NCSJ - 10.23.2008

NCSJ in Belarus to Remember the Minsk Ghetto Massacre

Oct. 21 (l.-r.) - NCSJ President Lesley Israel,  Union of Belarusian Jewish Organizations and  Communities Chairman Leonid Levin and NCSJ  Executive Director Mark Levin

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, October 20, 2008 and Tuesday, October 21, 2008, NCSJ joined with international leaders and members of the Jewish community in Belarus to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the massacre of the Minsk ghetto by Nazi forces.

On March 2, 1942, the day before Purim, 5,000 Jews were massacred in one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the Minsk Jewish Community.

NCSJ President Lesley Israel and NCSJ Executive Director Mark B. Levin participated in ceremonies in Minsk at the Yama Memorial.

“It was a very moving experience,” said NCSJ’s Israel. “I was glad to see the tremendous turnout, of political leaders, diplomats and citizens. We must remember the victims by continuing to fight anti-Semitism and xenophobia.”

NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, founded in 1971, represents the organized American Jewish community in monitoring and advocating on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews living in the 15 successor states of the former Soviet Union.

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