download Official Soviet Attitude towards the Holocaust in Homel ...

Introduction
3
Dear reader,
INTRODUCTION
Official Soviet Attitude towards the Holocaust in Homel and
Wolomin - Transnational Analysis of the Holocaust Remembrance in
Belarus and Poland
The brochure is written by Nikita Dunets, Konrad Kostrzewa and Grigory Binkin.
Designed by Andrei Melnikovich.
This Project is realised in the call on „War, Post War, Cold War“ of Geschichtswerkstatt
Europa. It is one of 28 European projects that is funded by the foundation „Remembrance,
Responsibility and Future“. Geschichtswerkstatt Europa is a programme of the foundation
„Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“ addressing the issue of European remembrance.
The Institute for Applied History coordinates the funding of projects in cooperation with
the European University Viadrina. The International Forum is organised by the Global and
European Studies Institute at the University of Leipzig.
Quoting form:
Dunets, Nikita / Kostrzewa, Konrad / Binkin, Grigory: Official Soviet Attitude towards the
Holocaust in Homel and Wolomin - Transnational Analysis of the Holocaust Remembrance in
Belarus and Poland, Geschichtswerkstatt Europa. 10.11.2012.
Copyright (c) 2012 by Geschichtswerkstatt Europa and the author, all rights reserved.
This work may be copied and redistributed for non-commercial, educational purposes, if
permission is granted by the author and usage right holders. For permission please contact
info@geschichtswerkstatt-europa.org
The brochure you are taking into your hands is dedicated to the remembrance of
the Holocaust – one of the most tragic pages in the history of mankind. Soviet past and
Cold War period still have different national attitudes in Belarus and Poland. However
both contemporary Belarus and Poland recognized the Holocaust and officially support
efforts to remember it. Our project is a small step in a long way of finding out facts
about the real situation with remembrance of the Holocaust in the BSSR and Communist
Poland (Polish People’s Republic) when propaganda prevailed and any Jewish studies
were totally forbidden.
Within the project we are studying the issue on the local level of two cities:
Homel in the BSSR and Wolomin in Communist Poland during two after war decades
(1945-1965).
Both Homel and Wolomin are examples of the Holocaust* in the Eastern Europe
during WWII and at the same time examples of the “forgotten” Holocaust (ignoring of
the Holocaust). It comes from history: both cities had been mostly populated by Jews
(in the so called Jewish shtetls) for several centuries before WWII and even now we
can trace Jewish culture there. During the war local Jews of Homel and Wolomin were
placed in ghettos and killed by the Nazis. After the end of the war this genocide was
silenced officially by the Soviet authorities. We can find evidence and proof of this
enforcement in local museums, newspapers and memorials of that time. However,
Belarus was part of the USSR while Poland was under the communist rule so it is very
important to take into consideration difference in the USSR government attitudes
towards Poland and the BSSR on official level.
To carry out our project we used two approaches:
The first one is the study and analysis of official memorial politics of 1945-60s
in Homel and Wolomin. We consider that using such methods as national experts
interviewing and analysis of local archives we will trace on the official level how
communist regimes in Poland and Belarus described the events which were recognized
as the Holocaust in the Western world during the Cold War.
The second one is analysis and comparison of official reasons for ignoring the
Holocaust in both cities in order to find out how strong were differences in the official
attitude towards genocide of the Jews during the WWII between Polish communists and
Belarusian Soviets. It’s a well known fact that Soviet party used different models for
controlling remembrance policy in the BSSR and Poland. In case of the BSSR, communists

4 Introduction
5
completely denied nationality, just the number of dead peaceful Soviet citizens was
written everywhere, but no Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews etc. In Polish People’s
Republic (PPR), the situation was different. One of the merits of communism in Poland
was – according to the narrative of communists themselves – nationally homogeneous
Polish society. Shifting the borders, deportations and government policies after
1945 were justified by this goal. It was a response of communism, and Stalin
himself, to the problems of pre-war Republic. The idea was to make Poland an
ethnically stable country. From this perspective, the Holocaust remembrance - that
is also a remembrance of multi-ethnic Polish past was not really forbidden but simply
not desirable. This general attitude had, however, many variations, depending on
whether the Holocaust was needed to disseminate anti-German feelings or to
discredit any non-Communist political forces in Poland. It’s just one striking example
of differences between Polish communists and Belarusian Soviet official remembrance
policy. But there are many others. In this brochure we will tell about them by
comparing answers by different national experts on related questions.
Within the project we will analyze official policy regarding commemoration of
the Holocaust victims taking into account commemorating the memory of the war
victims in general. The reason is that considering the policy towards Holocaust victims’
commemoration should be researched within the research of the general attitude
towards the war victims at that time. Otherwise it is the same as researching the
Holocaust without knowing what was going on during the Nazi occupation in general.
*From scientific (academic) point of view the term «Holocaust» appeared only
in early 1960s of the 20th century. On the post-Soviet space it became popular only
in early 1980s. Within the project we are using the term on purpose to emphasize its
significance.
CONTENTS
State policy toward the Jews in Polish People’s Republic 1945-1965 6
Jewish community in post-war WoLomin. Attitude of communist authorities 8
Former Wolomin. Interview with Lukas Rygalo (Łukasz Rygało) 13
Lack of information means something too. Interview with Maria Ciesielska 17
State policy toward the Jews in BSSR 1945-1965 25
The «forgotten» Holocaust in Homel 29
Interview with Boruch Krasny 37
Conclusion 47
Presentations of the project 53
List of sources and remarks 54
Nikita Dunets
Konrad Kostrzewa
Girsh Binkin

6 State Policy Toward The Jews In Polish People’s Republic 1945-1965
State Policy Toward The Jews In Polish People’s Republic 1945-1965
7
State policy toward the Jews in
Polish People’s Republic 1945-1965
The number of the Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland ranges from 30,000
to 150,000 [1]. Next 100,000-150,000 Jews arrived to Poland in several waves of
emigration from the territories of the Soviet Union. The exact number of the survivors
and immigrants is extremely difficult to determine due to the fact that the Jewish
community was in constant motion until the fifties. Arrivals of the Jews from the
territories of the USSR, a change of residence by the survivors, leaving the Poland by
the others; even within general migration in post-war Poland Jews were a very mobile
community.
People who have survived gathered mostly in big cities or so-called Recovered
Territories. The largest Jewish population in the postwar Poland was Lower Silesia [2],
where the spring of 1946, 86,000 people were settled. Approximately 30,000 lived in
Lodz, 20,000-30,000 in Szczecin, about 13,000 in Krakow and 8,000 in Warsaw.
PPR government policy towards the Jews was very favorable. In literature we
can find opinions that after World War II national-cultural autonomy for the Jews
operated in Poland for a short time. It was the implementation of the demands from
many Jewish communities before the War [3]. It is not clear why the communist
authorities have committed to such a situation. Perhaps, it was the matter of personal
worldview of pre-war Polish Communists, many of the Jewish descent. Perhaps, it
was about legitimization of the Communist Government ruling in Poland before the
Western States as the only political power that can establish peace in the Eastern
Europe, tossed by conflicts between nationalities.
In this context we should metion a mystery of the Kielce Pogrom. It is best known
of series of anti-Jewish incidents after the War. In this particular case more than
30 people were killed in the middle of a big city and local security services almost
ignored it. Here we can relly talk about the use of anti-Semitism by the authorities
to cover the fact of falsifying the people’s referendum. (There is general academic
agreement that the massacre was instigated by Soviet-backed Communist security
forces, possibly for propaganda purposes to discredit Poland’s anti-Communism and
maintain totalitarian control over the country. Because the top-secret case files
were destroyed, there is an ongoing academic inquiry and debate about whether
the violence resulted from antisemitism or secret coordination with the NKVD by the
Polish authorities) [44].
But the Kielce Pogrom is an incident situated between the policy of the communist
authorities – rather favorable for the Jews just after the War – and the general attitude
of the society in which war degeneracy of individuals, groups and even regions which
led to anti-Semitic behavior. It should also be noted that the percentage of the Jewish
origin persons in high offices in the Communist Party and security apparatus was 20-30
percent. In conjunction with the aforementioned authorities favor for the survivors
of the Holocaust, it reinforced the stereotype of the „Bolshevist Jews” presented in
Polish society since the October Revolution.
Centralization and totalitarian control of society in the late forties is not bypassing
the Jewish organizations. Communists reduced the autonomy of Jewish institutions,
joined in 1950 in Socio-Cultural Association of the Jews in Poland. The number of
theaters and publishing houses also decreased, although publishing house „Yiddish
Buch” was still one of the most important Yiddish publishing houses in the world in
the early fifties [4].
So the most important impact on difficult situation of Polish Jews had a fact,
that the communist rule existed in an opposition to the society on the one hand and
created quite fair conditions for the Jews on the other. It was not the communist,
who made the Jewish situation hard just after the War, at least not directly. The
situation varied in different places, of course. Wolomin can be seen as a place where
the Jewish society could act, but was not particularly supported by the authorities.
After 1949, the Jews in Poland began to be subjected to similar totalitarian
treatment as the rest of society. Therefore increased their migration, intermittent
temporary bans on leaving the country. At the end of the fifties only 30,000 Jews
remained in Poland [1].

8 Jewish Community In Post-War Wołomin. Attitude Of Communist Authorities
Jewish Community In Post-War Wołomin. Attitude Of Communist Authorities
9
Jewish community in post-war
WoLomin. Attitude of communist
authorities
Wolomin (pol. Wołomin) is a small town in the Mazovian voivodeship in the East-
Central Poland, 20 kilometers to north-east from Warsaw. The main city in the Wolomin
County. Its current population is about 40,000 citizens.
First mentioned in chronicles dating back to the 15th century as a village, the
town didn’t play any specific role. The town developed in the late 19th century and
became an industrial center famous for its glassworks. It is situated on the Warsaw-
Bialystok railway line, which was the crucial reason of its development. Wolomin was
declared the Town in 1916 or 1917. The date is unclear because of war time and loss
of some documents. Official date of its establishment as a town is 1919.
During the interwar period, it was a typical Mazovian town with large Jewish
community. It has also Russian (orthodox) and German (protestant) minorities. The
building of the orthodox Church is still working, situated in Fieldorfa Street. It is quite
a unique situation in mostly homogenous medium and small Mazovian towns.
The Jews, numbered in 1921 as 3,079 (49.3% of the total population) [5], started
Jewish entrepreneur Szlama Kon [5]. Maybe, the most famous Wolominian entrepreneur
and social activist was Stefan Nasfeter – a film producer and the owner of the “Oaza”,
one of the two cinemas in town [5].
However, during the 1930s local Jews were losing their position because of the
rapid development of the city and by 1939, their proportion in the town’s population
had fallen to 22% (3,600 Jews) out of the 18,000 Wolominians [7]. In many memories,
the atmosphere of the pre-war Wolomin is described as neutral or moderately friendly
for the Jews. Trouble they experience at that time in the area of the Second Republic
were episodic here [8].
Jews earned their livelihood from commerce, from such crafts as dyeing, baking,
tailoring, and joinery, and from renting houses to summer guests [9].
Communal and cultural activities of the Jewish population revolved around the
Peretz Library and the societies: Maccabi and Ha-Po’el. Ze’ev Bergeisen, who was a
rabbi from the early 1900s until the Holocaust and had a profound influence on the
life of the Jewish community [10]. In the interwar period, one synagogue and the two
houses of prayer operated in Wolomin. In 1934, in the elections to the city council
Jews took five of twenty-four seats.
War that was observed mainly because of the plain fights over the Wolomin sky
came here quickly. The town was occupied by the Wehrmacht on September 13 [11].
The defense of the town was short. There were only few skirmishes with German
saboteurs, recruited from surrounding villages settled by the German colonists, since
the mid-nineteenth century [12]. Due to the enormous commitment of the citizens of
the city to the conspiracy activity, Germans called Wolomin “Banditenstadt” (Bandit
town) [13].
A view of the pre-war Wolomin
to settle in Wolomin when industry began to develop in the mid XIX century. They were
active in the town’s development. Some of assimilated Jews were famous Wolominian
doctors or lawyers. The most famous doctor was Zacharias Frank. With his Swiss wife
Charlotta and their adopted and natural children, they created a big chapter in history
of the town [6].
Famous Wolominian glass factory has its beginning in the private enterprise of a
Nalkowska’s house - Judenrat headquarters
Ghetto, established in
December 1939, was situated
in the area of the city stadium,
in Sosnowka district (Sosna –
Pine tree) up to the frontiers of
Wolomin. It was bordered by the
railway from the one side and
wet meadows or forests from the
other side. Other borders were
street lines and town buildings.
Initially, it was poorly guarded
and only wire enclosed. So Poles
massively traded with Jews and

