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World Jewish News
Museum of the City Jewish Community to Be Created in Brest
20.01.2009
As reported by BelaPAN, Boris Bruk, the Chairman of the Jewish community of Brest, said that work on a museum of the community has begun in Brest.
"We want to show the history of the community through life stories of individuals. The collection will be based on pieces from the documentary exhibition 'The Jews of Brest,' which was organized by the Brest Regional Cultural and Educational1 Center 'Holocaust' six years ago," stated Bruk.
This will be the first such museum in the regional centers of Belarus. A council has been created, which includes scientists, historians and community activists, that will supervise the collection and systematization of materials. An appeal has been issued to Jews who have moved abroad from Brest asking for photos and documents for the future museum.
The museum will be opened on the premises of the city Jewish community. Separate sections will be devoted to famous Brest dwellers, in particular, a well-known political figure who stood behind the creation of the State of Israel, Nobel Prize of Peace winner Menachem Begin, a doctor of philosophy and mathematics, assistant, associate and co-author of several scientific works of Albert Einstein - Yakov Grommer, the first Jew in Belarus who defended his doctoral thesis in medicine (1743), Meer Abragamovits.
According to B. Brook, Brest as a city with settled Jewish population was first mentioned in the first half of XI century. From the XIV to early XVI century, Brest was called the Jewish capital in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By the early 60's of the XIX century, 8,829 people lived in Brest-Litovsk, including 7,510 Jews. Prior to World War II its population totaled to 51,000 people, 26,000 of them - Jews. Almost all of them became victims of the Holocaust.
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