Monument "Broken Hearth" in Minsk

28 Sukhaya St., Minsk, Belarus

In 2008, a monument to the victims of the Minsk ghetto, who perished during the years of the Nazi occupation, was unveiled in the Jewish Memorial Square, located on the site of the former Jewish cemetery. The emotional focus of the memorial symbolizes the image of a house destroyed during the pogrom.

Belarus: In the Footsteps of the Holocaust

In 2008, a monument to the victims of the Minsk ghetto who perished during the years of the Nazi occupation was unveiled in the Jewish Memorial Square, located on the site of the former Jewish cemetery.

The emotional focus of the memorial symbolizes the image of a house destroyed during the pogrom. The pedestal made of red granite represents the foundation of the house. On it are placed a round table and a classic Viennese chair. However, the tabletop is covered with cracks and fractures, the chair seems to be dented into the table and frozen at an unnatural angle. The house where a close-knit family gathered was stormed by the occupiers, the furniture was broken, and the family perished. The monument is created in Jewish traditions, symbolically, without depicting human figures.

The project authors are sculptor Maksim Petrul and architect Leonid Levin. The location of the monument is symbolic for the Jewish community of Minsk, as their ancestors lived nearby and were later buried there. Next to the monument grows an old tree that remembers the times of occupation. Notably, the side facing the monument has no leaves. The other half, with green foliage, seems to convey that life goes on, even though memory is filled with pain.

A few dozen meters away, preserved tombstones from the old Jewish cemetery are gathered, and memorial stones are installed in memory of Jews from European cities destroyed by the Nazis in the Minsk ghetto.

Sources:

https://planetabelarus.by/sights/pamyatnik-razbityy-ochag-v-minske/

https://probelarus.by/belarus/sight/pamyatniki/1496936640.html

https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-45965965.amp

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