Img. ID: 157753
Memorial name:
No official name.
Who is Commemorated?
500 Jewish Holocaust victims from Minsk, killed on March 2, 1942.
Description:
The monument, commemorating the Jewish Holocaust victims from Minsk, is erected at their killing site/mass grave near Melnikayte (former Ratomskaya) Street, at the former sand quarry known popularly as "Yama" (the 'Pit"). According to witnesses, in the early after-war years the monument was surrounded by wild grass and bushes. However, due to the changing political regime, the Yama was transformed from a peripheral wasteland to a significant place of collective remembrance. This happened in the 1970s when the present design of the Pit, including the paved area in front of the monument and the stairs leading to it, was embodied.
The monument is shaped like a black granite obelisk standing on a three-step base. It bears two non-identical inscriptions: in Russian and Yiddish, in Soviet orthography. The Yiddish description is composed by the poet Khaim Maltinski, a disabled war veteran. The murder date in the Yiddish inscription is given according to the Jewish calendar.
At the top of the monument, there is a depiction of the vase with flowers and the wreath.
Four steps lead to the monument.
Inscription
In Russian:
Светлая память
на вечные времена
пяти тысячам
евреев
погибших от рук
лютых врагов
человечества
фашистско-немецких
злодеев.
2 марта
1942 г.
Translation: To the bright memory / for everlasting time / of five thousand / Jews / who perished at the hands of / the fierce enemies / of mankind, / fascist-German / villains. / March 2/ 1942.
In Yiddish, in Soviet orthography:
אליכטיקער אׇנדענק
אפ אייביקע יאׇרנ
די פינפ טויזנט
יידנ – קדוישימ
וואׇס זיינענ דערמאׇרדעט געוואׇרנ
דורכ די הענט פונ די
בלוטיקסטע סאׇנימ
פונ דער מענשהייט –
די פאשיסטיש – דייטשישע
מערדער – טאליאׇנימ.
דעמ 14 אדער
1942 יאר.
Translation: Bright memory / for everlasting time / of five thousand / Jews-martyrs / who were murdered / at the hands of / the bloodiest enemies / of mankind, / fascist-German / murderers-villains. On Adar 14, 1942.
Commissioned by
The victims' relatives.
For memorials installed later at the same site, see
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