Israeli Minister of Aliyah and Integration Sofa Landver

Belarus has been home to Jews for nearly a thousand years. This land gave the world many outstanding artists such as Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, former Israeli President Shimon Peres and other famous people, noted Sofa Landver who has several generations of her family hailing from Minsk.

“My mom's parents lost three sons here at the very beginning of the war. My father’s mother together with her brother joined the partisans, fought and died. After demobilization, my father returned to Minsk. He was Lieutenant Colonel, communications officer, who fought from the beginning to the end of the war. He began fighting when he was 17. He is my hero! I know well the history of the Belarusian nation, one of the calmest, friendliest and most persevering in the world. The war dealt Belarusians a terrible blow, having killed lots of them including almost 1 million Jews. The world remembers the tragedies of Khatyn and Trostenets,” Sofa Landver said.