10 Jewish Community In Post-War Wołomin. Attitude Of Communist Authorities
Jewish Community In Post-War Wołomin. Attitude Of Communist Authorities
11
shuttled them food [14]. As time passed, ghetto was isolated more and more from the
rest of the city [15].
the Treblinka death camp. Labour camps existed in the territory of Wolomin till late
1943.
For two years, 2,700 people were living here. The administration of the local
Judenrat (Jewish council) was situated in the former house of the famous polish writer
Zofia Nalkowska (pol. Nałkowska) in 17 Nalkowskiego Str. [16]. Liquidation took place
on Oct. 4–6, 1942. Over 600 Jews were shot in Wolomin and the rest were deported to
Some Polish citizens of Wolomin helped their Jewish neighbors who had run from
ghetto. Examples can be the Olszewski family who were hiding since 1943 in their
home a group of six Jews - Leiba and Sure Baum with their children. Unfortunately, in
January 1944, the Nazi trailed them, killing both Baum and three members of the host
family. Most of the refugees owe its escape to warning, from the Polish policeman,
appointed by the Nazi to liquidate the ghetto. In the book “The Province, the Night”,
presenting lives of Polish Jews during the Second World War, there are descriptions
of both the saved and blackmailed by extortionists or even betrayed Jews from the
Wolomin County [17].
After the War
Only few Jewish citizens returned to Wolomin. Their number is estimated up
to 150. They established a Jewish Community, but its activity is not known. Only 53
of them signed up to the Committee [18]. The Committee’s Chairman was Fryd Srul
Zelman, other members: Adam Plimbaum, Jankiel Rubinsztejn, Szyja Szagirsztejn,
Jan Sztajnert (according to the Polish spelling of names).
In the postwar years the cemetery became the most important testimony of the
Jewish presence in Wolomin. Especially that the synagogue and prayer houses have
been demolished, probably during the War. Like in the case of ghetto, also regarding
the cemetery, there exist several contradictory testimonies. Some witness said that
it had already been devastated during the War and the subsequent destruction in the
fifties and sixties, focused only on buried bodies discovered by medical students [19].
Others argue that the cemetery was in good condition until the late sixties and was
destroyed due to the lack of interest from local authorities [20].
Regardless of the cause and the exact time of destruction of the cemetery, we
can definitely say that it did not raise any concern in local communist government.
Significant can be appeal of member of the Social and Cultural Association of the
Polish Jews sent to the National Council – a local authority power in Wolomin – in
1957. At the cemetery we can find scattered human skulls and tombstones. The letter
demanded the immediate intervention of the National Council to prevent the terrible
desecration of the dead and discredit the reputation of the Polish People’s Republic.
Expulsion of the Jews from the ghetto in Wolomin.
Appeal did not address any type of effect. What’s more, the query of Wolomin
archival did not produce any information about the above correspondence to the
National Council. The query in the Regional Office for the Protection of Monuments in

12 Jewish Community In Post-War Wołomin. Attitude Of Communist Authorities
Former Wolomin. Interview With Lukas Rygalo
13
Warsaw also did not bring any new information on the cemetery, beside this, which
are available on Internet site. Local institutions, documenting the history of Wolomin,
do not have in their collections almost any data on the postwar history of the Jews
either. The search in the databases of the Institute of National Remembrance and
the bases of the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Okopowa Street brought no information
about the members of the Jewish Committee.
It should be noted that the staff of these institutions – the Zofia and Waclaw
Nalkowski Museum and the Ethnographic Documentation Centre of Wolomin County
Office – were extremely helpful in getting any information about the Jewish community
of Wolomin[21].
The staff of both institutions clearly pointed to Mr. Lukas Rygalo, leading on his
own initiative the historical portal “Former Wolomin,” as a person, who can know
more [22]. Interview with an activist confirmed the previously obtained information,
enriching it the new testimonies and memories.
Both interviews with Mr. Rygalo and Mrs. Ciesielska which you can find further
in this brochure seem to confirm very modest knowledge we have about the post-war
history of the Jews. Problems with the confirmation of the most basic facts about the
War and post-war history of the local Jews seem to be characteristic. Even on the
basis of the stored memories, it is difficult to draw any broader conclusions, because
in many places they are contradictory.
The only thing that gives us hope is a change of approach of local authorities
since 1989. In the last two decades, there has been a great increased interest in the
Jewish past of the city. Local media and history enthusiasts did a lot to awaken the
memory of the neighbours, which is no longer here [23].
In connection with these moods also Wolomin authorities have demonstrated a
willingness to settle the issue of the memory of the Jewish city population. The last
initiative, which waits for the support of the Wolomian authorities, is to restore the
cemetery. Talking about it with the representatives of the Warsaw Jewish community
and local activists, including Mr. Rygalo already took place.
Separate chapter in the history of the Wolominian Jews is the Book of Remembrance
(edited Shimon Kanc) of the local Landsmanschaft. Thanks the efforts of Mr. Rygalo,
it was possible to translate one chapter and table of contents. The rest are waiting
for more substantial financial resources, since they exceed the possibilities of any
individual [24]. When we received translated table of contents, it was too late to
request a translation for the current project. Our efforts to translate at least some
parts of the Book of Remembrance will be our gratefulness for the cooperation with
many people who helped us.
Former Wolomin. Interview with
Lukas Rygalo (Łukasz Rygało)
Lukas Rygalo – Local
activist, the owner and
editor of the website
Dawny Wołomin («Former
Wołomin»)
Konrad Kostrzewa:
– Do you know anything
about the post-war history of the
Wolominian Jews?
Lukas Rygalo:
– I know only the same
information that is stated in
memories of Mr. Czeslaw Michalik.
He said that immediately after the war (it was in 1946 or 1947) a part of local Jews
returned to Wolomin. They were mostly youngsters and they came back to take care
of their personal affairs. They did not have their families here, so it was almost
nothing for them to come back for. Factories and workshops they used to work already
ran someone else. So they said “goodbye” to the native city and left it looking for
a better place to start a brand new life. I don’t know even whether they stayed in
Poland or not. Mr. Michalik said me that he had met a sportsman in the street... a
football player, I guess. He was on his road somewhere in Europe. Unfortunately I
know completely nothing about the families that stayed here in Wolomin. But I have a
“Book of Remembrance” about Wolominian Jews. This six hundred pages publication
was published in Israel in 1981.
– Mrs Kubacka told me, that you translated the part about sport.
– Right. I have translated one small chapter, only because one advocate was
looking for historical mentions of lawyers from this area and asked me for help.
He was pleading a case related to fights between ONR and Macabi. He did not find
anything, but I have translated my chapter. Three pages out of six hundreds! Certain

14 Former Wolomin. Interview With Lukas Rygalo
Former Wolomin. Interview With Lukas Rygalo
15
people wrote about specific chapters of their life. I know that because of pictures and
descriptions to some chapters, which are also translated. In this book you can find
issues that are related to religious sphere of life, business, medicine and so on. The
book is also describing the reality of war and Wolomian ghetto. So I suppose that afterwar
live of Wolomin is also mentioned there. I wasn’t very interested in researching
the after-war history of the city. I was interested in studying the Jewish culture and
wanted to understand how the Jews lived here before the war. Out of all Wolomian
citizens Jewish population here were 30, 40 or even 50 percent; it depends on how to
count. E.g. in the old part of the city there were more than 50 percent of Jews. But
in Slawek (part of Wolomin) were only 30 percent of Jews. In fact it does not matter.
Jews were a very important part of Wolomian society, e.g. Mrs. Kwapiszewska is
remembering that it was very hard to find a Christian store in Koscielna Street (road
to church).
– I think that collecting of all this information and testimonies that we have could
be valuable. What do you think about this?
we had a meeting concerning the abandoned Jewish cemetery.
– Meeting with whom?
– The representative of the Jewish community in Warsaw.
– Do you know anything else about the story of the cemetery that is on the site
kirkuty.xip.pl? I have heard that it was in good condition till late sixties?
– I have aerial photos from 1946. They were made for the military map. My first
impression on this picture was that gravestones cast shadows on the sand. So it was
there after war. I have two post-war photos of Wolominian citizens which were taking
near the Jewish cemetery. One is poetess from Wolomin, Mrs. Helena Baronicz, who
is still living near the tombstone. And a second one of a soldier, right after the war, he
was even in the military coat. So I can confirm that after the war the Wolomian Jewish
cemetery was in good conditions. Local inhabitants stated that in the seventies a few
students from Warsaw were coming to dig out some skulls. I guess it was some kind
of fashion at that time. Today the only tombstone that survived waits for a moment
when it can be used „for practical purpose”. The rest are somewhere beneath the
roads or houses’ foundations.
– So you have some information. Something to start from?
– Well, some people who can tell something are still alive but not living in Wolomin
any longer. E.g. Mrs. Kwapiszewska who is living in Warsaw now. Her memories are
quite interesting. Some people are dead but their memories are recorded. I was
interested in Jewish everyday reality, but not the religious or local civil structures. So
these records are not so valuable for you and your project. I think that you can check
some documents of the Jewish school in Wolomin. I suppose that the School No. 2 still
has these documents somewhere in its archives. I don’t know where exactly. Maybe
you can find even some school chronicle and that would be great. Today no one is
interested in it. So it’s a good way to start.
– Do you know any memories about an attitude of authorities to the Jews who
survived? E.g. official attitude to this committee?
– I was looking for this information. But unfortunately I have not found anything
about it.
Former cementery in Wolomin
– I know that a few people are doing research in this area and looking for materials
at the Municipal House of Culture. I was really glad to know about this. Some time ago
– I am not sure of the conditions that they were acting in. I know that they lived,
but I don’t know when and exactly why?
– I don’t know too. Maybe, there is somewhere in Wolomin...someone from
the family of Dr. Frank, he or she should know. But I don’t know this person. I was
astonished by some decisions of local authorities from the after-war period. E.g.

16 Former Wolomin. Interview With Lukas Rygalo
Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
17
building of the city stadium on the place of former ghetto.
– So was it in different place before the war?
– Of course not. It was in a completely different place. I was living near this
former playing field, it was in completely different place. I know for sure.
– So it was not an empty space, where ghetto was established? There were some
houses?
– Yes. There were some buildings in this area. The very first idea of establishing
Wolomian ghetto was to build it in the city centre. But the mayor Cichecki tried to
delay the construction as much as he could. So he said, therefore, that the ghetto
in the center of the city will limit access to the church for the Christian population.
Finally came a completely unusual idea to build a ghetto outside the city. It was very
difficult to organize, (e.g. to fence it) but Nazis did everything very fast.
– I heard an opinion, that it was not fenced. Or maybe only near the town.
– It was guarded but sure, it could be unfenced. The area could be too large
for fencing. Maybe, the mayor even saved some people thanks to his decision not to
build the ghetto in the city center. E.g. in Warsaw or Lodz it was almost impossible
to escape from the ghetto located in the center of the city. Moreover, the Wolomian
mayor tried to delay the building process by saying that he did not have people and
materials to fence large area outside the city. So, the Germans scathingly suggested
that the Wolomian Jews should fence themselves. So that is all.
It was a difficult moment then, when Jewish houses were empty and there was no
one to work in the workshops. So local people decided to take them over. The baker
was needed, so someone has to bake. When it was tight at home and the house next
door was empty, local non-Jewish citizens occupied it. Wolomian local authorities had
to know something about abandoned Jewish homes. Germans didn’t need a quarter
in Wolomin. People were moving only according to the official permission from the
local authorities. You can try to look for records in archives, it may be interesting. I
guess so, but I am not a historian. I am only an archivist. I am trying to save what we
know. When someone allows me to store his photos or memories I do this, because I
think it is worth.
– Thank You.
Lack of information means
something too. Interview with
Maria Ciesielska
Maria Ciesielska –
Ph.D in history, local
activist, the author of
many articles about the
Jewish community in
Wolomin County, Jewish
medical community and
Jews in Auschwitz
– Right. I think the Poles hide their reasons. The Jews ... they are gone. And even
if they had been, as Dr. Frank...look, he is actually buried at the Catholic cemetery.
So we can assume that there was a conversion.
– There was only one cemetery in this town.
– Yes, but I studied one tombstone. It can be regarded as a typical Catholic
tombstone, but I think it would be the Paris Priest and who knows what the circumstances
of the burial were.
– Is there a card for example?
The original interview was taken in Polish
Konrad Kostrzewa:
– Do you know anything about the modern
history of the Jews in Wolomin?
Maria Ciesielska:
– I know just small pieces of information about
the post-war history. Actually, it is all encapsulated
in some individual reports and memories. You can
look into the book “The Province, the Night.”
Note, that the book author Barbara Engelking says
that this is the most difficult period to describe,
especially for small towns. In large cities there
are amounts of information.
– And here everybody is hiding something?
– Yes, you are right...the card, and what is written on it? Is there mentioned
confession of Moses, or he is already entered in his wife’s religion? Because his wife,
due to her origin...I’m sure...she was a Christian. However, it all can be converted for
some reasons, in order not to change the papers after all. It does not have any matter
then. Studying of his fate is an interesting part of the local Jewish history.
The second part of the post-war period is quite an enigmatic story of a Jew who
lives in the area. But he does not allow for any single interview. This person also had

