Remains of local ghetto prisoners reburied in Brest

Here and onwards photo: Stanislav Korshuov / TUT.by
Here and onwards photo: Stanislav Korshuov / TUT.by

On May 22, an unusual ceremony took place at the Northern Cemetery of Brest. The remains of the 1,214 executed prisoners of the Brest ghetto accidentally discovered in the city center during the construction of an elite residential quarter were reburied.

The mourning ceremony was attended by several hundred people, TUT.by reports. Among them were representatives of the city and international Jewish organizations, diplomats, officials, caring citizens. The remains were buried in 120 coffins with Jewish symbols, placed in a large common grave.

Officials spoke about the horrors of the Holocaust and called for combating xenophobia and intolerance.

"For us, the Holocaust is an event with which we continue to live. The proof we see here today. We are at a funeral. A funeral is the end of life. The fact that this end happened more than 70 years ago is irrelevant," said the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to Belarus Alon Shoham.

"The war ended 75 years ago, but we still come back to the cemetery, we do it again and again. When will this end? Today we are gathered here so that this would never happen again," the Brest Jewish community chairman Boris Bruk continued.

У Брэсце перапахавалі парэшткі 1214 расстраляных вязняў гета