The Pit ( be, Яма) is a monument dedicated to the victims of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

on the corner of Melnikayte and Zaslavskaya streets in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. The memorial is located at the site where on 2 March 1942

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

forces shot about 5,000 Jewish residents of the nearby

Minsk Ghetto The Minsk Ghetto was created soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was one of the largest in Belorussian SSR, and the largest in the German-occupied territory of the Soviet Union.Donald L. Niewyk, Francis R. Nicosia, ''The Co ...

The

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

was created in 1947, and in 2000 a bronze sculpture titled "The Last Way" was added. It represents a group of victims descending the steps of the pit. The sculpture was created by the Belarusian artist and Chairman of the Jewish communities of Belarus,

Leonid Levin Leonid Anatolievich Levin ( ; russian: Леони́д Анато́льевич Ле́вин; uk, Леоні́д Анато́лійович Ле́він; born November 2, 1948) is a Soviet-American mathematician and computer scientist. He is kn ...

, and the sculptor Elsa Pollak from Israel. On the obelisk is written in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

, "To the shining memory of the bright days of five thousand Jews who perished at the hands of sworn enemies of humanity, German-fascist butchers, on 2 March 1942." When the reconstruction of the memorial was undertaken, no machinery was used and all the work was done by hand, a process which took eight years to complete. According to the original plan, the memorial supposed to be more detailed, but it was ultimately left with an expressive aestheticism and devoid of national colours. It includes figures of a violinist, children, and a pregnant woman, allowing for representation of collective character. The memorial has been a target of vandalism.In Minsk, a monument desecrated to Holocaust victims
(Russian) Funeral assemblies are held at the memorial every year on 2 March.

References

Jews and Judaism in Minsk Holocaust memorials The Holocaust in Belarus 2000 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Belarus {{holocaust-stub

See also

References