18 Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
19
to live here after the War, even as a child.
– Only few people with Jewish origin remained here after the War. The pre-war
Jewish population of Kobylka was 15, according to the book “The Province, the Night.”
In Wolomin there were 3,000 but only 150 people saved, only 40 of them signed up to
the Committee. Much of them left. But back to the topic, do you know any signs of
the postwar policy held by the authorities towards the Jews?
– I found this mention, it is 1957. I guess it refers to Wolomin authorities. It’s a
request for maintenance of the cemetery.
– Well, I found one more note... I do not know if you heard that during the
renovation and modernization or some procedures related to Hurricane (sports
ground), workers discovered a mass Jewish grave and bodies were moved somewhere.
But I do not know where it was moved.
– Unfortunately, I do not know any.
– That’s the problem.
– And I was looking for, so that’s interesting.
– But where were you looking for?
– In the Town Hall but I found nothing.
– Was it a written record? Because there are stories ...
– No, it was some kind of official information. It says that the mass grave was
found at the field and that it was moved. Were remains moved to Brodno Cemetery or
the Powazki Cemetery? I’m not sure, but I think that Brodno was chosen.
– I’ve heard stories from the people who grew up there. They are about the
wall with traces of the missiles, the barbed wire on fences made of concrete in the
eighties.
– It’s probably not true. The ghetto was not fenced till the last days of the war in
Wolomin. It may have the entrance gate, and some parts of the fence. E.g. Dr. Frank
– Institutions here have very short memories. Especially since the record had
came out. Up to 1975, Wolomian records had been in Grodzisk Mazowiecki archive.
– Even after talking to people, who are associated with the Office in one or
another way, I have not found anything. But I was really looking for them.
Huragan - (Hurricane) CityStadium builded on the place of former ghetto

20 Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
21
often went out outside the ghetto to his patients without any troubles. Probably for
this he was among other survivors. There was a group of people that were warned
about the coming danger and Dr. Frank with his family could be among them.
– Yes, there was a policeman who warned. But in one of the stories told by
Mrs. Kwapiszewska (a teacher from Wolomin) her mother was sneaking marshy
meadows to bring her friend Jewess some bread “because that area was not fenced.”
So here somewhere closer to the town a fence could be situated. What do you think?
– I think that in the memories you read there is no credible story that would speak
of any strict Wolomian ghetto boundaries. Everywhere in local people’s memoires said
that it was an open area. We know of course that the area was chosen deliberately
for the railway. It was the natural border. Stations Kobylka and Wolomin were border
posts. I recognize the border, which you’ve mentioned, a wall of forest. Today it’s the
Warsaw Street.
– …which had not been at that time.
– Ghetto had to be up to this place. Since the Museum had been the headquarters
of the Judenrat, the ghetto had to go there.
– There are wet meadows even today. Where land allotments are, the land is
drained. So the boundaries are natural. Probably, only on the side from Wolomin had
been some fence?
– Maybe from it was fenced the side of Wolomin only. It was the first open ghetto
which I known. E.g. in Otwock borders were strictly delineated. Even man with a gun
was and it was not allowed to pass the border of the ghetto. What’s more, if you read
these stories you will notice some inconsistency, which occurs very frequently in some
relationships. Namely, some say that the Jews were expelled to Radzymin and from
there to Treblinka...but others believe that Wolomian Jews were expelled to Warsaw,
not to Radzymin. Have you seen these photos? These are two photos of displacement.
Both of them were made just near the railway station of Wolomin. There is a single
building on both photos that is very familiar to me. It has walled balcony today. If you
stand facing the railway passage from the hospital, as a railroad pass the street to
the right, there is the building. It has the same walled balcony. It seems to me that
on these photos we can see the same building. What on the photo does not fit is the
distance of the railway track. But this could be changed.
– It’s hard for me to say.
– And people were definitely going in the direction of Warsaw. If they were going
to Radzymin, as it is stated in the “The Province, the Night” they would go another
way. But what was the sense to chase people to the station in Radzymin when they
were next to railroad tracks that lead to Treblinka? Why, why so much troubles? I
understand that it might be so, but it amazes me. And even if they were driven
to Warsaw through the Umschlagplatz, was it all over in October? When I tried to
determine it the memories were completely contradictory.
– I was not so intrigued by this fact. This is not the subject of our project anyway.
What you’re talking about the openness of the ghetto is all strange. Nazis police
station here was also small. Of course, if anyone was caught outside the ghetto he
was shot. But it is nevertheless surprising that it was not enclosed at ll.
– This is clearly described in the memoires of Dr. Frank..
– But he had some other status.
– Yes, but he certainly did not go through any gates and certainly did not have
any passes. Because if there were gates and passes, as it was in Warsaw, it would
be a great event – to get the pass. So who would give Dr. Frank a pass? Even more
interesting question, why? Whom would he cure? The Jews were not allowed to treat
Aryan patients and the Jews were by definition in the ghetto. It was forbidden to cure
Jews under the death penalty. Of course Dr. Frank did it, but at night and secretly.
– He did this in spite of the danger. So is this not the proof that the ghetto was
fenced and had a pass system?
– Land could be secured in some other way, but certainly in not one that prevented
going out for a profit almost every night.
– I am once again convinced that here in Wolomin more important is to try to
determine the reality of war and before the war. It’s about more data and it could
help to form an image of the after-war reality.
– I think that after the War the matter was short and could be described in a few
sentences. In fact, those who had returned quickly left the city when realized what
was waiting for them here at home.
– But are here described any cases...?
– They were described. Even in this book, “The Province, the Night” is described
simply an example that the Jew receives anonymous letters. There were mentioned
that he had nothing to look for here. Was that, I don’t want to lie, Kobylka-Slawek?
– Slawek is a part of Wolomin. And some time ago it was a separate village.
– Then Jews came back in Wolomin. You probably know this, but I would like to
remember you some details. It was quite a common situation just after the war, the
Jews returned to their homes, as the Poles did. Not just to recover their property,

22 Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
23
most of them knew that it was impossible. However, they believed they could find
other Jews, their relatives and friends...like the Poles, which were sticking to the
walls special cards in destroyed Warsaw. So Jews returned to their shtetl, which
wasn’t exist any longer. They wanted to know if anyone from their family survived.
They thought they would acquire this knowledge on the place. What happened finally
was very painful. During the war and right after the war the property passed into
the possession of the Poles. It was abandoned, was taken... not so important at the
moment, I do not judge them.
Poles had settled in the new environment and soon began to fear that they will
have to pay sometime. You know about so-called “watch” (the guards) at the border
of the village. These were people who were not working, who were watching for such
returnees. As they saw returning Jews, they quickly ran to their village and reported
that “Joska or Moshe goes”. Then the village was organized. Overall, it was about
the expulsion, no longer to come back. But what happened with those who insisted to
come back? Unfortunately usually they were killed by their former neighbors.
In my opinion those who returned here, in Wolomin, were still in a very fortunate
position. They were allowed to return to their apartments and homes, no one chased
them. They had to go somewhere. They went back to some apartments. Maybe on the
Warsaw Street? I do not know where. 150 people. It’s not a small group.
– Well, yes. In total, one 150 and 50 joined the committee.
150 Wolomian Jews survived according to you, but it can be the figure taken from
the post-war history of the city. Even if we assume that there were only fifty, they
would’ve been very fortunate.
– Really?
– It is well-known that anti-Semitic moods were strong among the local Poles
after the war and in spite of everything 150 Jews were here. Maybe they soon figured
out that they should look for another place? Maybe local authorities insisted on their
leaving? Perhaps some other motives were? I can’t say for sure. They left because
they’re not here anymore. Certainly we know that Dr. Frank stayed, but he had… he
had a good PR. He was loved by his patients, and they were even willing not to pay
attention to his Jewish origins. Well, he was an older man, so that could be also important.
– Were there any signs of reaction from the Wolomian authorities? I looked through
some of the archive in Grodzisk, where ware places some documents from Wolomin.
There is also a separate part in the state archives, were stored official documents of
our region. There are no marks on the policy of the Wolomian authorities towards the
remained local Jews. It’s really strange.
– Before the war local authorities had some tensions with local Jews. During the
war Wolomian authorities placed Jews into the ghetto following the Nazi’s order. Of
course local Jews remembered everything and this could lead to a difficult situation.
– To a large extent, it could be. I known that after-war the situation was completely
different in comparison with 1949s, when centralization and repressions started. But
even so: how can you explain Jewish committee and a special building for it ?
– Jews were given a permission. So they could gather, form a committee...they
thought that they would rebuild the building of the synagogue and it would be like in
the old times. But probably soon Wolomian Jews understood that they didn’t want in
Wolomin the same situation that was in Kielce. So they left the city.
– Well, even if you are right... I expected that I’ll find somewhere something to
confirm or deny what you say.
– But the fact that you do not find anything is interesting too, it has some meaning.
– Well, yes. But I’m afraid it’s due to a very pragmatic reason. Most of the official
documentation about Wolomin is simply missing. Even in the description of the act
from the 1984, (in the book of inventory) stated that all the after-war records were
in disarray. They were placed in the archive tied in bundles without any order. From
the conservator I got the information that there is only the cemetery card and nothing
more from the period before 1990. Charter states the most basic things. I also found
one report, 1957. In this report mentioned the Wolomian cemetery and stated that it
was in good condition.
– Well, maybe one day we will find the gravestones?
– I’m talking about the fact that there is no evidence in the institutions and not
only from the side of the city, but also from the regional and state archives.
– Do you believe in the power of these institutions?
– Power? No. Well, even if they “remember” what they were doing, it can help.
Because even if they did nothing at that time, someone could conduct a research
later.
– What do you think of such a hasty conclusion? There is a theory that Jews
were over-represented in the governing bodies of the Security Department. We know
that there was a higher percentage of Jews SD than in the post-war Polish society
in general. This was stated. So if they would have been here, if there were traces

24 Lack Of Information Means Something Too. Interview With Maria Ciesielska
State Policy Toward The Jews In Bssr 1945-1965
25
of them… so one of them could be mentioned in the acts of Institute of National
Remembrance as a member of affairs?
– It is very possible.
– Out of these fifty, one might be expected to be found. I don’t have much
information. But you can check it out, at least any information about this Jewish
Wolomian committee. I sometimes check some names via browsers of INR and I quite
often results are surprising. So I’m checking everything several because the results
are really shocking. Most of catalogues are available in the Internet.
Another place that is worth checking is the Okopowa cemetery. If Wolomian Jews
had died in the area they should be buried on this cemetery. I don’t think that their
relatives or friends tried to move their bodies to Wolomin because it was very difficult
to do after the war. List of Wolomian Jews’ tombstones is available in the Internet.
And even if you do not succeed in your search through the Internet you can go and ask
the director. His name is Przemyslaw Szpilman. You can go there and try to find the
place of residence before death. In the Internet the results are sorted by last name
and year of death. It was the only one Jewish cemetery acting around here in the
post-war period.
– Thank you for your suggestions.
– Well, sometimes solutions come to me during a conversation, that’s great that
you come.
– Thank you very much for spending your time.
State policy toward the Jews
in BSSR 1945-1965
This article is based on materials and remarks kindly given to us by Leonid Smilovitsky,
Ph. D. (Professor in Diaspora Research Institute of Tel Aviv University)
The Second World War became the most tragic and horrible event in the Belarusian
history. According to various figures, in the BSSR during the war 2,200,000 to 3,000,000
people died (of 10,528,000 people living in the BSSR in May, 1941) [25].
The general scales of the Holocaust and the Jewish Catastrophy in Belarus are
still unclear and controversial. According to M. Gilbert, the Jewish casualties were
245,000 people, V. Adamushko considers 455,100; A. Bagrovich – 500,000; D. Meltser
and his colleague V. Levin – 700,390; E. Ioffe – 811,000; R. Hilbert – 1,000,000 [26]. In
the opinion of the Prof. Smilovitsky, one of the leading experts in the BSSR Holocaust,
it is right to speak on 700,000 Jews died in the BSSR area. The War has not only
decreased the Belarus’ Jewish population by almost 80 percent (near 850.000 Jews
lived within BSSR borders before the War), but also changed its social and cultural
image dramatically. The traditional demographics was destroyed. The Jews who had
always been the most populated people after the Belarusians, gave this place to the
Russians forever.
One of the peculiarities of the post-war period was that in the Western regions of
the BSSR there were almost no Jews living here before the war. They were replaced
by few Jews who had come from the Eastern Belarus. As in 1945-1947 the BSSR and
Poland had not had a fully protected borderline, thousands of Jews left the Belarusian
territory under the pretense of Polish citizens. During this period, the Western border
of the USSR was crossed by 85,000 Jews [27]. The majority of them then left for
Israel. During these years, thousands of Jews from the BSSR were directed to different
corners of the USSR from Chelyabinsk to the Siberia.
It should also be noted that in 1947-1956 there was an active and often forced
migration of the population from the BSSR to Kazakhstan and Asian republics of the
USSR to reclaim virgin and fallow lands. Mostly, the migrators were young people
and families without children, students, nation’s economy specialists whom the
authorities were trying to invite with the romantic of “new areas conquest”. Among
them, a famous part were the Jewish youth and released military servicemen, former
guerrillas – the most active people who had survived after war and had to give life to
the new Jewish generation of the BSSR. Most of them were settled in the new regions
and did not return to the republic. At that time, thousands of people were directed

