных знаков в д. Раков, Вишнево, Парафьянова)
- ↑ Память, память, память…
- ↑ Камень — вещь холодная…
- ↑ Л. Селицкая. Памятник у дороги
- ↑ «Мир через призму Холокоста» (недоступная ссылка) . Дата обращения 24 июля 2013. Архивировано 14 июля 2014 года.
- ↑ Увековечивания памяти жертв Холокоста
- ↑ «Мир через призму Холокоста»
- ↑ В урочище Смолярка открыт памятный знак жертвам Холокоста
- ↑ Кадиш… 67 лет спустя (недоступная ссылка) . Дата обращения 24 июля 2013. Архивировано 22 декабря 2015 года.
- ↑ Слова, объединяющие не одно поколение людей (недоступная ссылка) . Дата обращения 24 июля 2013. Архивировано 3 марта 2014 года.
- ↑ Невозможно не замечать боль в глазах тех, кто выжил
- ↑ В Несвиже установлен памятный знак
- ↑ Инстинкт страха (недоступная ссылка) . Дата обращения 24 июля 2013. Архивировано 5 июля 2015 года.
- ↑ И. Разумовский. Помнить, чтобы жить
- ↑ Подвиг Памяти
- ↑ В Витебской области установлен памятник жертвам Холокоста
- ↑ А. Шульман. Рабинович не из анекдота
- ↑ Расстрел оставшихся евреев города
- ↑ А. Карлюкевич. Живет в Шацке праведник
- ↑ Я. Басин. О белорусах, увековечивших память расстрелянных евреев
- ↑ И. Герасимова. Зажечь свечу памяти
- ↑ Гебелева С. Легендарный Гебелев . Ассоциация «Уцелевшие в концлагерях и гетто». Дата обращения 28 августа 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ Купрэева Г. П. Мінскае гета: схаваная праўда (белор.) // Беларуская мінуўшчына : часопіс. — 1993. — Вып. 2 — С. 48-51 .
- ↑ Горевой М. В Слуцке осквернён мемориал жертвам Холокоста . БелаПАН (24 апреля 2008). Дата обращения 15 августа 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ Достанко А. Леонид Левин: «Осквернение памятника в Слуцке – спланированная акция» // Инфо-курьер : газета. — 21 апреля 2008.
- ↑ Бриман Ш. Вандализм на еврейских объектах Беларуси - накануне визита Либермана . Izrus. co.il (05.06.2009). Дата обращения 15 августа 2010.
- ↑ Разумовский И. Больно и обидно (недоступная ссылка) . Агентство еврейских новостей (24 мая 2009). Дата обращения 4 сентября 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ В Минске осквернен памятник жертвам Холокоста
- ↑ Вандалы осквернили мемориал жертвам Холокоста «Яма»
- ↑ В Минске осквернен памятник — жертвам Холокоста
- ↑ Мемориал жертвам Холокоста в Минске облили краской
- ↑ Под Ивенцом осквернили памятник на месте убийства 800 евреев
- ↑ В Лиде осквернен памятник жертвам Холокоста
- ↑ В Нью-Йорке открыт памятный знак евреям Логойска, уничтоженным нацистами в годы войны . Naviny.by . Белапан (27.08.2007). Дата обращения 31 марта 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ В Нью-Йорке открылся памятный знак, посвященный уничтоженным евреям Ельска . Naviny.by . Белапан (03.05.2007). Дата обращения 31 марта 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
- ↑ Мозырские власти заменили памятный знак, установленный евреями США . Naviny.by . Белапан (19.05.2010). Дата обращения 4 сентября 2010. Архивировано 20 августа 2011 года.
See also
- Памятники жертвам Холокоста