Over 500 Participate in Minsk Ghetto Commemoration

On October 21, 2003, more than 500 people gathered on Sukhaya Street to commemorate the tragedy of the Minsk Ghetto extermination. Individuals from around the world marched along the streets of modern Minsk where, 60 years ago, their relatives and friends were subjected to ghetto life, and ultimately died at the hands of Nazi torture.

The Minsk Ghetto was one of the largest in Europe during World War II. It was the final destination for approximately 80,000 Belarusian Jews and over 20,000 Jews deported from Eastern Europe. They were transported from their homes to a district of Minsk where each person was given only six square feet of living space. Famine, insufferable sanitary conditions and oppressive work assignments turned 100,000 lives into a fight for survival which led to undignified deaths. Unceasing pogroms and murders transformed the streets of the ghetto into a slaughterhouse, where the value of a human life was inconsequential.

In memory of the victims, a crowd of young and old moved along the same road that the ghetto prisoners walked towards a monument in the center of Minsk called Yama (The Pit)—the infamous site of mass executions and burial. Representatives of the Belarusian Jewish community, the Diplomatic Corps in Belarus, foreign visitors, WWII veterans, and 150 survivors of the Minsk Ghetto formed a half-mile long procession, carrying the ineffable pain for each victim in their eyes.

Keyo Parkkunen, a CARMEL representative from Finland, held an Israeli flag close to his chest. "They are all in my heart!" he said, fighting back tears. "They are all here."

The procession reached the Yama memorial in half an hour, where it joined with hundreds of individuals already assembled there. The commemorative ceremony took place around the monument, encircled by candles.

Leonid Levin, head of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Organizations and Communities (UBJOC), opened the ceremony by reading excerpts from ghetto prisoners' diaries. Their words were chilling, and cries from the past could be felt 60 years later.

Following his remarks, the crowd stood for a moment of silence. In that moment, it was as though a thousand hearts were beating in the same rhythm proclaiming Jewish freedom and dignity.

Other leaders who spoke about the tragedy of October 21, 1943, included: Stanislav Buko (head of the Committee on Religions and Nationalities of Belarus), Marina, the JDC representative in Belarus, the British ambassador to Belarus, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Belarus, and the leader of the Gipsy Diaspora in Belarus.

Minsk Ghetto survivors thanked the Righteous Gentiles who risked their own safety during the Holocaust to save Jewish lives. The survivors also spoke about the collective duty to keep alive the memory of those who perished during the War, and to ensure that it never happen again.

At the end of the ceremony, Georgii Abramovich, Rabbi of the Belarusian Progressive Judaism community, read the Mourner's Kaddish in memory of all the Jews killed and martyred in the Minsk Ghetto.

The overwhelming feeling at this commemoration was that, 60 years after the mass extermination of Jews, we have a responsibility to make the Jewish community in Belarus and around the world flourish. We have a responsibility to teach our children kindness and tolerance.