26 State Policy Toward The Jews In Bssr 1945-1965
State Policy Toward The Jews In Bssr 1945-1965
27
to the BSSR from other Soviet Union republics to assist in post-war recovery of the
agriculture and industry [28].
To settle the exact number of the Jews in the first post-war years is impossible
since such statistics had not been kept. According to the All-Soviet Union census held
in 1959, 150,100 people of the total 8,046,700 BSSR inhabitants called themselves as
the Jews [29]. In 1965, there had been living approximately 145,000 Jews in the BSSR.
The BSSR authorities’ Jewish policy should be considered through the prism
of the Kremlin Jewish policy and Stalin’s personal attitude to the Jews. Soon after
the end of the war, the concept of the United Soviet People began to be enforced.
That meant fight against all nationalistic tendencies of national minorities as well
as the Belarusians themselves. Only Belarusians as the titular nation were allowed
to have their formal attributes of the national life. However, such attributes, by
their nature, did not allow to count on free national and cultural development. The
struggle against “nationalism” was caused by worsening relations between the former
anti-Hitler coalition members as well as the beginning of the Cold war. This struggle
could not help but affect the Jews due to their specific position in country’s political,
ideological, economical and military structures (in 1946, the Jews were nearly 6
percent of all managing Communist Party members in the BSSR and 10 percent of
the BSSR Communist Party members). The sign was given in the program speech
by the general Party ideologist Andrej Zhdanov in August 1946 and in the All-Union
Communist Bolsheviki’s Party Central Committee (CC SUCP) resolutions taken after
the speech. Famous Jewish writers, poets and dramaturgists were accused of political
indifference and their works were accused of nationalism and absence of ideological
basics [26].
In 1947-1948, a large campaign was held against the glorification of the Jewish
history, usage of the Bible motives and loans from the Hebrew, non-critical approach
to the valuation of national legacy, any exaggerating to describe national feelings
of the Jewish people, constant references to the Catastrophe theme. The Jews had
always been accused of contacts with foreign agencies and conspiracy to imperialism.
In the late 1948, in Minsk the 15th Plenum of the Central Committee, Belarusian
Communist Bolsheviki’s Party, stated that American and English intelligence and
foreign centers of Belarusian, Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish nationalistic committees
working for them had reinforced their activity. The Zionists were alleged to try to
put servility before the foreign agencies into Belarusian Jews’ heads and separate
them from the Belarusians and Russians, to excite ethnic strife. It was stated that
the Jews had forgotten the dignity of the Soviet citizens, established connections
with foreign Jewish organizations, especially American, and misinformed them of
the BSSR economical position and were begging handouts from abroad. Any contacts
with foreigners were forbidden. The experience of co-operating with the Anti-Hitler
coalition members, economic aid of the Western countries and scientific contacts and
cultural connections were buried into oblivion [26].
The period 1948-1953 is known as the “black years” in the history of the Soviet
Jewry. It was the period of campaigns against Jewish bourgeois nationalism and
“rootless” cosmopolitism. Jewish culture became the first victim. In January 1948,
Solomon Michoels, the USSR national actor and the Chairman of the Jewish Antifascist
Committee (JAC) was secretly murdered in Minsk, at the Stalin’s order. The murder
was hidden and Michoels was honorably buried in Moscow but in autumn of 1948 he
was alleged to be the Jewish nationalist. At that very time, the JAC was dissolved
and its members were arrested and brought to justice. The Yiddish culture, the only
form of the Jewish national life allowed in the USSR, was forbidden. In the BSSR in
February 1949, the struggle against cosmopolites was supported at the 19th Republic’s
Communists’ Party Conference. The Conference’s directives were to liquidate all the
Jewish institutions, periodicals, editions in Yiddish and creative communities.
The BSSR Jews were also almost full forbidden to hold their religious life officially.
Of more than 700 synagogues existing in the BSSR till 1917, only few tens survived
the war but even them the authorities refused to return to their legal owners [30].
Synagogue had a sufficient “drawback”: it was able to appeal to the international
public opinion that painfully perceived the position of the Soviet Jews after war.
Therefore, any attempts of the believers to register their Judaic communities like
other confessions were perceived by the authorities with badly hidden annoyance. In
1946-1947, of many petitions, the formal allowance was given only to three synagogues
in such Belarusian cities as Minsk, Kalinkovichi and Bobruisk. However, all of them
were closed under the pretense of struggle against Jewish nationalism. By 1965, only
Minsk synagogue had stayed in the BSSR.
In the late 1952 and early 1953, the new anti-Jewish attempt was taken. Unlike
fighting cosmopolitism in 1946-1949, gloom over the Jews since January 1953 had
become explicit. The period from January till March 1953 had been horrible for the
BSSR Jews as well as for all the Union’s Jews. They had been living in suspect and
hatred, permanent fear for themselves and their children. Many of them had to undergo
the sharp transit from sufferings and choke of the Holocaust, illusions of recovering
their national life to painful disappointing and explicit anti-Semit campaign. This was
connected not only with those who had Jewish self-identification but also the Jews
that were almost assimilated. Smilovitsky, Ph. D considers the BSSR a good example to
use the powerful state machinery in manipulating public opinion. Nobody could even
doubt the objectivity of the TASS statement (the Sovier Union Telegraph Agency) dated
January 13, 1953, about Doctors’ Plot, nobody could defend the accused, including

28 State Policy Toward The Jews In Bssr 1945-1965
The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
29
all the Jews [26]. The common situation in the country did not allow to speak on
the presumption of innocence. The vast majority of speakers at official mass rallies,
meetings and lectures in Minsk, Homel, Brest, Grodno, Mogilev and Vitebsk and other
cities demanded punishment for the “conspirators”, mass dismissals and deportation
of all the Jews. The conditions for punishment had already been created, the causes
had been found, the ground had been prepared and the pogrom powers had been
designated. But Stalin’s death in 1953 prevented from another Jewish catastrophe.
After the end of the campaign following Stalin’s death in March 1953, distrust and
suspects had been making themselves felt for a long time. The authorities preferred
not to disclose the anti-Semitic character of the campaign. N. S. Khrushchev who
headed the CC SUCP allowed the unprecedented criticising of Stalin’s personality
cult. But Khrushchev was not mentioning Stalin’s judaeophobia taking into account
public opinion and painful reaction of the significant part of the population to the
“Jewish question”[30].
Generally, the second half of the 1950s and early 1960s, was a calm period and
many Jews could adapt to over-ideologized Soviet society. They were trying to fulfill
and fulfilled themselves, they were changing their professions and were becoming
people “demanded” by the directors of enterprises and institutions. Due to their
knowledge, erudition and skill, the Jews had earned patronage and trusteeship of
the Soviet “owners” of industry and cultural and scientific institutions. Professional
skills became for the Jews the warranty to save their working place. But even when
the Jews accepted the socialistic tenets, the regime was still mistrusting them.
Non-Jewish environment was keen on tracing any errors and mistakes and painfully
reacted to them. This made the Jews approach to their work as accurately as they
could, they were trying to predict the consequences of any step and strictly follow
the letter of the Law. During the post-war period, the Belarusian Jewry as well as all
the Soviet Union’s Jewry, were suffering the policy of national leveling that meant
full assimilation of the Jews within the purposeful official course to create the new
people’s community “The Soviet people”.
The «forgotten» Holocaust in
Homel
Brief historical background
This picturesque city is situated on the bank of Sozh River. Established in 1142,
today Homel is the administrative center of the Homel region and the second most
populated Belarusian city (about 500,000 citizens). But before the WWII, Homel
had not been such an important administrative center. In 1939, its population was
nearly 130,000 and 37,100 of them were Jews in their nationality, according to the
census. First Jewish communities appeared in Homel in first half of the 16 th century.
In late 19 th century, the Jewish culture enjoyed its prosperity. For example, by 1897,
in Homel had been living 20,385 Jews (nearly 55 percent of the population); there
had been one synagogue (late 18 th cent.), 25 shtiebels (Hasidic preaching houses),
a Jewish men’s gymnasium and women’s pro-gymnasium, a Jewish primary college,
two-form women’s college, Talmud-torah, forty-five heders, as well as several charity
institutions [33].
On August 19, 1941, Homel was occupied by the Wehrmacht. By that time, the
majority of the Jewish population in Homel had managed to evacuate. Having occupied
Homel, the Nazi immediately established four ghettoes to jail nearly four thousand
Jews. On November 3-4, 1941, all the Homel Jews were killed. Officially, in Homel
about 4,000 Jews died. Although, referring to our researches of archive materials
in “Homel Public Associations Archive”, we can surely say over 10,000 Jews were
murdered there [34]. After the War, about 70 percent of the evacuated Jews returned
to their destroyed homes. But Yiddish schools were not restored. A petition of religious
Jews in 1945 to return their synagogue to them was rejected by the authorities. In
1947, local religious Jews purchased a private house for their synagogue on raised
money but the authorities confiscated this and forbade holding religious meetings. In
1963, police attacked private religious meeting, crackdowned on the preachers and
withheld two Torah scrolls and other religion attributes. According to the archives
materials, in 1959 about 25,000 Jews lived in Homel, in 1979 – 26,416; in 1989 –
22,574 Jews. In late 1980s – early 2000s, most Homel Jews migrated to Israel, the
USA, Germany and other countries [35].
Monuments & Memorials
We started off our journey to Homel with visiting monuments and memorials set

30 The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
31
up in 1945-1960s that commemorate those who
died at the Second World War, and the places of
mass killing and burials of Homel Jews.
One of the first places we visited was the
building of the Bus Garage No. 1 (BG No. 1). According
to the archives, more than 500 Jews from
the Homel ghetto were shot here in 1941. However,
the memorial board on the building wall says:
“Here, in the territory of the BG No. 1, more than
300 Soviet citizens were killed by Hitler troopers
during the 1941-1943 Nazi occupation of Homel.
In 1962, their remains were reburied at the cemetery
in Leschinets.”
We further visit the cemetery named in the
table. Today, the cemetery is semi-neglected.
On the one hand, a lot of Jews are buried here. On the other hand, there have not
been any new funerals for a long time. But the
cemetery cannot be removed as the relatives
of the buried still live, as we were told by a
dweller who lives in a house near the cemetery.
(photo of the table)
In the center of the cemetery there is a
mass grave and memorial. The memorial says:
“1941-1945. Here are buried the Soviet Army
soldiers and officers who died at fronts of the
Great Patriotic War.” . But quite nearby, there is a description looking like a small
modern indicator: “Historical and cultural value. The mass grave, where are buried
the victims of fascism, Soviet warriors and guerrillas who died in 1942-1945.” At the
same time, according to the information we have, besides the Soviet soldiers, mostly
here are reburied the Jews shot in 1941 in the
territory of the BG No. 1.
We are going around the cemetery and
find out that most gravestones are not marked
anyhow. There is also a tomb of the unknown
soldier.
We further move to the district known as
“Monastyryok”. Here in 1941, was situated one
of the four ghettoes. After its destruction there were German and Soviet hospitals.
Nowadays, the school is built in this place.
No mentions of ghetto. On our way we meet a local joiner Mikhail:
We go a little bit aside and do see the remains of graves.
– Do you know that here was the
Jewish ghetto during the war?
– I’ve heard something like
that, but I do not know anything
more about it. But I can show you an
interesting map – Mikhail answers.
We walk into his workshop and
he shows us a copy of Homel’s map
dated 1910.
– I have found it by chance
and immediately gave it to
the museum. I took a copy for
memory.
– You know, here was a
cemetery of Old Orthodox
believers before the war. Death
seems to have been here for
centuries. –Mikhail says pointing
at the indicator in the map.
Then, our next point is the city center, where the concentration camp was
situated. The corresponding memorial board says: “Here, during the Nazi occupation,
was the concentration camp for war prisoners, where Hitler troopers killed more than
100,000 people.” Here died almost all city dwellers, except for the Jews who were
shot separately.
Nearby, there is a monument commemorating
Soviet deliberating warriors.
We are passing a little further along the
street and see the Glory Avenue commemorating
the heroes of Homel and Homel district, and the
Eternal Flame .
Interestingly, one of the pedestals at the

