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“Always in Memory. Never Again in Reality”

From year to year the number of witnesses of the Holocaust is decreasing. Every meeting with people who went through this terrible tragedy is unique and inimitable in emotions. The project “Always in Memory. Never Again in Reality” contributed to establishing contacts between senior people who survived the Holocaust, people who saved Jews during the WWII and young generation with no connection to the Jewish community.

The project «Always in Memory. Never Again in Reality» was carried out on base of Public Charitable Jewish Organization “Hesed–Rakhamim&rdq uo; and thanks to the generous support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc.

Among the project participants there were schoolchildren who took part in the II Republican Contest «The Holocaust: the Past and Present», as well as those who did not know about that tragedy before. All of them discovered a lot of new facts. Though schoolchildren who never had come across the Holocaust theme needed some preliminary information about the history of Jews, so they had an introduction within the first visits to the Museum of the History and Culture of Jews in Belarus in the Minsk Jewish Campus.

Within the framework of the project «Always in Memory. Never Again in Reality» there were excursions to the place of the former Minsk ghetto for the Holocaust survivors and schoolchildren. Though the excursion was conducted by a professional guide, the former ghetto prisoners made their comments and examples. Authentic facts on the history of the ghetto were of special importance for them. Schoolchildren were deeply impressed by the stories of senior project participants who were children during the war. Memories of concrete people connected with some places, buildings, events, told by the events' witnesses were very interesting and convincing.

The trip to Novogrudok to the Museum of Jewish Resistance was of special importance. Among the participants there were schoolchildren, former ghetto survivors and Righteous Gentiles of the World. The trip aroused interest both among young and adult generations. Even many former Minsk ghetto prisoners did not know about this museum. All the project participants were shocked with the story of the resistance of Novogrudok ghetto prisoners. On the way from Novogrudok the excursionists stopped at the town of Mir, which was a Jewish shtetl with a population up to 50% of Jews before the war and with a ghetto in the Mir castle at the wartime. Today there are still remains of the Jewish history there such as a Jewish cemetery, buildings of yeshiva, qahal and synagogue.

«...The stories told by the witnesses of the horrors of the German policy of genocide were very emotional. It is difficult to describe their tragedy, but we imagined ourselves in their place and felt their pain, fear and desperate desire to survive».

«…The trip was very interesting. I was impressed with everything I saw and heard. The barracks of the Novogrudok ghetto will always remain in my memory. I hope that such a tragedy will never ever repeat».

«...It is amazing that the prisoners showed resistance, they dug the tunnel. Their actions were clearly planned and allocated; everyone knew his own task. I was surprised with their coordination and courage…». «…I condemn the Holocaust. Why should one man decide the fate of the other? All people are equal; everyone has a right to life. Why is the Jew worse than others? He has the same heart; he feels pain and can love. I like Jews. They support and defend each other. Isn't it humane? »

7.08.09

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