English

Commemorative rally held at Holocaust memorial in Minsk

Around 100 people on Friday gathered at the Yama Holocaust memorial in Minsk to commemorate 5,000 prisoners of the Minsk ghetto who were killed by Nazis at the site on March 2, 1942.

In attendance were foreign diplomats, government officials and representatives of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities and the Belarusian Public Association of Former Ghetto and Nazi Camp Jewish Prisoners.

While addressing the gathering, Israeli Ambassador Zeev Ben Arie recalled November 2006 vandal attacks on the Yama memorial and the building where the Israeli Cultural and Information Center is located.

He expressed regret that there was a lack of response from authorities to the attacks, suggesting that this was an attempt to hush up them. "Unfortunately, such attempts tarnish the Belarusian people and law-enforcement agencies," he said.

When the Red Army liberated Minsk on July 3 1944, only 13 Jews remained in the city, according to Leanid Levin, head of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations. //BelaPAN