32 The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
33
Eternal Flame shows Jewish name: Grafman Mikhail Shimanovich . This obviously
contradicts the Soviet myth existing during the Cold War that the Jews were hiding
cowardly to save their lives instead of fighting at fronts.
The Museum
Then, we follow
to the “Homel
Regional Museum
of Military Glory”.
(photo from the
sidewall).
The chief guide
and most skilled
museum worker, Alla
Borisovna Yegorova,
was glad to hold a
small excursion for
us.
– You can take
photos only in several
halls, - she stressed at the very beginning. Alla Borisovna added that, according to
the official rules, we are forbidden to photograph her. The Homel Region Museum of
Military Glory has been built relatively recently (2004), but right here one can see
most elements of exhibitions devoted to WWII and the Cold War period. In general,
the museum exhibition covers the history of Homel since ancient times till nowadays.
Many mounts devoted to the Second World War and the Cold War stayed almost
untouched since the middle of the 1950s.
and the Civil War after the 1917 Revolution. Within the project, we were concerned
mostly about war and postwar history.
You know, many historical events are taken differently in different periods of
history. This is caused by the state ideology and, of course, influences the exhibitions
in the museum as the state institution – Alla Borisovna stresses. Meanwhile, we enter
one of large halls devoted to the Great Patriotic War.
At the beginning of the exhibition, we immediately notice a big portrait of Adolf
Hitler among Nazi swastikas, ammunition and insignia of the Third Reich soldiers and
officers.
– We have worked on this part very thoroughly, this exhibition is absolutely
new for our museum. In such a way, we want to show how the Nazi came to power
in Germany and why the War had begun. Our veterans were strongly against this,
even nowadays many visitors are angry. But we must show all the sides of our history,
without any idealizations. – Alla Borisovna commented the mount.
– Of course, in the USSR, there were definite rules how to place different
exhibition elements. For example, Lenin’s bust must have been in the very center.
Above all, we had to tell the visitors about the glory and deeds of the Soviet soldiers
born in Homel or its district. We could not emphasize the victims among the civil
population. In modern Belarus, such restrictions do not exist anymore. – says Alla
Borisovna.
The first part of our excursion was devoted to the ancient history of Homel, the
periods of the Great Dutchy of Lithuania, Russian Empire and also the World War I
Next, we come to the hall center. This is devoted to the Heroes of the Soviet
Union born in Homel and the deeds of the local underground movement whose names
are given to the city streets. At the same time, almost the whole edge wall is covered

34 The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
35
by a large photo that depicts the destroyed city. The photo is taken by a Luftwaffe
pilot in 1942.
– The city occupation lasted for 812 days: August 19, 1941 - November 26, 1943.
The city was largely destroyed. The majority of people who were not evacuated died
in the concentration camp.
– How many of them were Jews?
- You know, I cannot say exactly but this is the wellknown
fact that the Jewish people were about one third
of the common city population
– What does the museum exhibition tell about the
Holocaust in general and the four ghettoes that were
established in the city?
- Of course, I know all these facts but we do not
have special mounts in our exhibition. We tell our visitors
about the victims among the local population and do not
point out the Jews as they were also Homel city dwellers.
We develop the theme and tell Alla Borisovna about
the places of mass Jewish shots and other Holocaust atrocities in Homel.
– Yes, that is right. The Jews were being shot in first turn but yet we haven’t
made a special mount devoted to this issue. It may appear in the future as we have
a lot of materials we haven’t exhibited yet. If you are interested, after the War
this fact was not mentioned in the museum exhibitions either. All the dead were
considered as the Soviet citizens, you know it.
– But it was not so easy to keep silence about thousands of those who died,
wasn’t it?
There was no silence, but their Jewish nationality just was not mentioned.
Separation of nationalities was not desirable. After the War, it was more important to
restore the city, nobody was even concerned with such an issue (Alla Borisovna sighs).
You know, in Homel, Jews were being murdered in the same places where dissidents
to Soviet power had been shot in 1937. Probably, this was done by the Nazi to hide
their crimes and avoid any responsibility in such a way .
Then, we enter the hall devoted to the guerrilla movement in Homel and the
Homel district as well as the deliberation of Homel. We enter a small hall exhibiting
the Cold War era exhibition.
We immediately noticed that this hall was quite modest compared to many halls
of WWII. Alla Borisovna answers
our question why this period was
given not so much attention:
– In Soviet times, we didn’t
hear much of the beginning and
course of the Cold War. In 1950-
1960s, all the attention was taken
to the achievements of socialism,
socialistic competitions, success
in developing agriculture and
industry. Do not forget that at
those times, the ideology was at
its climax. Only in the 1970s, there appeared first publications about the victims
among the civil population.
– When did you hear of the Holocaust?
– First, I’ve read about the Holocaust only in the early 1990s. Before that,
we hadn’t known anything. As I have already mentioned, in the USSR it was not
welcomed to separate any nationalities, as they had always been saying about the
Soviet citizens. This also affected the museum exhibitions. Of course, nowadays
things have changed; various researches like yours are made.
At the end of our mini-tour, we thanked Alla Borisovna, entered the inner yard
of the museum and looked at the military machines manufactured in the USSR during
WWII
Therefore, we can see that during the Cold War, genocide against the local
Jewish population was a non-desirable theme in Homel historical museums. As the
museums were municipal, there existed strong censorship and separation of a definite
nationality was forbidden at all. Even modern exhibition of the museum does not
cover the Holocaust issue.
Library
Our next point was the Homel regional library . For the first time, we were
looking for the publications of local newspapers during 1945-1960 about war. Local
staff was glad to give us, at our discretion, several numbers of “Homelskaya Pravda”.
– “Homelskaya Pravda” is one of the oldest editions in Homel and actually the
only local printed issue in the 1940s and the early 1950s. During the Soviet period, the

36 The «Forgotten» Holocaust In Homel
Interview With Boruch Krasny
37
paper was one of the most famous means of communistic and socialistic propaganda
in the city – Olga, the librarian, tells us.
Having studied the chosen issues for 5 hours, we would like to make some
conclusions:
Interview with Boruch Krasny
1. After the War, the newspaper was published in short issues; some of them are
just 4-6 pages. This is particularly characteristic for 1945-1950.
2. Interestingly, nearly half of all the issues through strong ideological prism
describe the most important international events and the USSR foreign policy
rather than local events occurred in Homel. In some issues, we could find the whole
translation of international declarations and conventions signed by the USSR. This
information was coming from Moscow and was obligatory to be published on the
first pages. The second half of issue was obligatory devoted to the achievements of
socialism in agriculture and industry of Homel and Homel region.
3. All the events that concern WWII are described in two aspects: heroes
(protagonists) and enemies (antagonists). The newspaper issues were used to describe
the feats accomplished by the Soviet soldiers and guerrillas of Homel and the district
in an exclusively positive way. While, for example, Armia Krajowa [Home Army in
Poland], according to extensive researches, was accused of collaboration and all its
members must be punished.
4. We were especially interested in numbers issued in May in different years. As
“Victory Day” on May 9 had always been the most important holiday in the USSR, the
May numbers were devoted to war and fascists’ crimes almost entirely. Before May 9,
1953, all the May numbers had to begin with a big photo of Stalin on the front page,
together with Stalin’s speech and edicts connected with the USSR victory in the Great
Patriotic War . However, no number for this period can tell exactly how many city
dwellers died at war. First of all, these issues describe the heroism of the Red Army in
fighting fascism. Victims among local population are mentioned generally.
5. No newspaper issues for 1945-1960 mention the genocide against the Jewish
population. Either, there is not a single mentioning of four ghettoes in Homel. All the
articles about fascists’ crimes tell about atrocities against the Soviet citizens and do
not name their nationalities. Only in the article about the Auschwitz concentration
camp, the nationalities of dead prisoners were partly mentioned: “In Auschwitz,
Hitler troopers killed more than 4 million people: Soviet citizens, citizens of Poland,
France, Belgium, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and other
countries.”
Boruch Krasny – the
researcher of Homel
Jewish history, a former
Chairman of city’s Jewish
lay community
Having studied the monuments and
memorials, archive materials, museum
exposition and local newspaper publications
about the Holocaust in Homel, we had been
trying to find the expert in Homel Jewish
history for a long time. In Homel religious
Jewish community we were recommended
Boruch Krasny, the former chairman of
Homel secular community. We were greatly
fortuned to know that Boruch was aware
of many questions we were interested in.
Moreover, Boruch himself has been actively
researching Homel Jewish history for over 15
years and is actually the only local expert.
It is worth noting that our interview was like
a conversation because all our questions derived from scrupulous studying of several
foreign researches and our own studying of archive materials in Homel municipal
“Public Associations Archive”.
– Hello, Boruch. We are representing the international project “Official Soviet
Attitude towards the Holocaust in Homel and Wolomin”. The Project is funded by
the “EVZ” within the programme “Geschichtswerkstatt Europa”. We would like
to discuss with you several questions concerning the Holocaust in Homel and the
official attitude of local Soviets towards it during the “Cold War”.
– Surely, with pleasure. I am at your service.
– Historically, Homel is traditionally considered the city largely populated by

