BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/04/2008

Belarus rejects call for Holocaust remembrance day

Jews in the former Soviet republic of Belarus have been rebuffed in their efforts to establish a national Holocaust day. Jewish organizations had approached government agencies with the idea of establishing a day of memory for Belarusian Jews who perished in the Holocaust, said Leonid Levin, president of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities. "Officials tell us that there is no need for a national day of memory because there are several international Holocaust days," Levin was quoted as saying by the JTA news agency. He went on to say "But we are sure that a special day in Belarus is necessary because the tragedy of the Belarusian Jews was really great."

Approximately 800,000 Jews perished in Belarus during World War II. Levin noted that this year marked the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Minsk ghetto by the Nazis. "The Belarusian Holocaust day could be established on Oct. 21-23, when the ghetto was annihilated," he told JTA. Levin said a memorial day would help to provide more information about the Holocaust in Belarus. "We need a national Holocaust day," he said, "because people in Belarus and other countries don't know much about the tragedy that happened here."

Source:

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/news/globalnews/gn_archives/2008/04/gn_080417_belarus.html

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