The German Jews in the Minsk Ghetto in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume XVII

The German Jews in the Minsk Ghetto

Between November 1941 and October 1942, 35,442 Jews were deported from the Reich and the Protectorate to Minsk in Belarus. Those in the first transports were “housed” in the Minsk ghetto, in the homes of local Jewish residents who were killed in the first ghetto Aktion on November 7. Most of the subsequent transports were sent directly to nearby Maly Trostinets, where they were killed immediately in gas vans. Approximately half of the deportees came from Vienna and Theresienstadt. Life in the Reich Jews’ ghetto, as distinct from the Russian Jews’ ghetto is described; there was little contact between the two. Only ten of the Reich Jews survived the Holocaust. The article quotes from three survivors’ testimonies, which include details of persecution and atrocities.