38 Interview With Boruch Krasny
Interview With Boruch Krasny
39
the Jewish people and even some kind of the Jewish cultural center. Is this really
so?
– I cannot say exactly whether Homel was the center of the Jewish culture, at
least within the Eastern Europe. Here, the Jewish people had been a considerable
part of the city’s population since the early XVI century. The Jewish culture and
religion had differed from the local one, which, certainly, was reflected in Homel
architecture. In the XVIII century, there were built a synagogue, men’s and women’s
gymnasiums, tens of shtiebels. But at that time, Jewish people were over 50 percent
of the population in most cities within the modern Belarus’ territory. I could say
that Homel was rather on the periphery, compared to, for example, Pinsk (Western
Belarus) because in Pinsk Jewish cultural and religious life was rather more active.
The War
– According to the 1939 census, the Jewish population in Homel was 40,880
or 29.38 percent of the total city’s population. Some researchers suppose that, by
the 1941 summer, this number had risen due to natural increase and refugees (700
persons) and became at least 44,000[36]. In your opinion, to what extent were
these figures precise and true? How many Jews had managed to leave the city
before the war began?
– I suppose these figures are precise and true enough. I had been working on this
matter on my own referring to various data, including those stored in Homel municipal
archives. All in all, I would say 50,000. You know, during the census, the nationality
was registered depending on what people were saying. Thus, it is still a good question
how many Jews wanted to reveal their national identity.
– According to several works, evacuated Jews were mostly city dwellers; a
lot of them had been working at factories that had to be evacuated. As they were
better informed and more independent in their thoughts, they could have properly
evaluated the danger hidden in the Nazi occupation. Could you somehow comment
this assumption?
– This is true. Local Jews must have heard much of tragic destiny that Jews in
the Western Europe faced. Moreover, in Homel there was one of the most successful
evacuations of the BSSR Jews, which was noticed at Moscow level. Everyone who
had wanted to cross the frontline, had done it. You should also note that almost all
healthy able-bodied men were called up. As a result, there stayed mostly women, old
people and children. And their destiny was unenviable.
– Begun on August 19, 1941, the city occupation had been lasting for 2 years
and 3 months and ended on November 26, 1943. The Hitler troopers realized that
Homel was a strategically important point; therefore, the city had constantly
placed Wehrmacht military camp with 3,500 - 8,000 soldiers. The “Guidance for
Places of Civilian Population Forced Imprisonment on the Occupied Territory of
Belarus: 1941-1945” edited by Adamushko V. I., Biryukov O. V., Kryuk V. P. and
Kudryakov G. A. [«Справочник о местах принудительного содержания гражданского
населения на оккупированной территории Беларуси 1941-1944» под ред. Адамушко
В. И., Бирюкова О. В., Крюк В. П., Кудрякова Г. А.] says that in September 1941,
in Homel the Nazi established four ghettoes. These ghettoes were situated in
Bykhovskaya, Novo-Lyubenskaya Streets, on the outskirts in Novo-Belitsa district
and in Monastyryok suburb (Monastyrka Str.) [37]. How could you explain the fact
that there were 4 ghettoes in the city? In what conditions were the Jews living in
ghettoes?
– I see you are well-informed (smiles). I can explain this fact very simply.
Historically, Homel had actually been divided into several parts. There is a myth
about homogeneity of Homel Jews. In fact, there were several Jewish communities
and each was living in its own district. As I know, there were four such communities
and nearly half of Homel Jews were not religious. Physically, the city had occupied a
vast area. I think, the Nazi decided not to concentrate all the Jews in one place from
a pragmatic point of view. Actually, these ghettoes were not ghettoes at all by their
nature - there were the camps, where the Nazi imprisoned Jews to murder them as
fast as possible. Speaking on Novo-Belitsa, prior to the War it was at all the different
town on the opposite bank of the Sozh River.
Speaking on the conditions of the Jews imprisonment: the conditions were
terrible, they had almost nothing to eat and there were no medicines at all (Boruch
groans)... a lot of them had died of starvation and deceases before their execution. As
I have already mentioned, the prisoners were mostly old people, women and children.
– According to a famous historian and expert on the history of the Holocaust
in BSSR L. Smilovitsky, the peculiarity of Homel ghettoes was the absence of
classical Judenräte (“Jewish councils”) and even their analogues (like in Minsk,
Mogilev, Vitebsk) with their own officers who perform their sole duties; in Homel
ghettoes, the Nazi appointed more Jewish headmen to be intermediaries between
the prisoners and the occupational administration [38]. Why did the Nazi choose
such a form of administration?
– Leonid is absolutely right. I know him, he used to be in Homel researching
municipal archives… But, as I know, his research was focused on the Holocaust in Homel
region rather than in the city. Frankly speaking, I can hardly give an exact answer to
your question. I can just suppose that establishing Judenräte made no sense: as I have
already mentioned, in Homel the Nazi created camps for interim Jewish imprisonment
rather than ghettoes. The Nazi’s logic was simple: to concentrate Jews and murder

40 Interview With Boruch Krasny
Interview With Boruch Krasny
41
them as fast as possible.
– L. Smilovitsky also mentions that prisoners in Homel region ghettoes were
not used for economic purposes (contrary to most regions in the Western Belarus,
Poland and Lithuania): the Jews were rarely sent to industries that were vital for
the city, its district or the Wehrmacht; most such deeds were casual: fuel storage,
repairs, construction works or mop-ups [38].
– As a matter of fact, this is the evidence of my assumption. The Nazi were
exploitating the Jews as free human resources for minor deeds. Do not forget that
there were mostly women, old people and children, with whom the Nazi had nothing
to do.
– Where and how were the Jews from the Homel ghettoes murdered? According
to the materials from the Official Archive, Homel region, four ghettoes in Homel
were liquidated by the Nazi on November 3-4, 1941 by the Chief of the field
command center No. 551 [39].
he died and couldn’t have published his work. The rights to the manuscript belong
to his family who refuse to publish the book for strange causes. Frankly speaking, I
have not seen the manuscript personally. I know there are a lot of references to the
KGB archives, where personally you, for example, cannot get an access. I believe the
book could be a significant contribution in researches of the Homel Jewish history.
Unfortunately, it may never be published.
Speaking on the number of victims. You refer to the archive materials, which
is scientifically correct. But statistics always lie, especially the official statistics.
While your first reference tells about 4,000 and another - 10,000, it means that the
actual number is approximately 12,000-13,000. But here there are several important
notices: on the territory of Homel, there were shot a lot of Jews from the neighboring
settlements and townships, even scrupulous Soviet Extraordinary Commission officers
(“chekisty”) often counted those who died approximately. Therefore, the exact
number of the dead can only be known when the Nazi hit lists are revealed. Some of
them survived but are still inaccessible.
– Right, there actually was such an order. I know at least three places of mass
Jewish shootings in Homel: the territories of the Machinery and Tractor Workshop and
the Bus Garage No. 1 and the area beyond the city. Nowadays, you can find memorial
plaques in these places. However, these tables do not say that the people who were
shot were the Jews.
– Some researches tell in Homel were shot about 4,000 Jews. Usually, there
were references to the “Extraordinary Municipal Committee Act on the Nazi atrocities
in Homel of January 5, 1945” [«Акт ЧГК о злодеяниях немецко-фашистских
захватчиков в городе Гомеле от 5 января 1945 года»]. But one of the found documents
named “The Information on the Nazi Atrocities during the Homel Occupation”
[«Справка о злодеяниях немецко-фашистских властей в период оккупации г.
Гомеля»], that was addressed to the Chairman of the Extraordinary Homel Regional
Committee, Mr. Zhizhenkov, and signed in March, 1944 by the State Security Colonel,
Mr. Klimenko, said the following: “…3. On the territory of the Homel Machinery
and Tractor Workshop, in an anti-tank ditch, there are found 6,000 corpses of
Jews shot in Homel” [37]. Researcher Vinnitsa G. R. in the article “The Ghetto History
in Particular Settlements of the Eastern Belarus” [«История гетто в отдельных
населённых пунктах Восточной Беларуси»] notes that the number of the killed Jews
of Homel equals or even is over 10,000 [40]. Are there any local evaluations of the
killed Jews? Who evaluated this number and when and on what basis?
– I can say that there have hardly been any local researches but for my own. In the
middle 2000s, there came some people from Germany and Israel, but I haven’t seen
any wholesome scientific publications devoted to the Holocaust in Homel. The only
fundamental research was made by my friend V. Rayskiy, the famous Homel historian.
He wrote the whole book about Jews in Homel including the Holocaust. But last year
After the War
– During the first 15 years after the War in the BSSR as in the USSR the question
of the Jewish genocide had been ignored. All the Jews murdered in Belarus were
considered to be the Soviet citizens.
What was the situation like in Homel? What information was published in local
press on local victims?
– The situation in Homel had nothing significant to differ from the common attitude
towards the Jews in the USSR and the BSSR. All the dead Jews were collectively listed
as “the Soviet citizens” (laughs). Such things as “the genocide against the Jews” or
“the Holocaust in the BSSR” were out of the question. Local authorities exactly carried
out all the Moscow directives. All the Jewish questions were redirected first from
Homel to Minsk and then from Minsk to Moscow and only afterwards, the responses
were going back under the reverse scheme.
You must know the term ”the Soviet citizens” regarding the WWII genocide against
not only Jews but also all other nationalities living in the USSR. To separate one
nationality amid another was not done. Moreover, any minor display of nationalism
was roughly depressed.
Speaking on total censorship in press like in other media in general – you can
personally convince: come to our municipal library and ask for any postwar newspapers.
– We have searched more than one hundred issues of “Homelskaya Pravda”
[Homel news] for 1945-1960. But nowhere could we find any single mentioning

42 Interview With Boruch Krasny
Interview With Boruch Krasny
43
of the Jewish genocide and even
the number of the dead Homel
inhabitants.
– And that is no surprise.
Moscow sent directions what and how
everything shall be written: what is
allowed to write and what is forbidden
etc. Even nowadays local papers do
not mention the victims aside from the
Holocaust. There are still only articles
that glorify liberation warriors, deeds
of guerrillas, the deed of the Soviet
people. After the War in the BSSR was
a widespread myth that the Jews at
war were just cowardly “hiding in the
cellars” instead of fighting against
the Nazi troops. This myth was being
spread on the Kremlin level…and just
imagine if some newspaper could
publish anything on the Holocaust. I
wouldn’t like to be the editor of such
an edition.
– What was the information
delivered by the local Soviets on the victims among the population when they were
monumentalizing the memory of War with monuments and memorials? What was
telling the exposition in Homel Great Patriotic War Museum about the Holocoust?
– The same things as the mass media do. Look at memorial tables at places of mass
executions of the Homel Jews , look at mass grave at the cemetery “Leschinets” to
realize that the Jews are not mentioned anywhere. All the dead Jews were considered
just “the Soviet citizens” but in these places the Jews were the only executed and
buried people. But the fact itself that there are memorable signs is already good
because after the War in the city center the stadium was built where the cemetery
had been before. This stadium still exists. Generally speaking, there was perhaps a
glorious tradition in the USSR to construct stadiums in places of old Jewish burials
(laughs).
And have you visited modern “Homel Regional Museum of the Military Glory?”
Since the Soviet times, there have been few changes in the military exposition.
– Yes, we have been there. They even organized a mini excursion for us. There
is not a single mentioning of the Jewish genocide, the Holocaust and four ghettoes
in Homel (we are showing Boruch some notes on our excursion).
– Your project is quite interesting. I do not remember anyone before you who
integrally approach to the problem of the Holocaust in Homel (Boruch is going through
our notes for several minutes).
I cannot judge your guide strictly, her answers are quite logic. After the War, the
city was really more concerned about reconstructing the houses and restoring past
way of life rather than collecting the expositions for museums and commemorating
the dead. However, the culture of memory, of course, is very important for any
country. In the BSSR, there was also a strict control over this. I remember the museum
expositions were literally saturated with ideology. Certainly, this is connected the
deed of the Soviet warriors and guerrillas and atrocities against the Soviet citizens.
There couldn’t be any question of the Jewish genocide, the Homel ghettoes and
places of mass Jewish executions.
– How many Jews of those who managed to evacuate returned to Homel after
the end of the War?
– You will nowhere find any exact figures, even local authorities did not record
them anywhere. But I can tell you this figure was around 80 percent of all the Jews
evacuated. The Homel Jews did not extremely wish to escape abroad through Poland. A
lot of them were cherishing illusions about the Soviet power and hoped that they would
be allowed to save their traditional way of life, in particular, religious traditions. But
when before the War the Homel Jews were allowed to save their denomination, such
as going to synagogue etc., after the War the situation changed dramatically and many
Jews, especially religious ones, were not ready to such changes. Mass repatriation
of the Homel Jews began only in the late 1960s when first good opportunities for
migration to Israel or to the USA “short of Israel” appeared (laughs).
– Have there been any attempts from local Jews to commemorate their
relatives, family members, friends who died in ghetto and at war? What was
the reaction to this from the Soviet power? Were they allowed, for example, to
establish Jewish cemeteries?
–I must say at once: the Jews were allowed to establish cemeteries, which is
worth giving them credit. Beyond the city, there was and still is only the Jewish
cemetery. By the way, you can find there memorial commemorating the Holocaust in
Homel, the only one in Homel. But it was built in independent Belarus. (photo)
But speaking on physical memorizing, the situation was rather more difficult.
I know such ideas existed. Unfortunately, I have no documentary evidence. Local
authorities restrained all these attempts. It is obvious that the decisions were taken
at least in Minsk rather than in Homel. I did not try to look for such materials but I

