An official opening ceremony was held at the former entrance to the Minsk Ghetto on Nemiga Street, commemorating the memory of over 100,000 Jews who perished there between 1941 and 1943.
The memorial plaque, erected by the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities with the support of the Embassy of Israel in Belarus and the Nativ-Israeli Cultural Center in Minsk, serves as a tribute to the victims of this tragic chapter in history.
The project, conceived by sculptor Konstantin Kostyuchenko and architect Galina Levin, under the guidance of the chairman of the Public Association “Republican Holocaust Foundation,” was unveiled in the presence of former prisoners of the Minsk Ghetto, dignitaries including the Acting Charge d’Affaires of Israel in Belarus, Tzvi Mirkin, and the Acting Charge d’Affaires of Germany in Belarus, Michael Novak, as well as representatives and leaders of Jewish communities and organisations.
Memorial prayers were led by Rabbi Daniel Berzhaner and Rabbi Grigory Abramovich.
Following the ceremony, discussions continued at the Nativ-Israeli Cultural Center, focusing on the importance of preserving memory and reflecting on the significance of the day’s events.
Vladimir Trachtenberg, a former child prisoner of the Minsk Ghetto, reflected on the unveiling of the memorial plaque: “Today, a memorial plaque was unveiled. For me, it’s not just a sign, not just a place. For me, it was a road to hell, a one-way road. I spent 27 months in this hell, from the creation of the ghetto until its destruction. I was lucky – a few days before the last pogrom, we managed to escape…”