44 Interview With Boruch Krasny
Interview With Boruch Krasny
45
think that even nowadays, they can hardly be accessible…and, unfortunately, there
are no living witnesses and participants of such events.
activity in the city. The most active Jews were maintaining their cultural and religion
traditions illegally, despite the actual threat to be criminally punished.
– Israeli researcher Mordechai Altschuler in his article “Jewish Activity to
commemorate the Holocaust in the Stalin’s USSR” [«Деятельность евреев по увековечиванию
памяти о Холокосте в Советском Союзе в эпоху Сталина»] writes about
“memorial rallies” besides the attempts of physical memorizing of the Holocaust.
For example, on August 12, 1945, the Jewish community in Mozyr (nowadays, a
city in the Homel region) arranged special prayer to commemorate the Holocaust
victims. The ceremony participants raised 13,000 rubles on the synagogue
restoration and 4,000 rubles on the Soviet Red Cross. Afterwards, however, official
Minsk sharply criticized the actions of the local authorities and accused local Jews
of nationalistic tendencies [41]. Was there anything like that in Homel?
– You know, I am at a loss to answer. This is very valuable and rare information.
It may well be something like that was planned in Homel as Mozyr and Homel Jewish
communities had been maintaining close relationships with each other for a long time.
Actually, this is a very interesting question. I think the oldest religious Jews of Homel
must remember this event, I will certainly try to get into this when possible. I know
in 1947 the religious Jews of Homel purchased a private house for their synagogue
on the raised money but the house soon was forfeited by local communists. Quite
possible that memorial rally was the event when the money on synagogue was raised.
– Several foreign and native researchers note that the Soviet anti-Semitism
was especially strong in the middle 1940s till 1953, when Stalin died. The evidence
of this fact are the murder of Solomon Michoels, the Headman of the Jewish
Antifascist Committee, in Minsk (January 12, 1948); demonstrative proceeding
against the Jewish Antifascist Committee (JAC) and the falsified “Doctors’ Plot”.
How strong was the Moscow position in the actions of local authorities relating to
the Jews?
– I would also separate the Stalin anti-Semitism. I know some facts of the JAC in
the BSSR, they were making lists of the Jews served in the Red Army, which was one
of the directions of their activity. Just imagine what resonance could be if such lists
were published. I cannot say exactly if the Homel Jews were requesting the JAC for
support, but I wouldn’t exclude this opportunity. After Michoels’ murder, the anti-
Jewish bacchanalia began. All over the country, Jewish theaters were being closed.
Jewish newspapers and magazines, libraries, any other spots of the Jewish culture
were destroyed. The Jews were arrested and jailed only for their studying the Hebrew
and the Yiddish and reading books written by Sholem Aleichem. But the main strike
was towards large cities with big Jewish population, Homel was on the periphery. But
there were repressions; the Jews were forbidden to hold any cultural and religious
– Do you think, is the BSSR anyhow special in this respect, compared to other
ex-USSR republics?
– That’s a good question. I haven’t met anyone who considered any particular
features of anti-Semitism in the BSSR separately. It is difficult to compare as I was
researching the situation in the BSSR and Homel in particular. I suppose there were
some specific features. For example, there were a lot of Jews working in local party
bodies in the BSSR. And the paradox is that they truly believed in communism and were
more dedicated to Stalin than non-Jewish communists. That means often complaints
and petitions from the Jews were responsed by the Jews (laughs).
– And compared to Poland?
– I think the general situation in Poland was more liberal, at least I can say so
according to my Polish Jewish friends. Poland was not the member of the USSR and
many Jewish matters were governed by the local authorities. From Poland the Jews
could be repatriated or leave for the USA much easier than from the BSSR. That’s why
a lot of Jews from BSSR escaped to Poland. In the BSSR, they did not allow many Jews
abroad formulating: “You are too good citizen.” Today, this sounds stupid but at those
times such replies influenced the fates of the whole families.
– Stalin’s anti-Semitism couldn’t have helped but influence the attitude
towards the Jewish genocide during the Great Patriotic War. What features of the
“forgotten” Holocaust in the BSSR relating to 1945-1953 could you outline?
– We have already raised this question. Till the first repatriation wave in the
1960s, there lived a large number of Jews in the BSSR, even despite the fact that
their population had decreased by approximately 80 percent compared to that before
the War. The Jews, especially religious ones, tried to keep the memory about their
families. In some Homel Jewish families, 70 to 80 members died and just one or
two survived. Imagine the tragedy to lose all your relatives. Of course, there had
been some attempts to commemorate them. I know, for example, that Minsk Jewish
religious community managed to establish a monument commemorating Jews with
markers in Russian and Yiddish, but local authorities rejected their request to hold
a special opening ceremony. The ceremony did take place but only due to many
influential Jews who were among local communists in Minsk. Before the notorious
case against the JAC, the situation was more or less acceptable: in many towns and
settlements, local authorities permitted to set gravestones, memorial boards, small
monuments at Jewish cemeteries but they did not permit to point at the nationalities
of the dead. All this was done by the Jews at their own initiative and on their money.
After S. Michoels’ murder, the situation got drastically worse. Generally speaking on
the BSSR, all the attempts to commemorate the Holocaust physically faced roughly

46 Interview With Boruch Krasny
Conclusion
47
negative reaction of the authorities. From this very moment, we can actually speak
abut the “forgotten Holocaust”.
– Was there in Homel one Jewish community or several, like before the War?
– After the War, there were actually two communities: the religious one and the
secular one. Today, the situation is the same. But the Jewish population was much
larger, e.g. in 1959, in Homel about 25,000 Jews lived, but now there are just few
thousands. As a rule, the religious community had been rather more active, they even
organized a secret synagogue that had been working till 1963 when it was disassembled
by police and two scrolls of Torah were confiscated. But then, the Homel Jews were
returned these two scrolls.
– How had the attitude towards the Jewish population and the Holocaust of
the local authorities been changed since Stalin’s death in 1953?
– After Stalin’s death, the Jews sighed with relief, the grade of anti-Semitism fell
significantly. At least, many Jews were not afraid for their lives any more, there were
not any falsified proceedings against the Jews, and they could go abroad rather easier.
Speaking on the memory of the Holocaust, I would like to mention one interesting
moment: till the middle of the 1950s, many Jews in the BSSR were concerned about
memorizing their dead relatives, while in late 1950s, this question was less important
for them. The Jews, especially young people, were much more concerned about
proving that at war the Jews had not been hiding in bushes but were fighting and
were the heroes as other people. This, in particular, related personally to me when
I was young. We were often gathering in the country, were listening to Israeli music,
eating matzo illegally cooked in the city, reading literature we were getting secretly
from Moscow. Nowadays, I remember those times with smile although we were risking
much.
– If you had any opportunity to leave, would you use it?
I had a very good opportunity to leave. But I liked to live in the BSSR and in
modern independent Republic of Belarus, this is my motherland. Of course, I came to
Israel and looked at the Jewish state on my own. You know, despite many drawbacks,
many Jews liked to live in the USSR and they are recollecting those days with nostalgic.
History is quite a contradictory thing.
– Boruch, thank you so much for your attention!
– Oh, not at all! Good luck with your project work!
Interviewed by Nikita Dunets and Girsh Binkin
CONCLUSION
Ending our brochure, we would like to make a comparative analysis of the
materials collected in Homel and Wolomin within our project. We try to base on facts
and experts’ comments but our work is our own subjective opinion in many things.
We had been working on the project as an international team. Representing different
countries (Belarus, Poland and Israel) within our project, we tried to consider the issue
from different sides, have used a great number of national and foreign references,
have always considered opinions of each other about methods and approaches to our
research work. This is the greatest value of our project.
Pre-war
Before the war began, Homel and Wolomin had been small towns with significant
Jewish population which influenced culture and household of these towns greatly. In
both towns, there had been synagogues and Jewish educational institutions. As we
have already mentioned, before 1939 when World War II began, the Jews had been
nearly 30 percent of the citizens in Homel and Wolomin.
War
Being largely destroyed during the Second World War, both cities are horrible
examples of the Holocaust. The tragedy for local Jews who were a great part of
the towns’ population, began from the very beginning of the Nazi occupation. But
the conditions of imprisonment and destiny of the Homel and Wolomin Jews were
different. Wolomin ghetto in many ways was like other ghettoes in the Eastern Europe
and had been an intermediary point for the further sending its prisoners to the KZ
“Treblinka”. Of 2,700 prisoners of the Wolomin ghetto, 600 were shot by the Nazi
in the very town, others had to face the terrors of Treblinka. Whereas four Homel
ghettoes had been phenomenal for the given region at all. This fact can be explained
by the physical dispersion of the city. Further, these ghettoes were not like the Jewish
ghettoes in their classical understanding as there Jewish labour was not purposefully
used and there was not special system of management and control (Judenräte) etc.
But Homel ghettoes were the points for interim concentration and further execution
of Jews who had lived in Homel and Homel district. In Homel archives we found exact
indications at the places of mass shots of Homel Jews with approximate statistics of

48 Conclusion
Conclusion
49
victims. These data are twice as big as the number given by the official Belarusian
historiography. We can suppose that the number of the Homel Jews who died after
the Holocaust is over 10,000 [34]. Interestingly, the Jews were shot by the Nazi at
places where Soviet dissidents were shot by the communists during the Civil War in
Russia. Perhaps, even at that time the Nazi must have planned to hide their crimes
in Homel.
world imperialism” as in the USSR till 1953. At local Wolomin level, we can hardly
mark any tendencies written above as only few local Jews returned here. They have
established a small community but its activity has not left any mark, the archives do
not contain any information about it except for the single fact that the community
was established. The synagogue in Wolomin had been destroyed during the war, the
Jewish cemetery was the only evidence of Jewish life in the post-war Wolomin.
It is very difficult to say exactly how many local Jews returned to their houses
after the end of the war as such statistics had not been kept. But in this respect,
Homel and Wolomin do not conform the common situation in the BSSR and Poland. By
our estimates, nearly 70 percent of survived Homel Jews (about 20,000) had returned
to Homel to rebuild their houses and recover their pre-war way of life having some
illusions about the Soviet power. In general, in the BSSR the situation was vice versa:
many Jews were trying to escape to Poland or turned out in various corners of the
USSR: from the Urals to the Far East. In Wolomin, only 150 Jews returned to their
houses, while first post-war years living conditions for the Jews in Poland had been
generally favorable. Such a situation can be explained in many kinds by the fact
that the majority could be evacuated till the beginning of war whilst the Wolomin
Jews were mostly cruelly murdered in Treblinka. Despite the terrors of war and the
Holocaust already undergone, the Homel and Wolomin Jews had to face the wave of
post-war anti-Semitism.
Two decades after the war
In 1945 the war ended, which, however, did not mean at all that the Homel and
Wolomin Jews could easily return and restore their houses and pre-war way of life.
Here it should firstly be noted during the period we are researching (1945-1965), the
attitude towards the Jews in the BSSR and Communists’ Poland had differed greatly.
In the post-war Poland Jews live in rather more convenient conditions. Actually,
till 1950, in Poland was national and cultural autonomy for the Jews. Possibly, that
was some kind of demonstration to the Western world how communism can solve the
problem of national minorities. It also could be a justified compensation to the Jews
for the horrors of war and the Holocaust. But too loyal policy of local authorities
towards the Jews and the stereotype about great percentage of the Jews among the
Polish communists caused the wave of anti-Semitism among local population (e.g.
the Kielce Pogrom). Since 1950, Jewish national cultural autonomy in Poland was cut
down and replaced by Socio-Cultural Jewish Association in Poland. Nevertheless, the
Jews in Poland reserved their right to hold their religious life and were not subject
to open attacks and ungrounded accusations of “nationalism” and “supporting the
After the war, the Jewish policy of local authorities in the BSSR in many ways
depended on Moscow directions, being rather less liberal than one in the communistist
Poland. Till 1948, lack of skilled workers lead to use of any specialists regardless
their nationalities. Thus, the Jews as specialists were demanded equally as the
Belarusians, Russians and other nationalities. However, as soon as the matter of
post-war reconstruction decreased its importance, the country was flooded by the
anti-Semitism wave. The campaign against cosmopolitism, dissolution of Yiddishlanguage
institutions and arrest of the Jewish Anti-fascists’ Committee, suppression
of the Holocaust consequences and the Jewish contribution into defeating Nazism
– all these things were leading to the creation of mistrust towards the Belarusian
Jews. In conditions when religious life was actually forbidden and the society had
been spreading myths of “the Jewish plot, nationalism, imperialism and conspiracy
to the West”, the Belarusian Jews had nothing to do but adapt and hide their Jewish
identity. Stalin’s death in 1953 became a landmark event for the BSSR Jews as open
prosecutions were stopped and the atmosphere of permanent fear disappeared. The
second half of the 1950-1960s can be characterized as the period of calmness and
relative stability of the Jewish policy in the BSSR. Regardless the fact that the BSSR
formally supported the creation of the State of Israel; local authorities were jealously
looking at the wish of the Belarusian Jews to leave the BSSR. Meanwhile, a small
part of Jews were having religious and Zionist activity hoping to leave for Israel or
the USA. The majority of the events described above were connected with Homel,
directly or indirectly. We cannot say the exact number of the Jews returned to Homel
but in 1945-1959, the Jewish population here was 20,000 to 25,000. [29]. According
to the censuses, this number had been till the 1980s. Many Homel Jews say that
during the first decade after war in the city streets one could often hear Yiddish
talks. The Homel Jews were leading an active underground religious life: in 1947, the
Jewish believers purchased a private house for a synagogue on raised money, but the
authorities confiscated it and forbade prayers’ meetings which forced religious Jews
to hold them secretly. In 1963, militia officers attacked the illegal prayers’ meeting,
crackdowned on the prayers and withheld two scrolls of Torah and other religious
attributes. But afterwards, local authorities returned these scrolls to the Jews. We
also know that in the late 1960s-1970s, Jewish youth were holding secret meetings in
the country, where they were giving out and discussing Zionist literature secretly got

50 Conclusion
Conclusion
51
from Moscow. Speaking on Homel, it should be noted that here were 2 communities:
religious and secular. The religious one had always been more active whereas most
secular Jews were actually assimilated.
“Forgotten” Holocaust
Researching of the “forgotten” Holocaust in Homel and Wolomin was the most
important part of our project. This issue had been poorly researched before us.
We have found only few publications on the post-war Jewish history of Homel and
Wolomin where the Holocaust and the Catastrophe are mentioned fragmentarily; but
we could not find any definite information on the petitions from the local Jews to the
municipal authorities to hold a memorial rally or memorize the Holocaust victims.
When studying the archive data, we faced the lack of necessary information. Finding
some information on the pre-war and war period in the Jewish history of Homel and
Wolomin was difficult but possible. However, the post-war period of the Jewish history
of these cities is poorly described. We can hardly claim if there were any attempts by
local Jews to memorize the Holocaust – according to the local Jews and researchers,
such attempts actually were, but there are no documented petitions in both local
and national archives. We know exactly about the letter from the Wolomin Jewish
community demanding immediate stop abusing the remains of the dead Jews at the
local Jewish cemetery. But we could not find the letter itself in the archives which
makes us feel that it had disappeared “on purpose”. In Homel we faced problems of
other kind: in the Public Organizations Archives storing all the archive records of the
Homel communists, there is still no electronic catalogue – tons of archive records have
not been electronically systematized thus it can take months to continuously review
thousands of the archive records. Nevertheless, we could have found in this archive
important materials about the places of mass Jewish executions during the war, places
of Jewish burials and approximate number of the Homel Holocaust victims. The KGB
Archive that as we know stores the information on the appeals from the Homel Jews
to memorize the Holocaust is still unavailable to the public and demands complicated
procedure of getting an access.
Jews. We have found a lot of evidences to this thesis: in all places of mass executions
and burials of Homel Jews there are words “dead Soviet citizens”. Furthermore, the
museum exposition and newspaper publications during 1945-1965 do not mention the
Jews as the separate nationality and the Jewish genocide have never been mentioned
separately. In Wolomin, during this period, there have not been any memorials set
including the one where 600 Jews were shot. All this once again stresses the importance
of the issue we are studying.
Nowadays, Homel and Wolomin significantly differ from each other in their
population number and administrative function, in both cities only few Jews stayed.
But Homel and Wolomin have their common history of formally “forgotten” Holocaust
in the first post-war decades, the tragedy that still needs research in both cities.
We hope that we will make our own small but successful contribution and make
Belarusian, Polish and Jewish youth interested. That is why we have prepared several
presentations of our project in Minsk and Homel.
For the conclusion, we would like to express special gratitude to Tamara
Vershitskaya, the director of the Novogrudok Jewish Resistance Museum for her
assistance in preparing and holding of the project. We would like also to express our
gratitude to all people who were helping us in our project for we could have hardly
done our research without their contribution.
Nikita Dunets
Konrad Kostrzewa
Girsh Binkin
But we are shown the real canvas by the contents, conditions and frequently
absence of memorial signs in ghettoes, places of mass Jewish executions and burials
in Homel and Wolomin. In both these cities, there is no sign of the former ghettoes
in their places. Moreover, in Wolomin in the place of the former ghetto a stadium
was built. Interestingly, in the place of the old Jewish cemetery in Homel city center
a stadium was built, too. It is difficult to judge if such a coincidence is accidental.
In our opinion, Homel is the prime example how the concept of the “united Soviet
people” was being performed in the BSSR. This concept meant full assimilation of the

52 53
presentations of the project
Fianal project results presentation for Belarusian, Jewish and Polish
youth in Misnk
Nikita Dunets is answering questions about the ignorance of the
Holocaust in the former BSSR
Konrad Kostrzewa is telling about the Jewish
history of Wolomin
Girsh Binkin is telling the project to Jewish
youth in Homel

54 List Of Sources And Remarks
List Of Sources And Remarks
55
List of sources and remarks
1. Wszyscy krawcy wyjechali, Wywiad Barbary Polak z Natalią Aleksiejuk i Dariuszem Stolą w: Żydzi w Polsce
Ludowej, Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, Nr. 11. 58 listopad 2005 p.4.
2. Włodarczyk Tamara Osiedle Żydowskie na Dolnym Śląski (na przykładzie Kłodzka), Wrocław 2010 p. 14
http://www.bibliotekacyfrowa.pl/Content/37153/001.pdf
3. Żydzi w Polsce Ludowej…, op. cit., p. 9.
4. Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov: Kilka uwag o wydawnictwie Idisz Buch. W: Nusech Pojln. Studia z dziejów kultury
jidysz w powojennej Polsce. 2008, p. 129–164.
5. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0021_0_21073.html - short presentation of
Wolomin and holocaust on this area. English.
6. http://www.wolomin.tylko.to/ludzie/zyciorysy/54-Doktor-Zachariasz-Frank-1890---1957.html - biography of
doctor Frank in Polish.
7. http://termisil.com/firma_historia.php - short history of the glass factory in Wolomin. Polish.
8. http://www.wolomin.tylko.to/ludzie/wspomnienia/168-Dzialalnosc-Stefana-Nasfetera-w-Wolominie-.html.
Short story of live and activity of Stefan Nasfeter. Polish.
9. Dzieje Wołomina i okolic (The history of Wołomin and the surrounding area), Podhorodecki L., Warszawa
1984. Polish.
10. As an example of such an attitude we can present two pieces of information from the pre-war Wołomin. In
the archival edition of the newspaper “Nowy Głos” no. 62 1938, we can find an article “Bojówkarze O.N.R.u
przed sądem” (O.N.R. militants in court –where ONR is a shortcut of National Radical Camp). An article describes
a process of militants who attacked the office of the Maccabi organization in Wołomin. Attackers were
sentenced, but also the article is kept in an atmosphere of condemnation for “gangs of youths under the sign
of ONR.” http://www.wolomin.tylko.to/wycinki/28-relacje-prasowe/250-Bojowkarze-O.N.R.u-przed-sadem.
html. Polish.
11. In some sources it is 14 of Sep.
12. http://www.wolomin.dimz.pl/IIwojnaswiatowa.html. Polish.
13. Żydzi wołomińscy (Wolominian Jews), Podhorodecki L, Wieści Podwarszawskie 1992 nr 23, Overview
available at http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/r127/strony/zydzi.html. Polish.
14. We did not found any map of the ghetto. Written relation, which can exactly describe the boundaries is available
on this address: http://www.sztetl.org.pl/pl/article/wolomin/13,miejsca-martyrologii/10395,getto-wwolominie.
It is a part of memories of Tadeusz Kielak, local historian, that was written I Wolomin Yearbook,
part IV.
15. Nalkowskiego Street was name given to honor the father of Zofia – Waclaw Nalkowski, who was famous geographer,
educator and social activist. Very important person attached to a history of the town. Biography
of Nalkowski in Polish is published on the site “Dawny Wołomin” (Former Wolomin) http://www.wolomin.
tylko.to/ludzie/zyciorysy/212-Waclaw-Nalkowski.html.
16. The information about role of Nalkowska’s house (which is now the most famous museum in all Wolomin
County) and many more details about people, who know something about Jewish history of Wolomin, we
learned from Marzena Kubacz, director of museum of Zofia and Waclaw Nalkowscy. Info about museum on
site http://nalkowscy.blogspot.com.
17. Prowincja noc, red. Engelking B., Leociak J., Libionka D., Warsaw 2007 For ex ample on side 417 – 419 we can
find a description of bargaining between hiding Jews and their Polish host one side and occupying two policemen
(so called navy blue).
18. Prowincja noc, op. cit., p. 594, 595.
19. http://www.wolomin.tylko.to/ludzie/wspomnienia/351-Moj-kolega-Szlome.html One of Wolomin citizens
Zdzislaw Michalik, describes cemetery as a “totally devastated” with only one tombstone undamaged.
20. http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/wolomin
21. http://www.etnowolomin.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=5&Itemid=62
Ethnographic Documentation Centre, http://nalkowscy.blogspot.com/ Museum.
22. http://wolomin.tylko.to.
23. http://www.zyciepw.pl/zapomniani-sasiedzi. „Forgotten neighbors” – an article of Stanisław Zapalowski, that
provoked many comments in local newspaper and society.
24. http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?id=1271. Book of Remembrance from Wolomin.
25. Статистический справочник состояния народного хозяйства и культуры БССР к началу Великой
Отечественной войны. Изд. СНК БССР (Москва, 1943), с. 25.
26. Л. Смиловицкий. Евреи Белоруссии в первое послевоенное десятилетие: Вестник еврейского
университета (Москва-Иерусалим), №9 (27), 2004 г., с. 213-236.
27. Mikola Volacic. «The Population of Western Belorussia and its Resettlements in Poland and the USSR» // Belorussian
Review, No 3, Munich: Institute for the Study of the USSR, 1956, p. 26.
28. Genocide in the USSR. Institute for the Study of the USSR (Munich, 1958), p.87; “The Crimes of Khrushchev”.
Part 6, Committee on Un-American Activities. House of Representatives (Washington, 1960), рp. 19-24.
29. Итоги Всесоюзной переписи населения 1959 года. Белорусская ССР (Москва, 1963), с. 124-132
30. НАРБ, ф. 4, оп. 109, д. 5, л. 35; д. 13, л. 2; оп. 29, д. 539, л. 24.
31. На 1 января 1930 г. в БССР еще сохранялось 366 синагог и 547 иудейских общин. См. Беларусь на мяжы
тысячагодзяу (Мiнск, 2000), с. 215.
32. L.Smilovitsky. “Byelorussian Jewry and the Doctors’ Plot” // East European Jewish Affairs. Vol. 27 (2), 1997, pp.
39-53; L. Smilovitsky. The Non-Jewish Reaction to the “Doctors’ Plot” in Belorussia: In the Light of New Documents
(January-March 1953). // Shvut, No 9 (25), 2000, pp. 67-92.
33. В. Райский. Очерки истории Гомеля // “Заметки по еврейской истории”. №14(117). 2009г.
34. Справка о злодеяниях немецко-фашистских властей в период оккупации г. Гомеля // Государственный
архив общественных объединений Гомельской области. — Фонд 144. -Оп. 5.-Д. 6.-Л. 167—168.
35. Еврейская история Гомеля. Официальный сайт еврейской общины г. Гомеля – http://www.jewishgomel.
com/Evreyskaya-istoriya-Gomelya
36. Mordechai Altshuler. Soviet Jewry on the Eve of the Holocaust. A social and demographic profile. Jerusalem,
1998, p. 234.
37. Адамушко В. И., Бирюкова О. В., Крюк В. П., Кудрякова Г. А. «Справочник о местах принудительного
содержания гражданского населения на оккупированной территории Беларуси 1941-1944». — Мн.:
Национальный архив Республики Беларусь, Государственный комитет по архивам и делопроизводству
Республики Беларусь, 2001. — 158 с. — 2000 экз.
38. «Гетто в Гомельской области: общее и особенное, 1941-1942 гг.», Актуальные вопросы изучения
Холокоста на территории Беларуси в годы немецко-фашистской оккупации. Сборник научных работ.
Минск 2005 г., с. 165-191.
39. Протокол опроса Степанцева В. Б. 1 декабря 1943 года. Материалы ЧГК по расследованию злодеяний
немцев в г. Гомеле // Государственный архив Гомельской области. — Фонд 1345.-On.L-Д. 9.-Л. 186.
40. Винница Г. Р. Холокост на оккупированной территории Восточной Беларуси в 1941—1945 годах. — Мн.:
Ковчег, 2011. — 360 с. — 150 экз.
41. М. Альтшулер. Деятельность евреев по увековечиванию памяти о Холокосте в Советском Союзе в
эпоху Сталина. Официальный сайт Яд Вашем – http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/ru/pdf/yad_vashem_
studies/altshuler.pdf
42. Leonid Smilovitsky, Attempt to Erect Memorial to Holocaust Victims Blocked by Soviet Byelorussian Authorities,
in: East European Jewish Affairs (Institute of Jewish Policy Research in London), Vol. 27 (1), 1997, pp. 71-80.
43. Yitzhak Arad, The Holocaust in the Soviet Union, University of Nebraska Press 2009, pp. 40-45.
44. Tadeusz Piotrowski, Poland’s Holocaust. McFarland - Page 136.